It was a summer of reckoning. While protesters insisted “Black Lives Matter,” business review site Yelp introduced one way to PUNISH businesses who have reputations for racist actions against Black folks! What’s their strategy?
“For businesses accused of overtly racist actions, where we can link to a news article, we will escalate our [public attention] warning with the Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert,” read the company’s statement. How are consumers and businesses reacting to the change? Well, reviews are mixed.
Consumers responded favorably. After all, the alert would help them spend in alignment with their values. But business owners, who fear it might lead to false resorts and abuse, aren’t thrilled.
To address that concern, Yelp reviews the affected pages on a case-by-case basis. If a business has taken swift action to address the issue such as firing an offensive employee, the racist behavior alert can be downgraded to a “public attention” alert which signifies that an uptick of reviews may be in response to press rather than firsthand experience of the business.
So far, Yelp reports that 450 businesses have been flagged for “either [being] accused of, or the target of, racist behavior related to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Let’s hope the new initiative will trigger real consequences to the revenue and reputations of businesses who believe it’s okay to cause verbal, physical, or systemic harm against Black people.