Yelp Names and Shames Businesses Paying for 5-Star Reviews
Freeman writes:
Yelp has started publicly naming and shaming businesses that pay for reviews. The review site's new index [replaced bad link in original article] documents businesses offering everything from a crisp $100 bill for leaving the best review to a $400 Home Depot gift card for a 5-star review. It also lists every business whose reviews have ever been suspected of suspicious activity, like spamming the site with multiple reviews from a single IP address.
Engadget dubbed Yelp's new index a "wall of shame," suggesting that the information may be used by federal agencies who have spent the past few years cracking down on paid fake reviews. This year, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a ban on "the use of deceptive reviews and testimonials," with penalties up to $50,000 for businesses "caught buying, selling or manipulating online reviews," Engadget reported.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.