Yelp, a search and review website, is to label pages of businesses accused of racist behaviour.
The platform, which lets users rate bars, restaurants and attractions, said the alerts would require “resounding evidence”, in the form of public attention and “floods of reviews”.
Yelp will then link to a “credible news outlet” with more information on the claims and temporarily ban new reviews.
Critics on Twitter said the tool could be used to amplify false accusations.
“As the nation reckons with issues of systemic racism, we’ve seen in the last few months that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions,” wrote vice-president of user operations Noorie Malik on the Yelp website.
It’s not clear whether this feature will be introduced to all global Yelp sites or just in the US
