Very telling that you reply in depth supporting Yelp but conveniently ignore the first question.
So, did or do Yelp or any of its subsidiaries or marketing/PR partners support or fund you or this review or blog in any way?

David, this documentary was heavily slanted that Yelp is so evil that they intentional destroy and penalize businesses. I reached out to the filmmakers to discuss their project after I watched it. I have yet to hear back from them. I watched the video a few times since it was released. I even bought it on Amazon so I could discuss it in future talks and presentations. I went into watching it thinking that I was was going to finally have cold hard evidence to the long-held myth that Yelp was removing positive reviews and pushing negative reviews when businesses declined to advertise with them. Sadly, I was never presented with any evidence to substantiate that myth. I, as a marketer, decided to look at the business listings to see if I could find evidence for Yelp biases. I couldn’t find any. Instead, I found businesses that engage in deceptive marketing practices. I also discovered that a handful of the people interviewed in this project have backgrounds in digital marketing or are involved in self-promotion in one form or another.

Yelp is the only platform that polices its platform. Facebook does nothing. Google has support channels available to report fake reviews. I always hear people say that they wished that Google would do something to stop fake reviews. I find it interesting that Yelp gets attacked for doing what users wish Google would do. There will never be a perfect platform or solution where User Generated Content, i.e. reviews are concerned.

“Yelp has been accused of promoting negative reviews and demoting positive reviews for companies who refuse to pay them or stop paying them. In one particularly vivid example, the ‘reviewer’ was a documented friend of the rejected salesperson. This friend told a detailed story of being treated horribly after coming in for a repair and then being given her machine back in pieces, despite living a thousand miles away and despite many of the details being implausible or incredible when examined more closely.”

“Yes, but Yelp shows negative reviews of these businesses, with lots of details that would make people dislike them. Therefore the businesses are probably lying about Yelp making them look bad.”

*facepalm*

I completely get “Many people would rather lash out at innocent actors than admit they did something wrong”. I also get “People will lie to benefit themselves”. But I find it peculiar that you frame this story as though those principles only operate in Yelp’s favor.

Good for you! I totally agree!

I totally agree!

I couldn’t agree more!

I bet people are under the impression on that it was shut down because the documentary never stated she sold the restaurant. They wouldn’t fit the narrative that Yelp is evil, now would it. I somehow missed that between her tears. I know that the sound mixing was bad, but I am sure I would have caught that! That would make an excellent documentary, Yelp is so evil that I sold my business for triple what it was worth. Something doesn’t sit well and all I know, that restaurant was never going to make it at the pace it was on.

Yelp’s cites the consumer’s right to free speech when refusing to remove slanderous reviews written by people seeking to blackmail business for free items/service
and yet, ironically deems fit to hide scores of positive reviews written by real customers.
So, does the consumer’s right to free speech matter or not?

Let us also consider this strange anomaly:

Positive reviews written by real people, with: profile pictures, well written paragraphs/details, multiple pictures, check ins, and reviews for other establishments are removed almost immediately.

Negative reviews written by people with no profile picture, very few, or even no previous reviews, no uploads/check ins, will stay posted indefinitely.

Infact, in my experience the only time yelp removes a negative review is, if it is rife with vulgarities.

Yelp always tells us that the mystical algorithm takes into account: frequency of use, profile pictures,uploads,syntax,number of reviews, and so on.

But, it would seem that is a load of hogwash, and glaring inconsistency.

It is in fact in Yelp’s favour to bias for negative reviews to remain posted; as this creates stress and uncertainty for the business owner; leading to the eventual submission under pressure of constant harassment to pay for advertising.