Yelp Will Begin Flagging Businesses Accused of Racist Behavior
The platform will also launch diversity training toolkits.
Taking a stance against racism, Yelp will begin alerting customers of businesses perpetuating bigoted behavior.
The website, which crowd sources reviews of restaurants, stores and other establishments, will use a Public Attention Alert to warn customers when a business is associated with racist behavior. If there’s ample evidence of racist actions — such as the use of slurs or offensive symbols — from a business owner or employee, Yelp will escalate the warning to a Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert. This alert, which appears on the page of the business in question, will be accompanied by a link to a credible news article detailing the incident(s).
“At Yelp, we value diversity, inclusion and belonging, both internally and on our platform, which means we have a zero tolerance policy to racism. We know these values are important to our users and now more than ever, consumers are increasingly conscious of the types of businesses they patronize and support,” a blog post announcing the new alert system reads.
To help businesses foster inclusivity, Yelp has also partnered with nondiscrimination campaign Open to All to create a free toolkit offering local establishments diversity and inclusion training videos and other resources.
Head to the Yelp website to learn more about its anti-racist consumer alert system.
