Yelp has announced a new consumer alert for businesses that have been accused of “racist behaviour,” effectively targeting them for consumer backlash.
Yelp announced the creation of the “Business Accused of Racist Behaviour Alert” on Thursday morning. “We’ve seen that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions,” Yelp tweeted.
Today, we’re announcing a new consumer alert to stand against racism. In the last few months, we’ve seen that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions.
— Yelp (@Yelp) October 8, 2020
Now, when a business gains attention for reports of racist conduct, Yelp will place a new Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert on their Yelp page to inform users, along with a link to a news article where they can learn more. https://t.co/1K2bJ46uM8
— Yelp (@Yelp) October 8, 2020
The new alert is an extension of their recent creation, the “Public Attention Alert,” which was designed in “response to a rise in social activism surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement,” a Yelp blog post explains.
The PAA will be placed on a business if “someone associated wiht the business was accused of, or the target of, racist behaviour,” while the BARBA will be added to the business page “when there’s resounding evidence of egregious, racist actions from a business owner or employee, such as using overtly racist slurs or symbols,” and will include a link to a news article on the topic.
Read our full blog here: https://t.co/1K2bJ46uM8. pic.twitter.com/S04Bu9ehdE
— Yelp (@Yelp) October 9, 2020
READ MORE: REPORT: Yelp Finds 60% of Businesses Closed for Pandemic Won’t Reopen
Yelp is continuing their work with the “Open to All” group, “a national nondiscrimination campaign based around the idea that everyone should be welcome regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, immigration status, religion or disability.”
Yelp and Open to All are now offering a “toolkit” to help “fight against racism,” which includes access to “a 60-minute unlearning bias training video,” email templates, posters for employee breakrooms and access to sample graphics and posts for social media.
We know small businesses are struggling these days. As you’re opening your stores safely, make sure your customers know you are #OpenToAll! We’re proud to work with @OpentoAllofUs to develop this toolkit to support inclusive businesses. https://t.co/bnJsEGkk4l
— Yelp (@Yelp) October 8, 2020
In 2018, Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said that Silicon Valley had “lost its purpose,” in that they should not simply be focused on making the most money, but having an impact on society, including acting against racism. “If its purpose really was, ‘hey, we’re really trying to have a positive impact,’ just focusing on technology and growth might not be enough,” Stoppelman said. “You might actually have to make decisions that hurt growth.”
There was widespread backlash to the plans on social media. Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer and Republican Committeewoman from California, described the plans as “bullsh*t,” and said that Yelp was “weaponising defamation.”
This is bullshit, @Yelp. You are weaponizing defamation. More work for me, more litigation for you. https://t.co/dGsUfaSH01
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) October 9, 2020
Lauren Witzke, the Republican Senate candidate for Delaware, described Yelp’s plan as “economic terrorism,” arguing that BLM activists and others would use the list of businesses tagged with the alerts as targets for looting. “We know violent thugs will quickly turn their hatred into personal and property crime,” Witzke wrote.
This is economic terrorism.
We know violent thugs will quickly turn their hatred into personal and property crime.
Yelp should pay for each and every instance of lost revenue and property damage.
— Lauren Witzke (@LaurenWitzkeDE) October 9, 2020
Yelp may also be opening themselves up to defamation suits. In June this year, a bakery near Oberlin College was awarded $44 million in damages from the college, after a judge ruled that they had jumped on the side of their students who had boycotted the bakery, claiming it was racist.
