Maintaining accurate information on Yelp businesspages
Protecting business pages with identity attributes
Yelp’s Consumer Alerts program
A new way to identify businesses with a history of ConsumerAlerts
• Combating compensated and incentivized reviews 9
Compensated Activity Alerts
Suspicious Review Activity Alerts
Uncovering and reporting deceptive review groups on other platforms
Reigning in reputation management companies
• Moderating Yelp business pages that gain public attention 11 Media-fueled incidents in 2024
• Protecting consumers from abuse of the legal system 13 Questionable Legal Threat Alerts • Conclusion 13
HowYelp safeguards contentintegrity
Yelp’s mission isto connect consumers with great local businesses by giving them access to reliable and useful information. Consumer trust is one of our top priorities, which is why Yelp usesadvanced technology and human moderation to protect the integrity and quality of content on our platform. This approach is drivenby our , reporting by Yelp’s community of users and business owners,and focused on investigating content and platform activity. In fact, , , , and have acknowledged that among online review platforms, Yelp is oneofthe most aggressive and successful at identifying and weeding out unhelpful and unreliable reviews. automated recommendation software moderation efforts economistsindustry expertsthe mediaregulators
What’s new from 2024
In 2024, Yelp continued to invest significantly in combating deceptive activity by closing over 551,200 user accounts for violating our policies.* This represents a 98% increase from 2023, primarily due to our efforts identifying and mitigating an influx of .* Yelp’s policies strictly prohibit compensated and incentivized reviews, as they can mislead consumers. To address this, we expandedour manual investigations and closed more than 1,300 user accounts involved in review exchange rings orother suspicious review activity, marking a 42% increase from the previous year.† We also introduced a new Consumer Alerts History section on Yelp business pages, which includes a list of the business’s previous , , and . This warns usersof abnormal review activity or attempts to mislead, in addition to maintaining our existing . 1 airline phone support scams
Compensated Activity AlertsSuspicious Review Activity AlertsQuestionable Legal Threat Alerts public index of alert recipients
Content Guidelines 2025
YouGov survey
Millions of people come to Yelp because our reviews and ratings are consistently good predictors of their personal experiences with local businesses. As AI tools gain popularity, we’ve advanced our methods of detecting and mitigating AI generated reviews. Our require that reviews be written by the reviewers themselves and not created by AI. Yelp’s commitment to review authenticity is supported by a , which found that 88% of review readers believe AI generated reviews shouldn’t be allowed on review platforms. Since 2023, Yelp has significantly invested in newdetection technologies powered by AI to better recognize and stop AI generated reviews on our platform.
This year, we software to better identify and not recommend less helpful reviews, including solicited reviews, further protecting consumers and businesses from potentially misleading content. We also leveraged large language models (LLMs) to proactively flag reviews containing inappropriate content to our User Operation team, resulting in the removal of over 24,500 reviews a nearly 4% increase from 2023.‡ enhanced our automated recommendation
Media Attention Alerts
Lastly, we placed 920 on Yelp business pages, with 60% stemming from review activity related to social mediaposts on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and X. ‡ As it was an election year, politically motivated incidents led to a 96% year over year increase in Unusual Activity Alerts on Yelp pages.‡ As we continue to adapt to evolving technology and deceptive tactics, Yelp remains dedicated to maintaining the integrity of content on our platform by actively investigating and addressing suspicious review behaviors, as well as highlighting the most useful and reliable content based on genuine consumer experiences.
Prioritizing Trust & Safety: 2024 by the numbers
All metrics reflect activity from January 1 through December 31, 2024, unless otherwise noted
Reviews
Yelp prioritizes high-quality content by requiring review text with every star rating submitted by users to provide helpful insights into customers’ experiences with a business. In fact, a found that 88% of review readers are more likely to trust reviews that include written text, even though platforms like Google allow star ratings without it. Yelp reviews are also generally more comprehensive than Google reviews with YouGov survey text. An FTC Economist’s found that only 2% of Yelp reviews contain fewer than 100 characters, compared to 50% on Google (32% of Google reviews lacked text entirely). As of December 31, 2024, the average length of recommended reviews contributed to Yelp was approximately 447 characters, underscoring the value of Yelp to consumers and businesses seeking detailed insights.*
2024 study
Distribution of average
308M+
cumulative reviews contributed to the Yelp platform as of December 31, 2024 since our inception in 2004*¹
star ratings
submitted by Ye
lp users
in 2024 as of December 31, 2024*
The average star rating submitted by users is approximately 3.9 stars.
