Yelp And GoFundMe Made Donation Pages For Restaurants Without Their Permission
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To support independent businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Yelp and GoFundMe teamed up to make it possible for people to donate through the businesses' Yelp pages. Though the intentions were good, the rollout of that plan didn’t exactly fare well with some restaurants who were automatically opted into it without being asked for their permission first.
Restaurant owners and other industry professionals took to Twitter to share how they were blindsided by the situation. Some felt that the companies were taking advantage of how the pandemic has hit the restaurant industry. Others pointed out that it makes the restaurants seem like charity cases and derails existing fundraising efforts many of them already have in place.
Uhhh, what the fuck? Without my permission, or even notifying me, Yelp has created a GoFundMe fundraiser for my bar @suckerpunchpdx. pic.twitter.com/qqmn6IUSx5
— Andy McMillan (@andymcmillan) March 26, 2020
.@gofundme & @Yelp
It is unconscionable of you to create a page for my restaurants trying to take advantage of this crisis for your companies under the guise of 'helping'.
Immediately remove all Alinea Group properties. I hope someone sues you... I might once i have time. pic.twitter.com/0xfCK6OnG3— nick kokonas (@nickkokonas) March 26, 2020
A) reputation. Some restaurants are actively taking steps to reformular their business model right now and looking like a charity case actively harms those efforts. B) taking the time to opt out of something you didn’t opt into is lost time and added stress. C) many...
— J. Kenji López-Alt (@kenjilopezalt) March 27, 2020
I know! I'm furious. It's not @YelpEastBay place to redirect attention from other funding we're already reaching for in this terrible situation. I'm so mad. Totally inappropriate protocol. And to opt out is not easy and distracts from other priorities.@Yelp
— Liba (@letsliba) March 26, 2020
The GoFundMe pages–based on Yelp photos and descriptions of the businesses–were automatically set up for restaurants and other businesses that had a claimed Yelp page and five or fewer locations. Some bars included in the partnership hadn't even been open to the public yet.
After receiving backlash from businesses who wanted to actively opt-in or did not get a notification to opt-out, Yelp halted the auto-rollout of the donation feature and is “working with GoFundMe to provide a seamless way for businesses to opt into the program,” according to an update on Yelp’s blog post.
If you want to support your favorite local eatery, it’s probably best to check with them directly on the best way to go about it–you don’t want to add to any headaches!
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