Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. The closing of Backpage.com back in 2018

elicited a lot of interesting questions that we're still grappling with today. Like, what is the balance

between freedom and safety online? Should there be a place where sex workers can safely vet potential clients?

What responsibility does a platform have to moderate user-generated content? Today, we've got an interview that answers one

question. What did it take to bring Backpage down? After years of accusations that the site was

involved in sex trafficking, its CEO instead pleaded guilty to money laundering

and conspiracy to facilitate prostitution. Maggie Krell was instrumental in that. She's a former

California state prosecutor who was involved in the case and author of the book Taking Down Backpage.

And she tells NPR's Rachel Martin about the delicate balance of going after bank page while also using it to prosecute traffickers.

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Maggie Krell knew it wasn't going to be just another case. The former California state prosecutor

was going after one of the largest sex trafficking websites in the world. It was called Backpage,

and in large part because of Krell's effort, it's been shut down since 2018. She tells the story

of that remarkable case in a new book called Taking Down Backpage, Fighting the World's Largest Sex

Trafficker.

In a plea deal with prosecutors, the CEO admitted to conspiracy to facilitate prostitution and money laundering.

He testified against the two men who founded the site with him.

Late last year, a federal judge declared a mistrial in that case.

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