This information was prepared as required by the EU Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC) (the “DSA”). It may differ from Yelp traffic and user metrics reported in other contexts, including metrics reported in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and should not be used for other purposes.
Yelp’s Trust & Safety report for 2024 (which is not EU-specific) can be found here.
How Yelp safeguards content integrity
Yelp’s mission is to connect consumers with great local businesses by giving them access to reliable and useful information.Yelp’s automated recommendation software
Yelp’s automated recommendation software evaluates all reviews on our platform using hundreds of signals related to quality, reliability, and user activity on Yelp. The system is entirely automated, applying the same objective rules to every business, and no Yelp employee, business owner, or reviewer can influence or override the software’s decisions—this approach is deliberate to avoid conflicts of interest. The reviews recommended for any business can change over time, and may move between recommended and not recommended as the software learns more about the reviewer and the business. Reviews determined to be less reliable or useful are displayed in a “not currently recommended” section and do not factor into a business’s overall star rating.In 2024, we enhanced Yelp’s automated recommendation software to better detect and mitigate reviews that may be less helpful or violate our content policies. These updates focus on better identifying and not recommending reviews that are potentially generated by AI tools, lacking details about the consumer experience, or solicited. The goal of our recommendation software is to surface the most useful and reliable content, maintain the integrity of our platform, and protect both consumers and businesses from misleading content.
For more information about Yelp’s automated recommendation software, visit our website or watch this video for a brief overview.
Prioritizing Trust & Safety by mitigating AI-generated reviews
Millions of people come to Yelp because our reviews and ratings are consistently good predictors of their personal experiences with local businesses.At Yelp, AI-generated reviews violate our Content Guidelines, as all reviews on our platform must be based on genuine, firsthand customer experiences. With the rise in consumer adoption of AI tools, Yelp has significantly invested in methods to better detect and mitigate AI-written reviews on our platform, including rolling out several new detection technologies powered by AI since 2023. Yelp’s commitment to review authenticity is supported by a 2025 YouGov survey of adults in the United States, which found that 88% of review readers believe AI-generated reviews shouldn’t be allowed on review platforms. We remain committed to maintaining the integrity and quality of content on Yelp and continuing to enhance these efforts.
Yelp’s Content Moderation Governance Structure
Yelp’s content moderation governance structure is built on a collaborative and multi-tiered framework that addresses the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of content moderation decisions. At the core of this structure is Yelp’s User Operations team that works tirelessly to uphold the integrity of content on Yelp.Yelp’s User Operations Team
Yelp’s User Operations team is responsible for maintaining the reliability and integrity of content on the platform. The team’s responsibilities include protecting data quality, investigating potential fraud, and moderating content. They actively identify and remove content that violates Yelp’s Terms of Service and Content Guidelines, as well as detect, address, and remove bad actors from misleading Yelp consumers.The team proactively investigates and responds to consumer and business owner reports of suspicious behaviors or alleged illegal or harmful content, removing policy-violating content and closing user accounts that breach Yelp’s Terms of Service.
The team is structured for timely, accurate, and consistent moderation and is equipped to quickly address emerging trends and challenges.
The User Operations team collaborates closely with other teams such as engineering, legal, customer support, and data analytics to take a holistic approach to content moderation. This cross-functional effort helps keep Yelp a trusted platform for both users and business owners. More information about how Yelp’s User Operations team moderates content can be found here.
Maintaining accurate information on Yelp business pages
108 business pages removed in the EU in 20241 for being associated with lead generators, violating Yelp’s policies.Lead generators sometimes deceptively attempt to create fake business pages to generate leads from unsuspecting consumers and auction them to actual service providers. Typically posing as actual service providers, these lead generators often engage in undisclosed charges, provide inaccurate information about their identity and/or services, and impersonate reputable companies. Targeting vulnerable consumers needing emergency services, such as locksmiths, garage door repairs, or movers, these lead generators often exploit situations requiring home access. Our User Operations team regularly detects and blocks these sorts of bad actors on Yelp.
Review Removal and Account Closure
Approximately 119k reviews were contributed to EU business pages on Yelp in 2024. 2- Recommended reviews: 85% 3
- Not recommended reviews: 8.4%
- Reviews removed by reviewers themselves: 0.9%
- Reviews removed by Yelp’s User Operations team: 5.8%
Distribution of reported reviews removed by reason in 2024 4
Approximately 320 reviews reported by our community of users and business owners were removed from EU business pages by Yelp’s User Operations team.
Main Removal Reason |
% |
|
Contains False Information While Yelp generally doesn’t take sides in factual disputes and typically permits Yelpers to stand behind their reviews, Yelp will periodically remove reviews for containing false or misleading information
| 47% |
|
Not a firsthand consumer experience
Yelp requires that reviews sufficiently reflect a firsthand consumer experience
| 17% |
|
Is for the wrong business
| 14% |
|
Represents an extraordinary experience
This includes reviews that stem from a business gaining public attention
| 8% |
|
Posted by someone affiliated with the business, a competitor, or an ex-employee
| 6% |
|
Other
This includes reviews that lack relevance (such as promotional content) or other matters that don’t address the core of the consumer experience
| 3% |
|
Contains threats, lewdness, or hate speech
| 3% |
|
Violates Yelp's privacy guidelines
| 2% |
|
Duplicating reviews for multiple locations
This includes when a user posts the same content across multiple business pages
| 1% |
Approximately 10k user accounts closed in the EU due to Terms of Service violations in 2024. 5
In 2024, we continued to enhance Yelp’s robust detection systems. The closure of these accounts in the EU for Terms of Service violations also resulted in the removal of more than 2,900 reviews. 6
Approximately 22,000+ photos were removed in the EU as a result of account closures for Terms of Service violations in 2024. 7
Tens of millions of photos are uploaded to Yelp annually,8 offering visual details that help inform people’s spending decisions.
