Yelp warned consumers of nearly 550 businesses involved in review manipulation and introduced a new Consumer Alerts History section on Yelp business pages
Proactive measures led to the removal of over 47,900 inappropriate reviews and the closure of over 551,200 user accounts for policy violations
Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP), the company that connects people with great local businesses, today released its annual Trust & Safety Report, offering insights into the extensive measures it took in 2024 to protect the integrity and quality of content on its platform. The report details how Yelp enhanced its automated recommendation software to better surface the most reliable and helpful reviews, warned people about compensated and incentivized reviews through initiatives like a new Consumer Alerts History section on business pages, and leveraged AI to automate the identification of inappropriate content and bad actors for further evaluation. Yelp also outlines how it moderates business pages that gain public attention and takes action to protect consumers from abuse of the legal system, among other efforts.
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Yelp strictly prohibits compensated and incentivized reviews. The platform investigates egregious attempts to manipulate ratings and reviews, and may warn consumers through Compensated Activity Alerts and Suspicious Review Activity Alerts on a business page. (Photo: Business Wire)
"At Yelp, we understand that our users value trust and reliability when searching for businesses that meet their needs—whether it's finding a new date night restaurant or a locksmith in an emergency," said Noorie Malik, vice president of User Operations at Yelp. "That's why we invest in extensive measures that leverage advanced technology and human moderation to maintain content integrity and keep our platform helpful and reliable. Our 2024 Trust & Safety Report details these efforts, including how we mitigate AI-generated content, prevent incentivized reviews, identify and close suspicious user accounts, and combat hate speech. We are committed to being the platform where genuine, firsthand reviews help local communities thrive."
Yelp's automated recommendation software
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Approximately 21 million reviews were contributed to Yelp in 2024.1
- Of these reviews, about 78% were recommended by Yelp's automated recommendation software, which helps surface the most helpful and reliable content to consumers. Additionally, 18% were not recommended, 3% were removed by Yelp's User Operations team, and 2% were self-removed by reviewers.2
- In 2024, Yelp enhanced its automated recommendation software to better identify and not recommend reviews that were potentially generated by AI tools, lacking details about the consumer experience, or solicited.
Yelp's User Operations team maintains content integrity
- Yelp relies on consumers and business owners to report reviews they believe violate its policies. In 2024, Yelp removed over 185,100 reported reviews, with 26% not reflecting firsthand consumer experiences.3
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More than 47,900 reviews containing inappropriate content were removed by Yelp's User Operations team through proactive and reactive measures.3
- Of these, the team evaluated and removed over 24,500 reviews after large language models proactively flagged them for potential hate speech, lewd language, or threats.3
- More than 551,200 user accounts were closed for violating Yelp's Terms of Service.4 These closures were largely due to an influx in airline phone support scams, which Yelp's User Operations team quickly identified and mitigated.
- More than 39,200 potential new business pages were rejected by Yelp's User Operations team for being associated with spammy behaviors.5
- Yelp removed 1,040 business pages linked to deceitful lead generators, who were caught attempting to create fake business pages to generate leads and auction them to contractors.6
- More than 2.9 million photos were removed for violating Yelp's policies—up 159% from 2023—primarily driven by photos being uploaded with text to promote fake customer support numbers and other spam intended to mislead consumers.6
Mitigating compensated and incentivized reviews
- The company introduced a new Consumer Alerts History section to Yelp business pages that lists the business's past Compensated Activity Alerts, Suspicious Review Activity Alerts, and Questionable Legal Threat Alerts, accessible via a link below the recommended reviews on desktop.7
- Yelp placed 120 Compensated Activity Alerts on business pages after receiving evidence of someone offering payment or other incentives in exchange for writing, changing, preventing, or removing reviews.6
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Yelp placed 427 Suspicious Review Activity Alerts on business pages after detecting a large number of suspicious positive reviews coming from a single IP address, or reviews from users who may be connected to a group that coordinates the buying or selling of online reviews.6
- Over 1,300 user accounts were closed for being associated with review exchange rings or other suspicious review activity.5
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Yelp made over 920 reports to other online platforms—like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit—to warn them of content from more than 765 suspicious groups, posts, or individuals found on their sites attempting to trade or pay for reviews.6
- Only 37% of Yelp's reports resulted in action being taken by these other platforms to remove the deceptive content.6
Moderating Yelp business pages that gain public attention
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As part of Yelp's broader Consumer Alerts program, 920 Media Attention Alerts were placed on Yelp pages related to a business gaining public attention, resulting in the removal of more than 56,900 reviews.3
- Of these alerts, 60% stemmed from review activity related to social media posts in 2024, which resulted in the removal of more than 41,500 reviews.3
- Incidents related to politics or political figures saw a 96% year-over-year increase in Unusual Activity Alerts on Yelp pages, as well as the removal of over 14,700 reviews.3
Protecting consumers from abuse of the legal system
- At times, legal demands can be used to silence reviewers, which is why Yelp often objects to them when they seek personal user account information. In 2024, Yelp avoided producing personal information related to 98% of user accounts that were the subject of legal demands from law enforcement, government agencies, and private parties.3
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Yelp placed 16 Questionable Legal Threat Alerts on business pages after receiving evidence that a business may be abusing the legal system.3
- Of these alerts, 81% stemmed from gag clauses, or contractual terms that attempt to prohibit customers from posting feedback about goods or services.3
For more information, read Yelp's 2024 Trust & Safety Report and view assets and images from the report here. Also released today, Yelp commissioned a survey with YouGov to uncover valuable insights into consumer expectations and behaviors regarding local businesses and their reviews. To learn more about the ways Yelp maintains the integrity and quality of its content, visit trust.yelp.com.
1 Data is sourced globally as of December 31, 2024, and reflects reviews contributed from January 1 to December 31, 2024. This number has been rounded and includes reviews that are currently recommended, not recommended, or that have been removed.|
2 Reviews removed by Yelp's User Operations team or reviews removed as a result of account closures for content policy violations. Yelp users can remove their own individual reviews or remove all their reviews by closing or deleting their accounts.
3 Data is sourced from the U.S. only.
4 Data is sourced globally. These account closures stem from both user reports and proactive investigations. When an account is closed due to suspected deceptive or abusive behaviors, the associated reviews are removed as well.
5 Data is sourced from the U.S. and Canada.
6 Data is sourced globally.
7 Consumer Alerts History is available on desktop as of February 2025.
About Yelp Inc.
Yelp Inc. (yelp.com) is a community-driven platform that connects people with great local businesses. Millions of people rely on Yelp for useful and trusted local business information, reviews and photos to help inform their spending decisions. As a one-stop local platform, Yelp helps consumers easily discover, connect and transact with businesses across a broad range of categories by making it easy to request a quote for a service, book a table at a restaurant and more. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in 2004.
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Press Contact
Yelp Inc.
Julianne Rowe
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