MasterCard Stops Processing Purchases of Backpage.com Ads

MasterCard Inc. said it has stopped processing the purchase of ads on classified website Backpage.com after receiving a request to do so from the sheriff in Cook County, Ill.

Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart sent letters Monday to MasterCard and Visa Inc., asking them to "immediately cease and desist from allowing your credit cards to be used to place ads on websites like Backpage.com, which we have objectively found to promote prostitution and facilitate online sex trafficking."

The Wall Street Journal reviewed Mr. Dart's letters.

The sheriff is expected to release further information on his efforts surrounding credit cards and Backpage.com on Wednesday.

"They are being removed as a merchant in our system based on a request from the sheriff's office that we received," a MasterCard spokesman said.

A spokesman for Visa didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for Backpage.com couldn't be reached.

The announcement by MasterCard follows a decision by American Express Co. earlier this year to stop processing ads on the "adult" portion of the site, according to people familiar with the matter.

It isn't the first time the website has come under attack for the content of its ads. In 2010, attorneys general from 21 states called on the site to close its adult-services section because of concerns about potential sex trafficking.

In 2012, Backpage.com was split off from Village Voice Media Holdings LLC, which published a chain of alternative newspapers.

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