Yelp can’t be forced to delete your terrible, mean comments, court rules

While Yelp will forever be a battleground of hot takes and battles between business owners and customers, the site won a legal skirmish that, for now, protects it from liability over negative reviews.

So sayeth the California Supreme Court, anyway, who ruled 4-3 this week in favor of the online review site, affirming that the site was free from liability when people who are Mad Online™ say mean things about a place of business. 

The case, reports the New York Times, stemmed from a San Francisco attorney who claimed a former client’s Yelp posts about his business were defamatory. A San Francisco Superior Court judge agreed and ordered the posts taken down. When the client didn’t delete the posts, the attorney got a court order for Yelp to delete them. But Yelp continued its fight through the legal system. Read more…

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