Distribution of average business ratings as of December 31, 2024 for U.S. businesses across all categories on Yelp with five or more reviews.†3
An FTC Economist’s compared business review platforms and have a more uniform distribution, with most businesses in the study’s sample having an average rating between two and four stars. In contrast, other platforms showed skewed distributions favoring four- to five-star ratings: HomeAdvisor had 64% more businesses with at least a four-star rating than Yelp, Facebook had 47% more, and Google had 27% more. studyfound that average business ratings on Yelp
reviews
Content Guidelines
At Yelp, AI-generated reviews violate our , as all reviews on our platform must be based on genuine, firsthand customer experiences, and reviewers must write their own reviews. With the rise in consumer adoption of AI tools, Yelp has significantly invested in methods to better detect and mitigate AIwritten reviews on our platform, including rolling out several new detection technologies powered by AI since 2023. We remain committed to maintaining the integrity and quality of content on Yelp and continuing to enhance these efforts.
Yelp’s automated recommendation software
automated
recommendation software
Yelp’s evaluates all reviews on our platform using hundreds of signals related to quality, reliability, and user activity on Yelp. The system is entirely automated, applying the same objective rules to every business, and no Yelp employee, business owner, or reviewer can influence or override the software’s decisions—this approach is deliberate to avoid conflicts of interest.
The reviews recommended for any business can change over time, and may move between recommended and not recommended as the software learns more about the reviewer and the business. Reviews determined to be less reliable or useful are displayed in a “not currently recommended” section and do not factor into a business’s overall star rating.
For more information about Yelp’s automated recommendation software, or watch this for a brief overview. visit our website video
21M reviews were contributed to Yelp in 2024*1
Breakdown of reviews contributed in 2024* as of December 31, 2024. Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Removed by Yelp’s User Operations team
Strengthening review integrity with software updates In 2024, we enhanced Yelp’s automated recommendation software to better detect and mitigate reviews that may be less helpful or violate our content policies. These updates focus on better identifying and not recommending reviews that are potentially generated by AI tools, lacking details about the consumer experience, or solicited. The goal of our recommendation software is to surface the most useful and reliable content, maintain the integrity of our platform, and protect both consumers and businesses from misleading content.
Content moderation at Yelp
Yelp s User Operations team maintains the reliability and integrity of content on Yelp by protecting data quality, investigating potential fraud, and moderating content. They actively identify, investigate, and stop deceptive activity through a variety of measures, including removing bad actors from our platform.
The team conducts proactive investigations, as well as relies on consumers and business owners to report reviews or suspicious behaviors that violate our and . Moderators review flagged content and, if they determine that content violates our policies, will remove it from our platform. Learn more about how Yelp s User Operations team moderates content . Terms of Service Content Guidelines here
551,200+
Reviews reported on Yelp in 2024*
471,800+ reviews reported by Yelp s community of users and business owners
Reported reviews removed for violating Yelp s content policies 39%
185,100+
reported reviews removed by Yelp’s User Operations team in 2024*
user accounts closed due to Terms of Service violations†1
In 2024, we continued to enhance Yelp s robust detection systems. Our identification and mitigation of an influx of significantly contributed to a 98% increase in account closures from 2023. This also resulted in the removal of more than 415,300 reviews that we found to violate our policies. † airline phone support scams
Distribution of reported reviews removed by reason in 2024*
by our community of users and business owners were removed by Yelp’s User Operations team
Maintaining accurate information on Yelp business pages
39,200+ potential new business pages rejected for being associated with spammy behaviors, violating Yelp’s policies*
Our User Operations team thoroughly verifies new business page submissions to prevent potentially misleading businesses from creating fake, duplicate, or multiple listings intended to deceive consumers, generate leads, dilute search results, or gain unfair SEO advantages.
