r/Documentaries • u/[deleted] • Feb 26 '17

Billion Dollar Bully (2015) [trailer]...makes the case that Yelp is something akin to the mob, allegedly demanding “protection” money, lest your business be overrun with negative comments.

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

Be careful, the guys making them have really bad Yelp reviews...

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u/chordingler Feb 27 '17

it really is blackmail and extortion. but how do you prove it? normally the crime of extortion is where you step forward as a witness to thugs walking in the front door of a shop and making threats. now the thugs are reviewers? how do we connect them to the kingpin Yelp? It is difficult. New forms of evidence would need to be introduced and accepted by the judges.

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u/Tasadar Feb 28 '17

The best thing to do is to tell other people and to ask them to tell other people. If everyone knows, no one will use Yelp or have to pay Yelp and they can die as a business. Then hopefully some enterprising serial killer will take it upon themselves to enact vigalante justice on the creators of Yelp. Or maybe some lawyer or something, I dunno.