Post Backpage Shutdown, Smaller Sites Vie for Their Piece of the Pie

When one business closes, competitors of varying size will try to scoop up its former clients. The shutdown of Backpage.com this past April is no different.

When the FBI seized the site earlier this year, Backpage’s closure contributed to a fall in the number of sex ads being posted online and severely disrupted the marketplace. Now, smaller escort websites are vying for shares of the online sex and sex-adjacent services market that the site previously dominated.

According to a report from phys.org, online sex ads plunged in April following Backpage’s seizure and the passage of legislation aimed at – however misguided — websites facilitating sex trafficking. A new analysis has found that the drop in the number of ads may have been short-lived though.

Phys.org reported that Pittsburgh-based software company Marinus Analytics has stated that there were about 146,000 online sex ads posted per day in the U.S. on escort websites from mid-September to mid-October – obviously post-Backpage. In contrast, there were about 133,000 such ads posted on Backpage in the month before its shutdown. Marinus Analytics expects the total for ads placed this month to be even higher.

According to Phys.org, this is because smaller sites see the Backpage shutdown as an opportunity to expand. Emily Kennedy, Marinus Analytics’ president and co-founder, said to Phys.org: “[Smaller sites are] really competing with each other for that spot now and so we’re seeing frequent activity at this point.” Kennedy added that, as long as the escort remains lucrative, “people are going to figure out a way to advertise it.”

With any data, it’s always important to look for holes or possible misrepresentations. For instance, regardless of Backpage’s status, how many ads were being posted on ancillary sex and sex-adjacent service provider sites before April? It could be that the numbers are exactly the same, then and now. Further, according to phys.org, uncited experts have suggested that ads can be duplicates across sites, or outright fakes. Kennedy stated that the company has a process to remove fake and duplicate ads though, and those are not included in the tally.

The same uncited experts also pointed out that the “interest from sex buyers” remains low compared to the Backpage era. In other words, just because there’re a lot of ads being posted doesn’t mean that said ads are getting a lot of action, interest or conversion.

The notion that people are still out there hustlin’ is promising. The closure of Backpage seriously impacted the financial security and physical safety of countless sex workers. As such, the fact that people have found other spots to advertise services safely is good. I would be remiss though if I did not address the sex trafficking issue. Under no uncertain terms are self-determined sex work and escorting the same as coerced sex trafficking, but the fact remains that ads related to illegal activity were certainly being placed on Backpage. As such, this crop of current ads must also certainly include a percentage of these illegal placements.

Wouldn’t it have been smarter to leave the sites alone and figure out a way to filter between the two, thereby catching criminals while letting willing and of-age workers do their damn jobs? Oh well…

NB: It’s unknown if these currently operating escort sites looking to expand will eventually meet the same fate as Backpage. Time will tell.

Image via Joe Burge.