1,040 business pages removed for being associated with lead generators, violating Yelp’s policies†
Deceitful lead generators attempt to create fake business pages to generate leads and auction them to contractors. They often engage in undisclosed charges, provide inaccurate information about their services, and impersonate reputable companies. Targeting vulnerable consumers needing emergency services, such as locksmiths, garage door repairs, or movers, they often exploit situations requiring home access. Our User Operations team regularly detects and blocks these bad actors on Yelp.
2.9M+ photos removed for violating our content policies in 2024†
Tens of millions of photos are uploaded to Yelp annually, offering visual details that help inform people’s spending decisions. To keep Yelp useful, relevant, and safe, we’ve developed to support human moderation in identifying inappropriate photos. In 2024, photo removals rose by 159% compared to the previous year, primarily driven by photos being uploaded by spammers to promote fake customer support numbers that can mislead consumers.†
AI-powered automated systems
47.9K+ reviews containing inappropriate content removed through proactive and reactive measures in 2024‡
Since 2023, Yelp has used LLMs to flag reviews with potential hate speech, lewd language, or threats for further evaluation. This proactive approach prevented more than 24,500 reviews from being published in 2024.‡ Additionally, we rely on reports from our community of users, leading our User Operations team to remove over 23,300 reported reviews for containing threats, lewdness, hate speech, or other inappropriate content.‡
Protecting business pages with identity attributes
Yelp allows business owners to self-identify as Asian-, Black-, Latinx-, or LGBTQ-owned on their business page, helping consumers easily find and support diverse businesses. To protect these businesses from hateful, racist, or otherwise inappropriate content that violates our policies, we have automated safeguards to detect and prevent such reviews before they are posted on the business page. As a result, our User Operations team prevented 2,600+ potentially inappropriate reviews from publishing to these pages.‡ As of December 31, 2024:
49,150+ business pages indicated they are Asian-owned (up 32% from 2023).‡
91,950+ business pages indicated they are Black-owned (up 27% from 2023).‡
86,500+ business pages indicated they are Latinx-owned (up 34% from 2023).‡
26,550+ business pages indicated they are LGBTQ-owned (up 38% from 2023).‡
Yelp’s Consumer Alerts program
Consumer Alerts program
In 2012, we introduced our to warn consumers when we find evidence of extreme attempts to manipulate a business’s ratings and reviews.
A Consumer Alert is a warning message displayed over the reviews of a business’s Yelp page that informs users of violations to our policies and provides a link to view evidence when available. Before placing an alert, our User Operations team conducts a thorough investigation to determine whether the reviews of a business meet the criteria for an alert. Learn more here.
Distribution
of Consumer Alerts
from January 1 to December 31, 2024
Compensated Activity Alerts*
See for more information page 9
Suspicious Review Activity Alerts
See for more information page 9
on Yelp
A new way to identify businesses with a history o
YouGov survey
Trust & Safety site
1,480+ total Consumer Alerts placed on Yelp business pages in 2024*
A found that 91% of review readers want to know if a business has been the subject of suspicious review activity. In 2023, Yelp started publicly indexing the and Compensated and Suspicious Review Activity Alerts on our . Now, users can find a Consumer Alerts History section on impacted Yelp business pages, which details any previous , , or placed on the page. This new Consumer Alerts History section offers another way for people to learn about abnormal review activity or other misleading attempts identified by Yelp, and is viewable on desktop on business pages that have been the subject of prior Consumer Alerts via a link below the business’s recommended reviews.
Combating compensated and incentivized
reviews
FTC’s rule against fake reviews
Compensated Activity Alerts and Suspicious Review Activity Alerts
Yelp strictly prohibits compensated and incentivized reviews, which can mislead consumers and hurt businesses. Our approach not only aligns with the , but goes even further to address additional deceptive review behaviors. Additionally, our proactive measures, including our , are a cornerstone in informing consumers about potential attempts of review manipulation and deceptive practices.
Compensated Activity Alerts
5,750+
Compensated Activity and Suspicious Review Activity Alerts have been placed on business pages since 2012*
Compensated Activity Alerts indicate that we’ve caught someone offering payment in the form of cash, discounts, gift certificates, or other incentives in exchange for writing, changing, preventing, or removing reviews.
