Consumer Advocacy Archives

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Yelp Consumer Alerts: We Take the Guesswork out of Online Reviews

February 1, 2016

For nearly twelve years, we at Yelp have been working around the clock to promote consumer trust. At the heart of this mission is the belief that consumers need access…

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The US Senate Speaks Out to Protect Online Reviews

November 4, 2015

Today, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on “How Gagging Honest Reviews Harms Consumers and the Economy,” focusing on the proposed Consumer Review Freedom Act…

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Consumer Protection Initiative Uncovers Shady Group of Movers

September 3, 2015

Earlier this week we announced new Consumer Alerts, part of our Consumer Protection Initiative, to protect people from attempts to mislead them on Yelp. Although most businesses earn their reputations…

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Consumer Alerts: Continuing to Protect your Peace of Mind

September 1, 2015

Consumer trust has always been Yelp’s number one priority. From our LIVES open data standard integrating restaurant health scores onto business pages, to our more recent ProPublica partnership incorporating health…

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Yelp’s Consumer Protection Initiative: ProPublica Partnership Brings Medical Info to Yelp

August 5, 2015

UPDATE (April 2019): ProPublica has ceased its dialysis center data collection and that information is no longer displayed on Yelp listings as a result. Yelp exists to empower and protect…

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Consumer Alerts: We Don’t Tolerate Review Manipulation

June 1, 2015

Yelp launched its Consumer Alerts program nearly three years ago to catch people who might be trying to manipulate ratings and reviews. Today, we’re activating a new round of 51…

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Freedom of Speech Deserves Better Federal Protection

May 15, 2015

Businesses and powerful interest groups routinely threaten the rights of consumers who speak out on matters of public interest on sites like Yelp. Many of them try to pervert the…

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Yelp’s LIVES Program Encourages Restaurants to Clean Up Health Scores

February 16, 2015

In the Spring of 2013, a group of randomly selected restaurateurs in a major U.S. city received a letter in the mail with their most recent restaurant hygiene inspection score.…

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Yelp Consumer Alerts: Shady Business Tactics? Not on Our Watch

January 27, 2015

Yelp began its Consumer Alerts program in October of 2012 to help consumers make more informed spending decisions. Our team of detectives is on a mission to catch businesses which…

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Yelp Consumer Alerts: Helping You Make Educated Spending Decisions

September 2, 2014

Yelp goes to extraordinary lengths in an effort to protect consumers from fake reviews. Our recommendation software is at the center of our operations, highlighting only those reviews that we…

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Attempts to Mislead Consumers? Not On Our Watch!

May 14, 2014

We have just issued a new round of Consumer Alerts that let people know when we’ve caught a business trying to artificially inflate Yelp reviews. The reason so many people…

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Yelp Consumer Alerts: We Weren’t Fooled, but Thought You Should Know

February 28, 2014

As a consumer, would you want to know if someone was trying to mislead you? We know we would. This is exactly why we introduced our Consumer Alerts program back…