Certainly, most of you are familiar with Yelp, a website that provides user reviews on various companies, organizations, etc. I, for one, use this website religiously as a guidance for which restaurants to try out and which to avoid (since I am a student on a tight budget with a love for new foods, I don’t want to waste time or money on restaurants that a large majority of my peers would disapprove of or dislike). Obviously, those rating a company or group with five stars are not going to get into trouble with that company or group for doing so (who would actually complain about getting too much praise, right?). But what happens to those who don’t write happy reviews or don’t give five stars? What exactly happens to those who write unfavorable reviews? Perhaps even pushing the envelope and giving only one star?
The questions are answered in Dietz Development, LLC and Christopher Dietz v. Jane Perez. Last October, a contractor filed a complaint against a former customer who wrote a negative review about him and his company on Yelp, alleging, among other things, defamation. In December, the trial court ruled that the defendant, a homeowner who used the plaintiff’s services, had to revise her unfavorable comments against the plaintiff on Yelp. Shortly thereafter, however, the plaintiff, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and Public Citizen, filed a petition for review to the Supreme Court of Virginia, and had the preliminary injunction overturned a few days later.
What a victory for free speech! Now I can read reviews (assuming it’s not breaking Yelp’s user agreement) for my next restaurant-to-try without having to worry about reading a bunch of sugarcoated posts. Seems to be a win-win for all, except for the plaintiff in the abovementioned case, right? Well, not necessarily. As always, the answer is: it depends. As reminded in the Washington Post, not all reviews on Yelp are accurate and, unfortunately for those entities affected with such false reviews, such companies can have their reputation destroyed.
My take-home point: always remember that there are two sides of a story!
Relevant articles:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/judge-cant-order-yelp-user-to-edit-negative-review/
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/01/03/court-negative-yelp-reviews-shouldnt-be-censored/
http://www.citizen.org/litigation/forms/cases/getlinkforcase.cfm?cID=794
http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/8tCNUqQyCV3ePikYsWIqwQ/