SAN FRANCISCO — Yelp, one of the most popular websites that let people post opinions about restaurants, shops and local services, is being sued by several small businesses that claim they’ve been pressured to advertise on the site in exchange for getting negative reviews squashed.
Yelp denies the claims, but what happened may never be clear. And regardless of what happens in court, the lawsuits could taint Yelp’s reputation as a leader in online reviews.
Yelp has faced many complaints since it began letting consumers post reviews about local businesses ranging from all-you-can-eat buffets to zip-line operators six years ago. Often businesses have complained about how reviews on the site — positive or negative — can mysteriously disappear and reappear.
But since late February, at least three lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed against the site by a dozen companies, complaining that reviews are manipulated depending on which companies advertise on the site and which do not.
The first suit, which explicitly alleges Yelp engaged in extortion and attempted extortion, was filed Feb. 23 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by Cats & Dogs Animal Hospital in Long Beach, Calif.
That lawsuit was amended in March to add nine more companies — some Yelp advertisers, some not. It alleges Yelp sales representatives indicated to businesses that they could alter site listings to help advertisers and harm nonadvertisers, and that Yelp has actually done so.
In an interview, Yelp co-founder and chief executive Jeremy Stoppelman said the businesses suing his company don’t understand how Yelp works.
Yelp says some reviews might come and go because it relies on an automated program to weigh reviews and filter out ones that might be untrustworthy, such as a negative review a spa owner might write about a competitor. Yelp says it does nothing to manipulate reviews, aside from allowing advertisers to choose one review they would like to feature at the top of the page about their business.
