Yelp now letting visitors see those that are automatically filtered out by software meant to catch content that isn’t trustworthy. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

By Monice Eng | Yelp has made changes to address business and consumer concerns that it manipulates reviews to benefit businesses that advertise with the online user review site. The changes, explained in a Tuesday press conference, include showing a list of reviews that have been filtered out by the site and removing its “favorite review” feature that allowed advertisers to choose a positive review to display at the top of their listing. “This is about giving visibility into the review filter and letting people see that advertising and content are not linked,” said Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman Tuesday.

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“This is about giving visibility into the review filter and letting
people see that advertising and content are not linked,” said Yelp
co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman Tuesday.

The moves come two months after a trio of lawsuits were filed by businesses around the nation, accusing Yelp of offering to manipulate reviews in exchange for advertising. These suits came less than a year after publications around the nation, including the Tribune, reported allegations from local businesses of similar pay-to-play offers.

Chicago’s Bleeding Heart Bakery recently joined one of the suits after ongoing issues with the site. Commenting on the changes, Bleeding Heart co-owner Michelle Garcia says, “any change is good at this point.”

Monday, Stoppelman said on the Yelp blog that the company believes the allegations have stemmed “from the combination of the filter and this advertising feature — and we’re practicing what we preach. Lifting the veil on our review filter and doing away with ‘Favorite Review’ will make it even clearer that displayed reviews on Yelp are completely independent of advertising — or any sort of manipulation.”

The lawyers representing many of the businesses in the suit released a triumphant announcement Tuesday claiming their suit was responsible for the changes. Stoppleman, however, responded saying, “We are not looking at the suit here,” in making the moves.

Still, the lawyers applauded the steps.

“The recent modifications to the Web site are an important first step in the right direction for the thousands of businesses who have seen their livelihoods trampled or threatened by Yelp’s extortionate practices,” said Jared H. Beck of Beck & Lee Business Trial Lawyers and Gregory S. Weston of the Weston Firm, the lead attorneys for the plaintiff businesses.

“Still, there is much work left to be done through the legal process, including the looming issues of Yelp’s ‘pay to play’ sales tactics, as well as the pursuit of substantial restitution and damages over the class members.”

In addition to the two major changes, Stoppelman’s blog post says the site will soon offer business owners the opportunity to add a video to the slideshow on their business page. Also, Stoppelman said the site will be organizing a Business Advisory Council to provide “guidance and perspective to Yelp management.”