Anti-Asian hatred ‘runs the gamut’, Yelp racist critics show

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WASHINGTON (AP) As if running a restaurant during a pandemic wasn’t hard enough, Christopher Wong also had to deal with a racist troll.

I won’t eat my dog ​​at this place because they might cook him, read the Yelp review of Wong’s restaurant, the Curry Up Cafe in suburban LA. The owner works for the Chinese government.

What you need to know Last year, Yelp, which is based in San Francisco, removed more than 2,000 racist business reviews before they went live, an almost tenfold jump from the previous year . While content included hate speech targeting Blacks, Latinos, and LGBTQ people, Additionally, the biggest increase was seen in reviews disparaging Asian Americans and Asian American-owned businesses. , according to Yelp, which included figures from its annual Trust and Safety Report, published Wednesday. Asian hatred. In 2022, it removed 475 Yelp that began tracking racial hate speech on its platform in 2020, just as Asian Americans have seen an increase in racially motivated hate related to COVID-19, which has was first identified in China. Then-President Donald Trump added to the controversy, referring to the coronavirus as a kung flu and a Chinese virus.

Yelp removed the review after Wong and several regular customers complained, but not before it had already been seen by an unknown number of potential customers.

If one person read this and decided not to come in, that’s someone who could have been a satisfied customer for years,” Wong told The Associated Press.

Last year, Yelp, which is based in San Francisco, removed more than 2,000 racist business reviews before they went live, nearly ten times more than the previous year.

This is a steep increase that reflects Yelp’s improved efforts to combat racist content and shows how even a site known for its restaurant and repair service reviews can be caught in the ongoing battle. America on Civility Online.

While content also included hate speech targeting Blacks, Latinos and LGBTQ people, the biggest increase was seen in reviews disparaging Asian Americans and Asian American-owned businesses, according to Yelp, which included the numbers in its annual Trust and Safety Report, published Wednesday.

In 2021, Yelp only proactively removed nine posts containing anti-Asian hatred. In 2022, it removed 475.

Yelp began tracking racial hate speech on its platform in 2020, just as Asian Americans have seen an increase in racially motivated hate related to COVID-19, which was first identified in China. . Then-President Donald Trump added to the controversy, referring to the coronavirus as a kung flu and a Chinese virus.

In this context, an increase in racist reviews of restaurants is not surprising, according to Justin Huang, professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, author of a recent study which found that Asian restaurants have seen their customer base drop. 18% compared to non-Asian restaurants in the same country. communities in 2020, which equates to over $7 billion in lost revenue.

We have seen an increase in violent incidents, random attacks,” Huang said. Anti-Asian stigma during the pandemic really runs the gamut.

In total, Yelp said it removed 26,500 business reviews last year that violated its rules on hate speech, threats or obscenity, an overall increase of 1,300 from the previous year.

Similar to the rise in anti-Asian content, Yelp proactively removed hundreds of reviews containing anti-LGBTQ hate speech last year. Similar content has flourished on social media, both on fringe sites popular with extremists as well as broad platforms like Twitter, which saw a surge in racist posts after it was taken over by Elon Musk.

Yelp has honed its efforts to identify and remove racist content since the pandemic began. In 2020, the platform began allowing businesses to identify whether they had a Black, Latino, Asian, or LGBTQ owner. As part of the designation, Yelp proactively assesses customer reviews for hate speech before they are posted online.

Noorie Malik, vice president of user operations at Yelp, said the company is aggressive when it comes to removing untrustworthy reviews, including those containing hate speech.

The trust and safety of the Yelp community is a top priority,” Malik wrote in an emailed statement to the AP. “That’s why we continue to invest heavily in technology and human moderation.

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