The front page is usually a section in a newspaper that contains the biggest news stories of the day and teases out other interesting stories inside. The term is also used to describe a page on a website that appears when someone first visits it and is the primary entry point for the site.
In 2014, three Jane Does who were sex trafficked as minors sued Backpage in federal court, arguing that the site facilitated sex trafficking by allowing and encouraging ad posters to use its platform to advertise for prostitution and other adult services. The district court ruled against the Jane Does, but on appeal, the First Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding that Backpage’s activities were “traditional publisher functions” regarding third-party content and were protected under CDA Section 230.
In 2018, three Jane Does re-filed their complaint against Backpage in federal court, alleging that the site had substantially changed ads connected to them, thereby removing its Section 230 protection. In August 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York ruled against the Jane Does, finding that the site had violated their rights by failing to monitor or take down ads that posed a threat to children, and that the site’s actions were “hopelessly vague” and in violation of both the First Amendment and the Commerce Clause.