Yelp has come under fire in the past for gaming reviews on its site and attempting to extort businesses that refuse to pay for ads. But now, it claims the Federal Trade Commission has finished a year-long investigation and found… precisely nothing to take action over.
In a blog post, Yelp explains:
The FTC looked into our recommendation software, what we say to businesses about it, what our salespeople say about our advertising programs, and how we ensure that our employees are not able to manipulate the ratings and reviews that we display on our platform. After nearly a year of scrutiny, the FTC decided to close its investigation without taking further action.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the FTC has actually received over 2,000 complaints about Yelp between 2008 and 2014—but clearly, nothing’s sticking. Indeed, as Yelp itself points out, this is the second time the FTC has investigated the company—and it’s yet to be penalized in any way. [The Wall Street Journal, Yelp via Engadget]
