Last week, Village Voice Media challenged the science behind data that say the underage prostitution industry is growing. We called media outlets out on relying on bogus arguments and junk science to stoke fear and panic about underage sex trafficking.
Don't get us wrong, we admit there is a problem with underage sex trafficking. We just don't buy the numbers that say that 100,000 to 300,000 kids are swooped up into the industry every year.
Those numbers are used by activists and media outlets including CNN's Amber Lyon, who famously went after Craigslist, saying the site's adult ad section fostered underage sex trafficking.
In December, we sent information to CNN about what we're doing to keep our own Backpage.com's adult pages monitored so that only adults had access to them. We knew Lyon was prepping for a sensationalistic
piece, using inflated numbers about underage American sex
slaves -- and she was going to make us appear responsible.
Check out the full piece we wrote in response to the CNN report.
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