FACT CHECK: Greitens, Koster battle over Backpage

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BRANSON MO NEWS: Leading up to a Sept. 30 debate in Branson, Missouri, the candidates focused their efforts on who could advocate better on behalf of Missouri women.The release claims that Koster “fell silent” on investigating the website Backpage.com in 2011, after receiving “over $12,000 in campaign contributions” from a legal and lobbying firm representing the site, SNR Denton.That’s a pretty heavy charge. We decided to look into the claim.Backpage, a free classifieds website, has been criticized for promoting prostitution and helping facilitate human trafficking.In 2010, Koster and other attorneys general were trying to get the site to remove its adult services page. Backpage has yet to comply. According to the campaign release, Koster ceased any efforts against Backpage following donations from SNR Denton.We reached out to both the Greitens campaign and Koster’s press secretary to compare their versions of the story.Battling BackpageMuch like Craigslist, Backpage lets users buy and sell items and services online. Unlike Craigslist, which removed adult services in 2010, Backpage still has an adult services section.Before getting into campaign finance, it’s important to understand the timeline of Koster’s work against Backpage, and how that timeline is described by each campaign.Starting …