Tipsheet

Yelp's New 'Anti-Racist' Flagging Policy Is Raising Eyebrows

Ellie Bufkin
Ellie Bufkin  |  October 09, 2020 12:50 PM

On Wednesday, the user-powered, restaurant rating giant Yelp announced that they would be adding a new feature to their crowd-sourced review system.

The new system claims that it will target businesses that have been accused of racist behavior or "egregious, racially charged actions" so that potential customers will know ahead of their patronage whether that business is powered by bigots. 

"Today, we’re announcing a new consumer alert to stand against racism," the company said in a tweet. "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."

Of course, there was no further explanation about what types of accusations would be taken seriously and which would be discredited. They simply said that they would link to whatever material could maybe provide more context. 

"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," Yelp claimed innocently. 

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The lack of definition behind "racist conduct" left many scratching their heads after enduring months of mob mentality taking hold of the public square and deeming anything and everything "racist" without justification or evidence. 

The Black Lives Matter movement and their allies believe that anyone who does not subscribe to the purity of Critical Race Theory is a racist and further believes that all white people are, in fact, born racist. 

For years, Yelp has acted as a thorn in the side but a necessary evil to small businesses who depend on the crowd-sourced approval to get their name to the top of "best of" lists and increase foot traffic. Bad reviews and slander against business owners on Yelp have cost establishments revenue and even forced their closure. After a year in which small businesses have struggled to keep their heads above water and survive on income greatly curtailed by the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, the threat by Yelp to discriminate against them based on vague politics levies a significant threat. 

The civil unrest over the summer proved to small businesses that "anti-racists" and their far-left ideology have no problem taking a business down, smashing in their windows, and even burning their building to the ground if they suspect racial malfeasance. Now, Yelp is handing them a roadmap. 

Yelp has been accused for years of attempting to gain money by telling small businesses they will remove negative reviews and increase their visibility for a fee. No monetary request for removing accusations of racism has yet been reported. 

Some Twitter users immediately drew a parallel between Yelp's new policy and Communist China's policy of social merits and demerits.