Between May 26 and September 30, we placed more than 450 alerts on business pages that were either accused of, or the target of, racist behavior related to the Black Lives Matter movement. So far in 2020, we’ve seen a 133% increase in the number of media-fueled incidences on Yelp compared to the same time last year. For businesses accused of overtly racist actions, where we can link to a news article, we will escalate our warning with the Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert. If someone associated with a business is accused of, or the target of, racist behavior, we will place a Public Attention Alert on the business page to warn consumers that the business may be receiving an influx of reviews as a result of increased attention.
The new Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert is an extension of our Public Attention Alert that we introduced in response to a rise in social activism surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. We don’t allow people to leave reviews based on media reports because it can artificially inflate or deflate a business’s star rating. This policy is critical to mitigating fake reviews and maintaining the integrity of content on our platform.
We advocate for personal expression and provide a platform that encourages people to share their experience online, but at the same time it’s always been Yelp’s policy that all reviews must be based on actual first-hand consumer experiences with the business. Yelp’s top priority is to ensure the trust and safety of our users and provide them with reliable content to inform their spending decisions, including decisions about whether they’ll be welcome and safe at a particular business. Now, when a business gains public attention for reports of racist conduct, such as using racist language or symbols, 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 about the incident. Yelp’s User Operations team already places alerts on business pages when we notice an unusual uptick in reviews that are based on what someone may have seen in the news or on social media, rather than on a first-hand experience with the business. As the nation reckons with issues of systemic racism, we’ve seen in the last few months 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. A New Consumer Alert to Stand Against RacismĬommunities have always turned to Yelp in reaction to current events at the local level. Today, in response to this, we will now place a distinct Consumer Alert on business pages to caution people about businesses that may be associated with overtly racist actions. While searches for Black-owned businesses surged on Yelp, so did the volume of reviews warning users of racist behavior at businesses. We partnered with My Black Receipt on the launch of a Black-owned business attribute and joined the 15 Percent Pledge to further amplify Black-owned businesses. Over the summer, Yelp rolled out a number of initiatives to help users find and support Black-owned businesses. Support for women-owned businesses has also increased, with review mentions up 114% for the same time period. In fact, we’ve seen that reviews mentioning Black-owned businesses were up more than 617% this summer compared to last summer. We know these values are important to our users and now more than ever, consumers are increasingly conscious of the types of businesses they patronize and support. Update: To learn about the most commonly asked questions regarding our media-fueled Consumer Alerts, read more in our FAQ.Īt Yelp, we value diversity, inclusion and belonging, both internally and on our platform, which means we have a zero tolerance policy to racism.
0 kommentar(er)
