We've all heard stories of star ratings taking a nosedive after a restaurateur declined advertising or other services offered by Yelp salespeople. And you always weren't sure if it's true or just coincidence.
In September, a federal appeals court threw out a suit brought by small-business owners claiming Yelp extorted advertising payments from them by manipulating reviews on its site. That ruling emphasized in part that Yelp has no obligation to publish positive reviews for businesses. In 2011, a federal judge tossed an earlier suit. In January, the Federal Trade Commission ended an inquiry of the company without taking action.
This documentary hopes to uncover dirty secrets behind Yelp operations. Prost Productions is raising $60,000 on Kickstarter to fund production and post-production of its investigative documentary. They've raised $10,640 so far, with 31 days left to go. They raised $5,000 on day 1.
From the filmmakers:Billion Dollar Bully is an investigative documentary about Yelp that examines the claims by business owners of extortion, review manipulation and review fabrication. In this documentary you will meet business owners from across a broad spectrum, whose commonality is their allegations of Yelp's questionable business dealings.
For years, Yelp has been accused of unethical business practices, all of which Yelp vehemently denies and chalks up as conspiracy theories.
Business owners and consumers deserve to see arguments for and against Yelp's business tactics. After so much debate in the media, this documentary is long overdue.
Check out their promotional video:
And their Kickstarter plea by Kaylie Milliken:
What do you think? Would you help fund this project?
We just did. :)