Popular Opinion Website, Yelp, Sued by Several Small Business Owners
Yelp is a popular web site that allows guests to post opinions about fifteen million small local businesses nationwide, such as restaurants, shops and service providers. Several small business owners recently filed suit against the company, saying that they have been pressured to buy advertising on the site in exchange for removing negative reviews.
At least three law suits have been filed in 2010 by a dozen or more companies claiming that Yelp manipulates reviews based on whether a business is an advertiser on the site or not. One of the suits was filed by Cats & Dogs Animal Hospital in Long Beach California, and alleges outright extortion; that suit has been joined by nine more companies.
The owner of the hospital says that after he received some negative reviews on the site, he began receiving calls from sales representatives saying that if he became an advertiser they would allow him to remove negative reviews and choose the order in which the reviews were shown. Other companies involved in the suit allege that Yelp sales representatives told them that they could alter review listings to help their own clients and harm those who were not clients. The other two suits make similar allegations; all three are seeking class action status.
Yelp denies the claims, saying that the companies involved do not understand how their site works. He said that reviews are automatically filtered according to reliability and may be removed if they are suspected to be written by the company's owner or by a competitor seeking to do harm. Advertisers are allowed to select one review to feature at the top of their page. He further stated that sales representative have no ability to manipulate reviews.
Read more about the lawsuit at Review Site Yelp Under Fire In Business' Lawsuits.
If you live in North Florida and have a business legal matter, please contact Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A., Jacksonville, Florida attorneys.