120
Compensated Activity Alerts
placed on business pages in 2024*
Suspicious Review Activity Alerts
489
warnings issued to businesses
Suspicious Review Activity Alerts warn consumers when we’ve detected 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 otherwise known as a review exchange ring.
427
Suspicious Review Activity Alerts placed on business pages in 2024*
1,300+ user accounts closed f
Suspicious Review Activity Alerts in 2024*
Businesses with possible connections to deceptive review exchange rings 20%
Inordinate number of suspicious positive reviews coming from the same IP address 80%
Uncovering and reporting deceptive review groups on other platforms
Yelp actively investigates deceptive review practices both on our platform and third-party sites like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Craigslist. Our User Operations team monitors and infiltrates online groups on third-party platforms where people may attempt to trade or pay for reviews, reporting any groups, posts, or individuals involved in online review exchanges. We also flag instances of review selling or removal services originating from other sites.
We have successfully worked with these platforms to address such behaviors and, in some cases, even improved their ability to prevent future occurrences. However, the final decision on addressing Yelp’s reports lies with the respective platforms. Partnering with these sites is essential from misleading content. For years, we have provided the FTC and other regulators with leads on deceptive review conduct, as well as to help strengthen the , announced in 2024, banning fake reviews and testimonials. to better protect consumers
FTC’s final rule
submitted public comments
Reigning in reputation management companies
920+
reports made by Yelp to other online platforms to warn them of content from 765 suspicious groups, posts, or individuals we found on their sites*
37%
of Yelp s reports resulted in action being taken by online platforms to remove deceptive content in 2024*
Yelp strictly prohibits review gating and other review suppression tactics that disproportionately promote positive reviews, while diverting criticisms to private channels. These behaviors can result in misleading ratings and reviews about a business. We routinely investigate reputation management companies that offer these services, and if warranted, we take action against them, including reporting them to consumer protection agencies like the FTC. At times, Yelp also pursues legal action to disrupt these harmful markets.
filed a lawsuit against ReviewVio the federal court in San Francisco ruled that Yelp could proceed with our claims
In December 2023, Yelp , a reputation management company offering review gating services to local businesses, as well as falsely claiming to be able to remove “bad reviews” from Yelp and other online review platforms for a fee. In June 2024, against ReviewVio’s unfair practices, acknowledging the harm caused by such tactics. In July 2024, Yelp and ReviewVio entered into a settlement agreement. ReviewVio is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or integrated with Yelp, and ReviewVio will not offer any services related to Yelp.
Moderating Yelp business pages that gain public attention
When a business gains public attention, its Yelp page may experience increased review activity. However, when people express their opinions through reviews in an attempt to artificially inflate or deflate a business’s star rating, they can potentially mislead consumers or harm the business. Yelp’s policies require that all reviews be based on actual, firsthand consumer experiences with a business. Findings from a support this approach, with 94% of review readers agreeing that reviews should reflect actual customer experiences, not what someone saw on the news or social media.
Consumer Alerts program
YouGov survey
920 total alerts placed on business pages related to a business gaining public attention, resulting in the removal of 56,900+ reviews*
As part of our , we have signals in place that prompt our User Operations team to investigate unusual spikes in activity on business pages. If warranted, they may temporarily disable the ability to post reviews and place the appropriate Media Attention Alert on the business page. Once the activity on the business page dramatically decreases or stops, we will clean up the page so that it reflects firsthand consumer experiences.
Unusual Activity Alerts
Unusual Activity Alerts are placed when a business, after gaining public attention, receives an influx of Yelp reviews that do not reflect firsthand experiences, even if we may agree with the points of view expressed in them.
