A Senate panel is threatening criminal action against a website operator for failing to explain himself.
“Backpage.com and its chief executive officer, Carl Ferrer, have failed to comply with a lawful subpoena issued by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations,” according to a Thursday memo issued by the committee, chaired by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
The website, which is similar to the better-known Craigslist, allows users to post advertisements for services and products like childcare, household appliances, auto parts and employment listings. Lawmakers have taken issue with a section that allow users to seek escort services, which they say equates to prostitution, and claim that much of it involves minors.
“Last Friday, less than week ago, Mr. Ferrera’s lawyers asked us to excuse his appearance because he was traveling, and if called to testify he would plead the Fifth Amendment,” Portman said. “The subcommittee denied that request on Monday. The witness has the right to refuse to answer questions that may incriminate him, but that right belongs to the witness, not his lawyers.”
“This subcommittee would respect any valid assertion of Fifth Amendment privilege, but there’s no privilege not to show up … if Backpage fails to change course and comply with the subcommittee’s subpoena, the appropriate next step is to pursue contempt proceedings,” Portman added.
Noting the gravity of the situation, he noted, “This is a step the Senate has not taken in 20 years. As I said earlier, this is extraordinary.”
“The company touts its ‘moderation’ practices,” the panel’s memo continues, or “the process of reviewing advertisements to screen them for evidence of violations of its terms of use and possible illegality.
“To better understand these procedures, their efficacy, and their costs, the subcommittee served a subpoena on Backpage requiring the production of documents concerning Backpage’s moderation and ad-review procedures, basic financial information, and other topics. Backpage refuses to comply with the subpoena. It claims that the First Amendment’s protection for free speech entitles it to ignore the subcommittee’s compulsory process on the ground that it is a publisher of commercial advertising,” the memo adds.
“Backpage’s lawyers have [said] the company has not even bothered to search for and identify the documents responsive to the subpoena,” Portman added. “And with no lawful excuse, the company’s CEO has defaulted on his obligation to appear before the subcommittee today. These are not the actions of a party acting in good faith. He could have come. He could have pleaded the Fifth.
“It’s evidence of woeful defiance of the Senate’s process,” Portman said, and concluded that the case would be referred to the Department of Justice for criminal contempt.
