"SXSW Specials" abound on Backpage.com. Government agencies have been trying for years to get the site to shut off illicit sex work ads.
Even as a SXSW discusses how online classifieds service Backpage.com is a hotbed for sex trafficking and the U.S. Senate gets set to take nearly unprecedented action by holding the site in contempt for facilitating human trafficking, police in Austin say the number of Backpage ads offering illicit hookups—some of which may well involve girls forced to provide sex in exchange for money—continues to blossom during SXSW and other big events.