I would liken Yelp to be closer to organized crime than Uber. Yelp subtly shakes down businesses as part of their revenue through the "People love us on Yelp" p

I would liken Yelp to be closer to organized crime than Uber. Yelp subtly shakes down businesses as part of their revenue through the "People love us on Yelp" program to earn the sticker on their business and because of the perception Yelp creates that paying customers will show up higher on the search results page and with a higher Yelp rating. It has been documented that Yelp actively solicits sponsorship fees that not only help earn these stickers but also subsequently serve to boost business rankings and ratings. [1] http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/11/business/fi-lazarus11 http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/11/business/fi-lazarus1... [2] http://consumerist.com/2014/09/04/appeals-court-yelps-ad-team-isnt-extorting-small-businesses/ http://consumerist.com/2014/09/04/appeals-court-yelps-ad-tea... <-read the details on what the court defined as "hard bargaining" vs "extortion" [3] http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Yelp-can-give-paying-clients-better-ratings-5731200.php http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Yelp-can-give-paying-clie...