Yelp alters online review program

Apr 5, 2010

Dentists and other business owners can no longer pay to have their favorite reviews moved to the top of the page on the Yelp Web site, the company announced April 6. In addition, the company said it will now allow users to see reviews it had filtered out in the past.

At least two dentists have sued Yelp reviewers for defamation. And last month two attorneys filed class-action lawsuits against the company, accusing it of extorting money from businesses reviewed on the site.

A lawsuit by the Weston Firm of San Diego in collaboration with Beck & Lee of Miami, and one by the firm of Ronald Marron, representing the owner of an Imperial Beach, CA, day spa, claim that representatives of Yelp have offered to display more favorable reviews for businesses that buy advertising from the site, and have displayed more negative reviews for businesses that decline.

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman argues that the allegations result from confusion about how the site operates. It has allowed advertisers to move only one review to the top of the page devoted to each business. And its computers use an algorithm to screen out reviews that are solicited by the business owners, posted by competitors, or are otherwise problematic.

"Lifting the veil on our review filter and doing away with 'Favorite Review' will make it even clearer that displayed reviews on Yelp are completely independent of advertising -- or any sort of manipulation," Stoppelman stated on his blog.

On its own blog, the Beck & Lee law firm was quick to claim victory. "Small businesses have been expressing their outrage at Yelp's dirty business practices for a long time, and it is unfortunate that it took the filing of a class action to get Yelp to make even these amends," wrote Jared H. Beck.

But he went on to say that Yelp sales representatives had tried to sell his clients not just the opportunity to put one favorable review at the top of the list, but to eliminate "bogus" reviews and control the order of others. And he added that the firm will still seek restitution for damages done to its clients by Yelp's practices.