The Enshittification of Yelp
The Enshittification of YelpSince 2010, small businesses have repeatedly accused Yelp of pairing aggressive advertising sales calls with a review filter that they alleged buried positive reviews for non-advertisers, claims Yelp has consistently denied. A 2014 Ninth Circuit ruling dismissed an extortion class action, holding that even manipulating reviews to induce ad purchases would amount to permissible 'hard bargaining' rather than extortion, and the FTC closed investigations without action despite logging more than 2,000 complaints. Yelp's business model places competitors' ads on non-paying businesses' pages and sells paid upgrades to remove them, and in 2020 the company drew criticism for auto-creating GoFundMe fundraisers on business pages without owners' consent.
Alternatives
Community-maintained map and local business data run by a nonprofit foundation, with no ads, no sales calls, and openly licensed data.
Neighborhood network where local business recommendations come from verified neighbors rather than a filtered review algorithm.
The Paper Trail
| Date | Category | Symptom · rating · source |
|---|---|---|
| 2010-02 | quality | Class action alleges ad sales tied to review manipulationA Long Beach veterinary hospital filed a proposed class action in federal court alleging Yelp sales representatives offered to remove or bury negative reviews in exchange for roughly $300 per month in advertising. Yelp called the allegations demonstrably false.↳ ABC News |
| 2014-04 | ads | FTC records disclose 2,046 small-business complaintsRecords obtained from the FTC under the Freedom of Information Act showed 2,046 complaints against Yelp, largely from business owners reporting persistent sales calls that continued after requests to stop, and allegations that reviews changed in connection with advertising decisions. Yelp said the complaint volume was small relative to the millions of businesses listed on the site.↳ MarTech |
| 2014-09 | quality | Ninth Circuit dismisses extortion suit in Levitt v. YelpThe Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a class action by businesses alleging Yelp manipulated reviews to coerce advertising purchases, holding that businesses have no pre-existing right to positive reviews and that such conduct, even if proven, would constitute 'hard bargaining' rather than extortion under the law. The court did not determine whether Yelp actually manipulated reviews.↳ US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (via Justia) |
| 2015-01 | quality | FTC closes year-long investigation without actionThe FTC concluded a year-long inquiry into Yelp's review system and advertising practices, prompted by complaints that the company manipulated reviews to pressure ad purchases, and took no enforcement action. It was the second FTC investigation into Yelp's practices to close without action.↳ Entrepreneur |
| 2016-09 | ads | Removing competitors' ads from a business page requires paid upgradeYelp's ads and upgrades terms formalized 'Restrict Competitors' Ads' as a paid Business Page Upgrade, meaning free business pages display ads for competing businesses unless the owner pays for an enhanced profile. The upgrade has been sold both individually and bundled with Yelp ad packages.↳ Yelp Ads and Upgrades Terms |
| 2019-05 | quality | 'Billion Dollar Bully' documentary airs business owners' allegationsThe documentary Billion Dollar Bully, released May 21, 2019, compiled accounts from small-business owners alleging aggressive Yelp ad sales tactics and review changes after declining to advertise; Yelp denied the claims and pointed to a Harvard Business School study finding no evidence of review manipulation tied to advertising. Yelp bought the film's domain name and redirected it to a rebuttal page.↳ Slate |
| 2020-03 | features | Auto-created GoFundMe fundraisers paused after opt-out outcryYelp paused a program with GoFundMe that had automatically created COVID-19 fundraisers on an estimated 144,000 business pages without owners' consent, after businesses complained that opting out required submitting identification documents. Yelp said it would move to an opt-in approach.↳ TechCrunch |
The Wall
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<a href="https://enshittification.xyz/yelp"><img src="https://enshittification.xyz/badge/yelp.svg" alt="Yelp on the Enshittification Index"></a>