Public Attention Alerts
805
Unusual Activity Alerts placed on business pages in 2024, resulting in the removal of 39,300+ associated reviews*
Public Attention Alerts are placed to inform consumers when a business receives an influx of Yelp reviews related to the business gaining public attention for either being accused of, or the target of, racist behavior. When there’s resounding evidence of egregious, racist actions from a business owner or employee, and after a thorough investigation that includes providing a link to media reports about the alleged incident, we may escalate a Public Attention Alert to a Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert. In 2024, only two Public Attention Alerts were escalated to a Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert.*
113 Public Attention Alerts placed on business pages in 2024, resulting in the removal of 17,000+ associated reviews*
Media-fueled incidents in 2024
554
business pages
received an Unusual Activity Alert or Public Attention Alert in 2024, resulting in the removal of 41,500+ reviews, for incidents stemming from social media (TikTok, Facebook, X, etc.)*
219
business pages
received an Unusual Activity Alert in 2024, resulting in the removal of 14,700+ reviews, for incidents related to politics or political figures*
188
business pages
received an Unusual Activity Alert or Public Attention Alert in 2024, resulting in the removal of 20,700+ reviews, for incidents related to alleged discrimination (including racism, antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, ableism, etc.)*
155
business pages
received an Unusual Activity Alert in 2024, resulting in the removal of 5,600+ reviews, for incidents related to alleged criminal implications or activity (including claims of animal cruelty, homicide, assault, child neglect, etc.)*
Yelp thwarts unreliable politically-motivated reviews during the 2024 presidential campaign
reportedPrimanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar
Penzeys Spicessimilar surge
McDonald’sexpress their political opinions
The 2024 election year led to a 96% increase in Unusual Activity Alerts related to political incidents, with the presidential campaign trail affecting more than 60 businesses on Yelp.* In September, Vice President Vance’s appearance at in Pittsburgh prompted Yelp to place Unusual Activity Alerts on 35 of their business pages due to politically motivated reviews—the most activity we saw on Yelp for a single media-fueled incident in 2024.* That same month, former Vice President Harris’s visit to caused a across 17 Yelp pages.* In October, President Trump’s visit to a Pennsylvania resulted in people flocking to the Yelp page to . For each of these events, our User Operations team temporarily disabled the ability to post content on the business pages, and once activity subsided, they removed over 6,700 reviews in total, helping the affected pages reflect firsthand reviews rather than political sentiments.*
Protecting consumers from abuse of the legal system
Reviewers have a First Amendment right to share their opinions, whether positive or critical. That’s why we defend our users by often objecting to demands that seek personal information about their accounts.
98% of all user accounts that were the subject of legal demands did not have their personal information produced in 2024*
We evaluate each legal demand for legitimacy and to confirm it is legally sound. In fact, we have in some circumstances to protect users’ personal information from . In 2024, we protected 90% of user accounts that were the subject of legal demands gone to court litigious business owners from law enforcement and government agencies, and 99% from private parties.* When we are required by law to disclose user account information, we notify users of the legal demands beforehand, unless Yelp is prohibited by law from doing so or in other exceptional situations.
Additionally, Yelp supports laws that enable consumers to quickly and easily defeat meritless lawsuits that intend to silence or intimidate them for expressing their views also known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). Yelp remains for the broad interpretation of anti-SLAPP laws, which allow those targeted by SLAPPs to seek early dismissal of baseless claims against them and recover their attorneys’ fees. We are also in support of other laws that protect the free speech rights of all consumers, even in cases that do not directly involve Yelp or our users.
committed to our advocacy
Questionable Legal Threat Alerts
When we have evidence that a business may be misusing the legal system to intimidate or silence a reviewer, we may display a Questionable Legal Threat Alert on its Yelp page as part of our . Consumer Alerts program
16
Questionable Legal Threat
Alerts placed on business pages in 2024*
In 2024, 81% of these alerts were due to gag clauses, which are contractual terms attempting to prohibit customers from posting feedback and are largely illegal under , while the federal and state law remaining 19% stemmed from legal threats businesses made to consumers to suppress their reviews.*
Conclusion
As a leader in trust and safety, Yelp is committed to providing reliable and useful information to both consumers and business owners. Over the past 20 years, we’ve developed robust systems and processes to uphold the integrity and quality of our content, constantly adapting to new deceptive behaviors and the evolving strategies of bad actors. Our dedication to trust and transparency drives us to continually improve our measures, keeping Yelp a reliable platform for connecting people with great local businesses.
To learn more about how we maintain the integrity and quality of our content, visit trust.yelp.com.
