It’s the first step to stopping sex trafficking, but many say it is just a start.
While the go-to online site, backpage.com is now shut down by the federal government, other sites are now exploiting minors.
"I know a lot of people are thinking, 'wow backpage is shut down and the rest is history,' but really it is not,” said activist Kasey McClure.
As Channel 2 Action News first reported on the Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat on Sunday, backpage.com is now controlled by the feds and Monday, its co-founders were charged in an alleged scheme to promote prostitution and launder money.
McClure is against sex trafficking, she's been working for years to help victims of the illegal activity. While she's happy Backpage is shut down, she says those who sell young girls for sex are now using other sites.
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“They started using Instagram, they started using SnapChat, Tinder, they even went on Plenty of Fish. There’s girls as young as 14 which have been on Plenty of Fish, which is a dating site," she explained.
When we went digging online, we found a slew of copycat websites.
Channel 2's Lauren Pozen reached out to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and in a statement they said in part,
"There are lesser known sites that were already in operation and are already being used to fill the void. We will continue all enforcement efforts to dismantle any individual or entity that utilizes the internet for sexual exploitation of children."
There's another worry though.
"We are really concerned they are going to go on the street. If you shut down the internet, and the ads that link it to credit cards or link it to people that are setting these accounts up," McClure said.
It's not just the streets the young girls could be sold on. McClure says now their "Johns" host private parties or even make the girls work strip clubs.
Cox Media Group
