Saturday, February 21, 2009

Yelp's Alleged Mafia Tactics

Extortion and blackmail claims abound in the East Bay Express article, out last Wednesday. News of 4,500 word story, "Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0," saturated info/media enclaves of the web within hours of the story's release. Showing up everywhere from The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital to CNET, Village Voice and FastCompany to PC World and Real Tech News.

Yikes! I bet Yelp wishes it could control these reviews, as it purportedly offered to do for countless bay area businesses. Lucky for us alternative weeklies like the East Bay Express still retain enough independence and journalistic integrity to expose dirty dealings and back door deals, rather than resort to such tactics for funding.

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