“Billion Dollar Bully” Yelp Keeps Pressure On Businesses

Despite bad publicity and lawsuits, Yelp continues to tank ratings in order to punish those who won’t advertise.

By Art Keller | February 5, 2020 | Advertising, Culture, Economics, Ethics, Food, Law | Advertising, Billion Dollar Bully, Bullying, Communications Decency Act, Conflict of Interest, David Balto, Davide Cerretini, Dining, Documentaries, Eric Goldman, Extortion, Food, FTC, Harvard Business Review, Kaylie Milliken, Levitt v. Yelp, Marketing, Ratings, Restaurants, Reviews, Section 230, Vince Sollitto, Yelp, Yelp Exposed

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For Yelp, Extortion Has a Starring Role

Yelp uses the power of its rating system to bully small businesses into buying their expensive advertising; if they decline, so do their ratings.

By Art Keller | August 23, 2017 | Advertising, Culture, Economics, Ethics, Food, Law | Advertising, Alia Meddeb, Better Business Bureau, Billion Dollar Bully, Bullying, Dining, Documentaries, Extortion, Food, FTC, Google Reviews, Janie Gilarde, Kaylie Milliken, Marketing, Morocco, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, North African Cuisine, Ratings, Restaurants, Reviews, Rod Brant, Tunisia, Yelp

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Getting Our Act Together: Robinson-Patman and Monopoly Power

Theoretically, the Internet is the great equalizer for entrepreneurs looking to start a business. Let’s say you want to sell [...]

By Warren Christopher Freiberg | July 6, 2016 | Economics, Law | Amazon, Anti-Trust, E-Commerce, FTC, Monopoly, Price Discrimination, Robinson-Patman, Small Business

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Brain Training: Gaming Science

Game developers know exactly how to attract and retain customers. They rely on a vast body of scientific and psychological [...]

By Katherine Vazquez | June 29, 2016 | Advertising, Cognition, Neurology, Psychology, Well-Being | ADD, ADHD, Aging, Alzheimer's, Brain Training, Deceptive Advertising, FTC, Games, Learning, Lumosity, Torkel Klingberg, Working Memory

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Is Facebook Evil?

We all know Facebook can be a bit awful. You remember it: your Aunt Sally saw a picture of you [...]

By Art Keller | March 2, 2016 | Advertising, Ethics, Law, Privacy, Society | Alvaro Bedoya, Chris Matyszczyk, Craig Condon, David Jacobs, EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, EPIC, Facebook, FTC, Informed Consent, Instagram, Kate Crawford, Mark Zuckerberg, Max Schrems, Norwegian Ombudsman, Opt-Out, PacketStorm, Rainey Reitman, Social Media, Terms and Conditions May Apply, Terms of Service, Third-Party Doctrine, TV, What's App

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