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jaydz

Yelp is a trash company, lets not forget how they extorted small businesses for years.

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I was not able to find a reputable source for this rumor.

What would be the bar for a reputable source here? An official court conviction?

Any source with any shred of proof, instead of a we-said-they-said blog post.

What do you mean by "proof", if your bar isn't a court conviction? [1] Lots of businesses have filed lawsuits over this over many years... here's just a few of the gazillion I find on Google. [2] [3] [4] [5] It's practically absurd to think these are all over nothing and there's no foul play going on. How many stories do you need before you believe it's possible that maybe not everyone who is suing the same entity is confused or lying?

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14238051

[2] http://kaohana.windward.hawaii.edu/2017/05/yelp-extortion-is...

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14238079

[4] https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/01/yelp-accused-of-hiding-po...

[5] https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/01/14/yelp-bullying-pay-r...

There is no "conviction" for a civil case, and the standard of proof is far lower in civil court than criminal. Has Yelp ever lost one of these lawsuits? Mostly they seem to get thrown out of court.

Anecdotally, I knew a business owner who complained about Yelp hiding negative reviews on a competitor's page, presumably because the competitor was an advertiser and his business was not. Reading the negative reviews, though, they were _obviously_ shams; it wouldn't be surprising if the complaining businessman had left them himself.

Several lawsuits have been filed against it and it has prevailed every time, owing to lack of evidence and a technicality on the point of law.

> Several lawsuits have been filed against it and it has prevailed every time, owing to lack of evidence and a technicality on the point of law.

But does what they're doing have to be illegal to be bad? I think most people would assume that if there's foul play, a huge corporation would find a legal way to do it, not an illegal one.

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