Business review aggregator Yelp has gone full-blown social justice warrior with their service. Yesterday, they announced they will be placing warning labels on any businesses that are accused of being racist. Just a simple influx of accusations is enough to put a business on the defensive within the popular recommendation site. According to their website:
Communities have always turned to Yelp in reaction to current events at the local level. As the nation reckons with issues of systemic racism, we’ve seen in the last few months that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions. Yelp’s User Operations team already places alerts on business pages when we notice an unusual uptick in reviews that are based on what someone may have seen in the news or on social media, rather than on a first-hand experience with the business. Now, when a business gains public attention for reports of racist conduct, such as using racist language or symbols, Yelp will place a new Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert on their Yelp page to inform users, along with a link to a news article where they can learn more about the incident.
It goes perfectly with the times as so many companies in Silicon Valley have been virtue signaling about systemic racism, Black Lives Matter, and a perception of white supremacy rearing its ugly head. But as the Bible notes, one should cast out the beam from one’s own eye before calling out the mote in our brother’s eye. Is Yelp devoid of racism as a company? We investigated, and what we found was quite shocking.
On the latest episode of NOQ Report, Jeff Dornik and I discussed two example of mainstream media reporting racism at Yelp. One was against the company itself for allowing it to display Korean restaurants on searches for “dog meat” and Chinese restaurants on searches for “cat meat.” According to the Tampa Bay Times:
A strange thing happened when typing “dog menu” into the restaurant ratings website and app Yelp. It automatically generated suggested searches. There were dog massage, hot dogs, pet groomers.
Also: “dog meat.”
But it got more disturbing. Take Yelp up on that offer to show you the best restaurants for dog meat, and it almost always suggested a Korean restaurant. Swap dog for cat, and Yelp pointed toward Chinese restaurants.
The search results were duplicated by the Tampa Bay Times in Yelp searches for restaurants in a dozen U.S. cities and regions, including Tampa Bay, Chicagoland, the San Francisco Bay area, New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Boston, Austin, Seattle, Atlanta and Jacksonville.
Almost always, Korean restaurants appeared as sponsored results at the top — advertisements the restaurants paid for. “Cat meat” revealed a similar pattern, though the results, both sponsored and unpaid, almost always prioritized Chinese restaurants.
The second example was more recent and dealt with reports of racism between employees at the Phoenix Yelp office. According to Business Insider:
Some people of color at Yelp’s Phoenix office said they experienced racism from hostile customers, as well as their own colleagues. They witnessed racist language, including nicknames and the n-word, as well as memes that mocked non-white clients.
Sexism, they say, occurred too, both from customers and colleagues. “You can only be called a c–t so many times before it wears on your soul,” one said.
Business Insider spoke to nine current or former employees of the buzzy internet firm about the culture in its Phoenix office.
These sources said they experienced a hard-partying and sometimes-exclusionary atmosphere, with some claiming there was drug use in the office and that employees engaged in a sexual act at a Christmas party.
It’s time to see if Yelp will turn its lens on itself. According to the blog post, all that’s required to trigger the racism warning is for a company to have an influx of complaints and for there to be media references to the perceived racism. If we can get enough people to write reviews for Yelp Headquarters that indicate racism, they will need to examine their own practices. They probably won’t, but it’s worth a shot.
Cool, so if you’re ever mad about getting bad service at a restaurant you can just accuse them of racism and Yelp will singlehandedly help you destroy their business. Seems smart. https://t.co/5jn8WQvxkD
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) October 9, 2020
Yelp’s racism is clear, documented by the media, and falls in line with their new labeling policy. Now, all we need is for enough people to write reviews. Will they label themselves with their new “Racist Behavior” warning? Let’s find out.
COVID-19 may take down an independent news outlet
Nobody said running a media site would be easy. We could use some help keeping this site afloat.
Colleagues have called me the worst fundraiser ever. My skills are squarely rooted on the journalistic side of running a news outlet. Paying the bills has never been my forte, but we’ve survived. We have ads on the site that help, but since the site’s inception this has been a labor of love that otherwise doesn’t bring in the level of revenue necessary to justify it.
When I left a nice, corporate career in 2017, I did so knowing I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. But what we do at NOQ Report to deliver the truth and fight the progressive mainstream media narrative that has plagued this nation is too important for me to sacrifice it for the sake of wealth. We know we’ll never make a ton of money this way, and we’re okay with that.
Things have become harder with the coronavirus lockdowns. Both ad money and donations that have kept us afloat for a while have dropped dramatically. We thought we could weather the storm, but the so-called “surge” or “2nd-wave” that mainstream media and Democrats are pushing has put our prospects in jeopardy. In short, we are now in desperate need of financial assistance.
The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We need approximately $11,500 to stay afloat for the rest of 2020, but more would be wonderful and any amount that brings us closer to our goal is greatly appreciated.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. This shouldn’t be the case as our traffic the last year has been going up dramatically. June, 2018, we had 11,678 visitors. A year later in June, 2019, we were up to 116,194. In June, 2020, we had 614,192. We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
Election year or not, coronavirus lockdowns or not, anarchic riots or not, the need for truthful journalism endures. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
Check out the NEW NOQ Report Podcast.
American Conservative Movement
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. The coronavirus crisis has prompted many, even some conservatives, to promote authoritarianism. It’s understandable to some extent now, but it must not be allowed to embed itself in American life. We currently have 8000+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
