3 ms·

This operation seems like a complete waste of taxpayer money. While paid reviews are a violation of Yelp's TOS, since most businesses didn't add themselves to Y

This operation seems like a complete waste of taxpayer money. While paid reviews are a violation of Yelp's TOS, since most businesses didn't add themselves to Yelp (they were added by reviewers or Yelp itself), they have not agreed to and are not subject to those TOS. Some incredibly blatant actions may qualify as fraud, but the bar for avoiding such accusations is very low. Businesses can simply ask paid reviewers not to post inauthentic reviews, and they have met their burden.

criley2 13y ago
Lying about a business in a public forum with the sole motivation of harming the business... that's fraud. "fraud is intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual;" Not a legal definition, but a good enough definition for now. I think it's a decent use of taxpayer money to help combat the defrauding of businesses in the area. If they were printing these fake derogatory reviews in local newspapers or on local TV, would your opinion of the fraud change?
- r00fus 13y ago
  The NYT article shouldn't say "fake" but "fraudulent", as that's the crux of the issue. I can put up a fake review, but if it's with the intent to harm, it's fraudulent. Now what do we do about fake reviews that are puff pieces intended to goose ratings?
  - chris_mahan 13y ago
    I agree. There's a difference between review one: "I tried their yogurt, and it tastes like New Jersey Shore Sand", and review two: "Go to my_shOes.cOm and get great sneakers for chEap." One is obviously lousy to the business. The other, just SEO.
CamperBob2 13y ago
I'm of two minds about it. It doesn't seem like a solid legal argument for the state to make on a criminal-law basis -- who's to say that bogus reviews aren't "free speech?" -- and I don't see how they have standing to bring civil actions. Perhaps an attorney could comment to fill in some of the many blanks left by the NYT article? The other side of the coin is that from the perspective of the victimized businesses, fake reviews are equivalent to any other form of organized crime. Same effect, in that the business (metaphorically) burns down if you don't pay off any of the numerous entitles laying claim to your customers' mindshare... entities among whom Yelp itself is the least shady. There's got to be some way to stop this behavior before we all live and work under the online version of the Russian mafia.

criley2 13y ago

Lying about a business in a public forum with the sole motivation of harming the business... that's fraud. "fraud is intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual;" Not a legal definition, but a good enough definition for now. I think it's a decent use of taxpayer money to help combat the defrauding of businesses in the area. If they were printing these fake derogatory reviews in local newspapers or on local TV, would your opinion of the fraud change?

r00fus 13y ago
The NYT article shouldn't say "fake" but "fraudulent", as that's the crux of the issue. I can put up a fake review, but if it's with the intent to harm, it's fraudulent. Now what do we do about fake reviews that are puff pieces intended to goose ratings?
- chris_mahan 13y ago
  I agree. There's a difference between review one: "I tried their yogurt, and it tastes like New Jersey Shore Sand", and review two: "Go to my_shOes.cOm and get great sneakers for chEap." One is obviously lousy to the business. The other, just SEO.

CamperBob2 13y ago

I'm of two minds about it. It doesn't seem like a solid legal argument for the state to make on a criminal-law basis -- who's to say that bogus reviews aren't "free speech?" -- and I don't see how they have standing to bring civil actions. Perhaps an attorney could comment to fill in some of the many blanks left by the NYT article? The other side of the coin is that from the perspective of the victimized businesses, fake reviews are equivalent to any other form of organized crime. Same effect, in that the business (metaphorically) burns down if you don't pay off any of the numerous entitles laying claim to your customers' mindshare... entities among whom Yelp itself is the least shady. There's got to be some way to stop this behavior before we all live and work under the online version of the Russian mafia.