Uncovering and reporting deceptive review groups on other platforms
Yelp actively investigates deceptive review practices both on our platform and third-party sites like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Craigslist. Our User Operations team monitors and infiltrates online groups on third-party platforms where people may attempt to trade or pay for reviews, reporting any groups, posts, or individuals involved in online review exchanges. We also flag instances of review selling or removal services originating from other sites.920+ reports made by Yelp to other online platforms to warn them of content from 765 suspicious groups, posts, or individuals we found on their sites. 9
37% of Yelp’s reports resulted in action being taken by online platforms to remove deceptive content in 2024. 10
We have successfully worked with these other platforms to address deceptive behaviors and, in some cases, even improved their ability to prevent future occurrences. Partnering with these platforms is essential to better protect consumers from misleading content. However, final moderation decisions around Yelp-flagged content on other platforms lies with the respective platform.
For years, we have provided the Federal Trade Commission (a United States agency tasked with consumer protection) and other regulators with leads on deceptive review conduct, as well as submitted public comments to help strengthen the FTC's final rule, announced in 2024, banning fake reviews and testimonials.
Reigning in reputation management companies
Yelp strictly prohibits review gating and other review suppression tactics that disproportionately promote positive reviews, while diverting criticisms to private channels. These behaviors can result in misleading ratings and reviews about a business. We routinely investigate reputation management companies that offer these services, and if warranted, we take action against them, including reporting them to consumer protection agencies. At times, Yelp also pursues legal action to disrupt these harmful markets.In December 2023, Yelp filed a lawsuit against ReviewVio, a reputation management company offering review gating services to local businesses, as well as falsely claiming to be able to remove “bad reviews” from Yelp and other online review platforms for a fee. In June 2024, federal court in San Francisco ruled that Yelp could proceed with our claims against ReviewVio's unfair practices, acknowledging the harm caused by such tactics. In July 2024, Yelp and ReviewVio entered into a settlement agreement. In December 2023, Yelp filed a lawsuit against ReviewVio, a reputation management company offering review gating services to local businesses, as well as falsely claiming to be able to remove “bad reviews” from Yelp and other online review platforms for a fee. In June 2024, the federal court ruled that Yelp could proceed with its claims against ReviewVio's unfair practices, acknowledging the harm caused by such tactics. In July 2024, Yelp and ReviewVio entered into a settlement agreement. ReviewVio is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or integrated with Yelp, and ReviewVio will not offer any services related to Yelp.
Yelp’s automated systems
To keep Yelp useful, relevant, and safe, we’ve developed automated systems to support human moderation in identifying promotional spam, inappropriate photos, and other content that violates Yelp’s Content Guidelines.Yelp uses machine learning as part of its protective measures to better detect reviews that may contain the most egregious instances of hate speech, vulgar language, or threats before they are ever published to Yelp. This system flags potentially inappropriate reviews to our moderators, and the moderator’s decision regarding the flagged content is then used to further train Yelp’s algorithms to more accurately flag potentially problematic content going forward. Since determining whether content is inappropriate can be context specific, we also continue to rely on reports from our community of users.
Yelp also has AI-based systems that are used to detect photos that may violate our Content Guidelines, including by proactively removing suspected inappropriate video content. These systems flag suspicious visual content for our moderators to review before it is published on Yelp.
Yelp constantly evaluates and monitors the performance of these automated systems to improve their accuracy. Users are also able to appeal Yelp’s content and account moderation decisions as described here.
Member State Orders
Yelp did not receive any Member State Orders during the relevant period.Article 16 Notices
Article 16 Notices can be found here.Content Moderation by Own Initiative
Content Moderation by Own Initiative can be found here.Overall Figures
Overall Figures can be found here.
Internal Complaints
Internal Complaints can be found here.
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[1] This number is for the date range of February 17, 2024 through December 31, 2024.
[2] This number is for the period of February 17, 2024 through December 31, 2024, has been rounded and includes reviews that are currently recommended, not recommended, or that have been removed.
[3] More information about Yelp’s Recommendation Software can be found here and below.
[4] This number is for the period of February 17, 2024 through December 31, 2024.
[5] Data is sourced from the EU and is for the period of February 17, 2024 through December 31, 2024.
[6] Data is sourced from the EU and is for the period of February 17, 2024 through December 31, 2024. These account closures stem from both user reports and proactive investigations. When an account is closed due to suspected deceptive or abusive behaviors, the associated reviews and photos are removed as well.
[7] This number is for the period of February 17, 2024 through December 31, 2024. Of these 22,000+ photos, 18,000+ were spam.
[8] Data is sourced globally and for the period of January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024.
[9] Data is sourced globally and for the period of January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024.
[10] Data is sourced globally and for the period of January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024.