releases: https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/heidi-in-the-news?ContentRecord_id=37CB72D8-396A-478D-B021-2ABDA60B3671
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/heidi-in-the-news?ContentRecord_id=37CB72D8-396A-478D-B021-2ABDA60B3671 | Editorial: Our view: Keep up the efforts to curb sex trafficking | 2017-11-22 | 2017 | 2017-11 | Democrat | House | ND | Heidi Heitkamp | H001069 | www.heitkamp.senate.gov | legacy | For example, ads openly tout women who are in town for a few days and looking for company. These ads exist in cities throughout the nation — again, including Grand Forks. Under pressure from the government, Backpage.com took down its adult section earlier this year, but many of the ads simply migrated to the website's dating section. In a CBS News report last week, a young woman who says she was coerced into sex trafficking said Backpage.com "is letting all this happen on their website." And her mother told CBS that "Backpage has a primary purpose — to sell sex." Ads currently exist on Backpage.com's Grand Forks dating section, including one that proclaims "Ayisia is back. ... Let me be your everything and more. I can make all your fantasies come true." The ad includes a phone number. That doesn't sound like a "date" to us. However, it's also possible that "Ayisia" is simply a police sting in process. The CBS report last week noted that police often set up fake accounts to nab, and arrest, the men who respond in person to the ads. CBS noted that some police departments conduct stings often through Backpage.com, and they say the website accommodates them. Still, the company is earning money off what appear to be prostitution ads, child slavery and sex trafficking, and it's not right. During a Senate committee hearing in January, Backpage.com officials invoked their Fifth Amendment rights and refused to testify. The company says federal law protects websites from liability for publishing content from third-party users. New legislation, called the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, may help. A Senate subcommittee earlier this month approved a proposal that would revise the Communications Decency Act to specify that it does not provide protection for sex trafficking and that websites can be held liable. Some fear it will make it more difficult to catch dangerous criminals. We suppose that may be true, since police use Backpage.com for stings; but Backpage's existence contributes much more to the problem than to the solution. Senators from the region — including Minnesota's Amy Klobuchar and North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven — have thrown their support behind the bill. Sex trafficking and prostitution may seem like a back-alley problem in metro areas. But if nothing else, Backpage.com has shown us these evils exist in places like the Red River Valley, and right out in the open. It needs to stop, and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act is a good step. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |