Addressing the Commercialization of Business Reputation

“Mediated reputation systems,” like Yelp, Angie’s List, and Consumer-Affairs, enable consumers to access a new and powerful trove of peer experiential information about businesses and their services. This information, often sought right in the midst of a transactional decision, purports to carry an air of "neutrality", as defined in this brief essay. However, these mediated-reputation-system platforms are financially sustained in large measure by advertising from the very entities under review. This essay introduces the argument that this market-information zone might warrant more scrutiny from regulators due to conflicting interests of users and advertisers. Such scrutiny has the potential to protect and improve this newfound important source of consumer information. These conclusions are amplified, supported, and qualified by my forthcoming 2017 article in the Michigan Journal of Law Reform, "Do We Need Help Using Yelp!?"