Yelp

Commercial and Professional Services, Media and Entertainment

Risk Level:

Rating - Caution
Medium Risk

Summary:

Yelp has not terminated any business relationships due to religious beliefs, though it has regularly advocated for progressive causes. Yelp does not have viewpoint protections for its employees. The company uses its corporate PAC to support non-business interests and has supported the Equality Act. Yelp has also opposed a 2015 religious freedom law in Indiana and opposed the Florida Parental Rights in Education law. For these reasons, Yelp receives a "Medium Risk" rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

There are no publicly known cases of Yelp terminating business relationships due to religious or political beliefs. Yelp received a score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Among other requirements, this indicates that Yelp vets suppliers according to their LGBTQ policies (1).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp does not discriminate against faith-based charities in its corporate giving (1)(2).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp does not protect employees from viewpoint discrimination (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp is a member of the Business Coalition for the Equality Act and has signed the HRC’s Business Statement on Anti-LGBTQ Legislation (1)(2). Yelp signed an open letter opposing the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, which prevents teaching gender identity and sexual orientation in schools to kids in K-3rd grade (3). In 2015, Yelp’s CEO spoke out against a religious freedom bill in Indiana (4). In 2020, Yelp launched a user-submitted “Business Accused of Racist Behavior Alert” feature that enables users to flag establishments with accusations of racial motivation, which many conservative commentators have predicted will lead to subjective “cancellation” of non-woke businesses (5).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp has not corporately donated to ideological organizations or causes hostile to freedom of expression (1)(2). However, Yelp has committed to funding employee travel to seek an abortion (3).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
Rationale

Yelp’s PAC has donated to ideological PACs such as the Equality PAC and the Fair Fight PAC, an ideological voting rights advocacy group (1)(2).

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
January 3, 2023

Company reports are intended for educational use only. Full Disclaimer

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