As a couple of others have already noted, this film should have been titled, "The War On Backpage." While the film does talk about child sex trafficking, that really isn't the thrust of this movie. Therefore the way this film is positioned and marketed is highly misleading. If I knew this film was about Backpage.com, I doubt I would have watched it, which I'm sure is why the film is being positioned the way it is.
The primary thrust of this movie is about how Backpage has a personals section where there is de facto child sex trafficking, and that this should be stopped. So we keep on seeing lawsuits against Backpage, but Backpage keeps winning based on section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Now, the obvious solution (at least to me), is that Congress should modify the law, and perhaps give a "carve out" to make it criminal to publish this type of thing. But that would be too hard for Congress, as companies like Google and Microsoft don't want that law to be touched. So Congress isn't blamed here, probably because Senators like John McCain, Claire McCaskill and Rob Portman were cooperative with the filmmakers. Instead, the judges are blamed for siding with Backpage. So the film leans toward it being the judges' fault, because this is clearly wrong, and they should be more activist.
The film is earnest enough in trying to make its point, but that doesn't mean it's a good movie. If you're really interested in seeing a movie about child sex trafficking, watch "Abduction of Eden" (sometimes just called "Eden"), which stars Jamie Chung and is based on a true story. It is a harrowing, upsetting movie to watch, but I thought it was magnificent. I thought I would see a documentary perspective of something similar to that, but that is not at all what is going on here.
The primary thrust of this movie is about how Backpage has a personals section where there is de facto child sex trafficking, and that this should be stopped. So we keep on seeing lawsuits against Backpage, but Backpage keeps winning based on section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Now, the obvious solution (at least to me), is that Congress should modify the law, and perhaps give a "carve out" to make it criminal to publish this type of thing. But that would be too hard for Congress, as companies like Google and Microsoft don't want that law to be touched. So Congress isn't blamed here, probably because Senators like John McCain, Claire McCaskill and Rob Portman were cooperative with the filmmakers. Instead, the judges are blamed for siding with Backpage. So the film leans toward it being the judges' fault, because this is clearly wrong, and they should be more activist.
The film is earnest enough in trying to make its point, but that doesn't mean it's a good movie. If you're really interested in seeing a movie about child sex trafficking, watch "Abduction of Eden" (sometimes just called "Eden"), which stars Jamie Chung and is based on a true story. It is a harrowing, upsetting movie to watch, but I thought it was magnificent. I thought I would see a documentary perspective of something similar to that, but that is not at all what is going on here.