No. 15-3047
5
that the same letter is going to other “institutions”—namely
other credit card companies—in other words that he is organizing a boycott. And notice that he doesn’t demand that
“your institution” refuse to allow “your credit cards” to be
used to pay just for ads on Backpage’s website that promote
illegal products or services—he demands that “your institution” cease and desist from placing any ads “on websites like
Backpage.com” (and a fortiori on Backpage’s own website)
even though “adult” ads are only one of eleven types of classified ad published on the website. Visa and MasterCard got
the message and cut all their ties to Backpage.
The letter goes on to state that “it has become increasingly indefensible for any corporation to continue to willfully
play a central role in an industry that reaps its cash from the
victimization of women and girls across the world.” The implication, given whom the letter is addressed to, is that credit
card companies, such as MasterCard and Visa, “willfully play
a central role” in a criminal activity (emphases added)—so
they had better stop! Indeed, the letter goes on to say, those
companies are “key” to the “growth” of sex trafficking in the
United States. (Actually, as explained in an amicus curiae
brief filed by the Cato Institute, Reason Foundation, and
DKT Liberty Project, citing voluminous governmental and
academic studies, there are no reliable statistics on which
Sheriff Dart could base a judgment that sex trafficking has
been increasing in the United States.) He is intimating that
two of the world’s largest credit card companies may be
criminal accomplices.
“Financial institutions,” the letter continues, “have the
legal duty to file ‘Suspicious Activity Reports’ to authorities
in cases of human trafficking and sexual exploitation of mi-