Software Company Accused of Knowingly Supporting Child Sex Trafficking Operation Loses Federal Appeal

A federal appeals court has sided with an alleged sex abuse victim and her mother by reviving a lawsuit accusing a California-based company of aiding one of its clients in a sex trafficking scheme.

The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided Thursday that the cloud-based software company Salesforce should have known that one of its clients, Backpage.com, was involved in the trafficking of children. The plaintiffs at the center of the case are the purported victim, G.G., and her mother, Deanna Rose, while Salesforce is identified as the defendant.

Writing for the majority opinion, Judge David Hamilton said G.G. ran away from home in 2016 at age 13, and allegedly fell into the hands of sex traffickers. The traffickers reportedly used the girl in advertisements for escorts on the now-defunct Backpage.com, an advertisement that G.G.’s mother eventually found.

According to the suit, Backpage did not remove the advertisements after referring G.G’s mom to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Hamilton cited Salesforce’s business relationship with Backpage, which consisted of providing the business with advice and “custom-tailored software.” The judge found that the software company “knowingly benefited” from Backpage’s sex-trafficking venture, arguing that Salesforce had to have known or should have at least been aware of it. (Excerpt from The Christian Post.)