Yelp to Label Businesses Accused of Racism
In a bizarre turn of events, Yelp announced on Twitter that they will soon be labeling businesses that are ACCUSED of racist behavior.
Today, we’re announcing a new consumer alert to stand against racism. In the last few months, we’ve seen that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions.
— Yelp (@Yelp) October 8, 2020
Communities have always turned to Yelp in reaction to current events, and our User Operations team already places alerts on business pages when we notice an unusual uptick in reviews that are based on what someone may have seen in the news, rather than on a first-hand experience.
— Yelp (@Yelp) October 8, 2020
Now, when a business gains attention for reports of racist conduct, Yelp will place a new Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert on their Yelp page to inform users, along with a link to a news article where they can learn more. https://t.co/1K2bJ46uM8
— Yelp (@Yelp) October 8, 2020
Now, when a business gains attention for reports of racist conduct, Yelp will place a new Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert on their Yelp page to inform users, along with a link to a news article where they can learn more. https://t.co/1K2bJ46uM8
— Yelp (@Yelp) October 8, 2020
On Yelp’s website, they give more details about the new policy.
At Yelp, we value diversity, inclusion and belonging, both internally and on our platform, which means we have a zero tolerance policy to racism….Communities have always turned to Yelp in reaction to current events at the local level. As the nation reckons with issues of systemic racism, we’ve seen in the last few months that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions….Now, when a business gains public attention for reports of racist conduct, such as using racist language or symbols, Yelp will place a new Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert on their Yelp page to inform users, along with a link to a news article where they can learn more about the incident.
As you can imagine, the response to this idea on Twitter was extraordinarily negative.
You dropped this. pic.twitter.com/lpSe8u7fjr
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 9, 2020
A “Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert?” Is this a Twilight Zone episode? If so, does the person who came up with this end up being falsely accused of racist behavior as a twist?
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) October 9, 2020
This is the most insane idea I’ve ever heard and I hope you are sued into bankruptcy
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) October 9, 2020
Yelp treated me a in a racist way.
Yelp: Please report yourself as racists.
— Todd Ξ Herman (Parler: ToddEHerman) (@toddeherman) October 9, 2020
In a world where accusations of racism are casually tossed around for any and every reason under the sun, this is obviously a terrible idea. It also does seem possible that it could lead to legal consequences for Yelp given what happened to Oberlin College. After false allegations against Gibson’s Bakery by their students, Oberlin College went along with labeling the business as racist. As a result, the college lost a lawsuit and is currently appealing a 25 million dollar libel verdict.
Could the same thing happen to Yelp? If they go through with this, let’s hope so!