Yelp Releases Trust & Safety Report Detailing Content Moderation and User Protection Initiatives in 2022

Rhea-AI Summary

Yelp has released its annual Trust & Safety Report for 2022, highlighting extensive measures to combat deceptive review behaviors. Key findings include the closure of over 77,400 user accounts and the removal of more than 206,700 reviews violating guidelines. Yelp reported a total of approximately 21 million reviews, with 75% recommended by its automated systems. Furthermore, the company issued over 415 warnings to businesses for incentivized reviews and filed more than 1,100 reports to other platforms regarding suspicious activities. Yelp continues to prioritize user trust and safety through significant investments in technology and human moderation.

Positive

• Closed over 77,400 user accounts for policy violations.
• Removed more than 206,700 reviews violating content guidelines.
• Approximately 21 million reviews contributed, a 3% increase from 2021.
• Issued over 415 warnings to businesses for engaging in deceptive review practices.

Negative

• Increased scrutiny from regulators regarding review practices.

The company closed more than 77,400 user accounts for violating policies, including suspected deceptive or abusive behaviors

More than 1,100 reports were made by Yelp to other online platforms to warn them of content found on their sites related to online review exchanges

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP), the company that connects people with great local businesses, today released its annual Trust & Safety Report, providing insight into how the company mitigated misinformation and protected content integrity on its platform in 2022, while leveling the playing field for business owners. The report outlines Yelp’s extensive trust and safety measures, including its automated recommendation software, content moderation efforts, Consumer Alerts program and more.

“The trust and safety of the Yelp community is a top priority, which is why we continue to heavily invest in both technology and human moderation to fight deceptive review behaviors,” said Noorie Malik, vice president of User Operations at Yelp. “We are constantly evolving our efforts to stay ahead of malicious attempts to threaten the quality and reliability of content on Yelp, as well as to reduce and address policy violations. For over a decade, academics, industry experts, the media and regulators have shown that Yelp is one of the most aggressive and successful at identifying and weeding out unreliable reviews.”

Key findings from the 2022 Yelp Trust & Safety Report:

• Approximately 21 million reviews were contributed to Yelp in 2022, up 3% from 2021.¹ About 75% of these reviews were recommended by Yelp’s automated recommendation software, which helps surface the most helpful and reliable content to consumers.
  • About 19% of reviews were not recommended, 4% were removed by Yelp’s moderators and 2% were removed by reviewers themselves.²
• The company removed more than 206,700 reviews that were reported by users and business owners for violating content guidelines.³
• More than 77,400 user accounts were also closed by Yelp’s User Operations team for violating the company’s Terms of Service, including suspected deceptive or abusive behaviors.¹
• Yelp strictly prohibits offering incentives or other compensations in exchange for writing, changing or removing a review. To help combat this deceptive activity both on and off the Yelp platform, the company’s User Operations team took many actions in 2022, including the following:
  • Issued more than 415 warnings to businesses for engaging in compensated or incentivized review behaviors.¹
  • Placed 88 Compensated Activity Alerts on business pages after receiving evidence someone offered cash or other incentives in exchange for posting, updating or removing a review.¹
  • Placed 405 Suspicious Review Activity Alerts on business pages after detecting a large number of positive reviews coming from the same IP address, or reviews from users who may be connected to a group that coordinates incentivized reviews.¹
  • Made more than 1,100 reports to third-party sites to warn them of content from more than 900 suspicious groups, posts or individuals found participating in online review exchanges on their site.¹
• In an effort to keep potentially deceptive businesses and harmful content off of Yelp, the company’s User Operations team:
  • Rejected more than 32,800 potential new business pages for being associated with spammy behaviors, violating Yelp’s policies.⁴
  • Removed nearly 2,000 business pages for being associated with lead generators, violating Yelp’s policies.⁴
  • Removed more than 26,500 reviews for threats, lewdness, hate speech or other potentially harmful content.⁴
• Yelp continued to improve transparency around Crisis Pregnancy Centers by clearly identifying them on its platform, helping consumers avoid potential misleading information. In 2022, the company recategorized more than 1,300 reproductive health services pages as Crisis Pregnancy Centers after manually evaluating more than 55,600 business pages.⁵
• Yelp often objects to legal demands that seek personal user account information. In 2022, about 80% of resolved legal demands resulted in no production of user account information by Yelp, which protected information associated with 92% of user accounts at issue from law enforcement, government agencies and private parties.³

Read the full 2022 Trust & Safety Report, as well as a high-level overview here. Assets and images from the report can be found here. To learn more about the ways Yelp maintains the integrity and quality of our content, visit: trust.yelp.com.

¹ Data is sourced globally.
² Reviews removed by Yelp’s moderators may also include reviews associated with account closures as a result of content policy violations. Yelp users can remove their own individual reviews on the platform or remove all their reviews by closing or deleting their accounts.
³ Data is sourced from the U.S. only.
⁴ Data is sourced from the U.S. and Canada.
⁵ Data is sourced from the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

About Yelp

Yelp Inc. (www.yelp.com) connects people with great local businesses. With unmatched local business information, photos, and review content, Yelp provides a one-stop local platform for consumers to discover, connect, and transact with local businesses of all sizes by making it easy to request a quote, join a waitlist, and make a reservation, appointment, or purchase. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in July 2004.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230201005332/en/

Julianne Rowe

press@yelp.com

Source: Yelp Inc.

FAQ

What does the 2022 Trust & Safety Report reveal about Yelp?

The report shows Yelp's efforts to combat deceptive reviews, highlighting the closure of over 77,400 accounts and the removal of more than 206,700 reviews.

How many reviews did Yelp receive in 2022?

Yelp received approximately 21 million reviews in 2022, reflecting a 3% increase from the previous year.

What actions did Yelp take against businesses with deceptive reviews?

Yelp issued over 415 warnings to businesses suspected of engaging in incentivized review practices.

How does Yelp ensure content integrity on its platform?

Yelp employs a combination of automated recommendation software and human moderation to uphold content integrity and mitigate misinformation.

What percentage of reviews were recommended by Yelp's automated systems?

About 75% of the reviews contributed to Yelp in 2022 were recommended by its automated recommendation software.