Yelp’s automated systems filtered out nearly 500,000 suspected AI-generated reviews

Yelp's User Operations team shut down over a million policy-violating user accounts, up 138% from 2024

58% year-over-year increase in business pages moderated by Yelp for an influx of unreliable reviews driven by viral incidents

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 25, 2026-- Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP), the company that connects people with great local businesses, today released its 2025 Trust & Safety Report, detailing the extensive measures it took to protect the integrity and quality of content on its platform. The report reveals that the company identified and filtered out nearly half a million suspected AI-generated reviews,¹ prevented review extortion scams that impacted local businesses on other review platforms, and more than doubled user account closures to combat emerging threats.² Through proactive investigations, Yelp’s User Operations team thwarted compensated and incentivized reviews on its platform and across other sites.¹ Additionally, incidents covered by the media or amplified on social platforms drove a surge in abnormal review activity on Yelp, resulting in a 58% year-over-year increase in Media Attention Alerts placed on business pages.³

"As technology rapidly evolves—from the rise of AI-generated content to increasingly sophisticated tactics by bad actors—maintaining consumer trust is more vital than ever," said Noorie Malik, vice president of User Operations at Yelp. "In 2025, Yelp continued to prioritize consumer trust by maintaining our rigorous content policies while introducing new mechanisms to identify and filter out suspected AI-generated reviews, and swiftly detect fraudulent activity. To maintain the integrity of content on our platform, we rely on our unique combination of technology and expert human moderation, which enables us to set industry-leading standards that protect the reliability and authenticity of information shared on Yelp. As other platforms scale back their efforts on trust and safety, Yelp remains committed to keeping consumer trust and authentic content at the heart of everything we do."

Fighting AI-Generated Content at Scale

AI-generated reviews violate Yelp’s Content Guidelines, as all reviews on its platform must be based on genuine, firsthand customer experiences, and reviewers are prohibited from using third-party AI tools to write their reviews. With the rise in consumer adoption of AI tools, Yelp has significantly invested in methods to better detect and mitigate AI-written reviews, including rolling out several new detection technologies powered by AI. In 2025, Yelp’s automated systems identified and filtered out nearly half a million reviews that exhibited characteristics of AI-generated content.¹

Yelp’s Automated Recommendation Software

Yelp’s automated recommendation software evaluates all reviews on its platform using hundreds of signals related to quality, reliability, and user activity on Yelp. To avoid conflicts of interest, the system is entirely automated, applying the same objective rules to every business, and no Yelp employee, business owner, or reviewer can influence or override the software’s decisions for any individual business.

• Approximately 22 million reviews were contributed to Yelp in 2025.⁴ Of these reviews, about 70% were recommended by Yelp’s automated recommendation software. Additionally, 17% were not recommended, 11% were removed by Yelp’s User Operations team, and 2% were self-removed by reviewers.⁵
• In 2025, Yelp further enhanced its automated recommendation software to better detect and not recommend reviews that lacked sufficient details about the consumer experience or contained potential conflicts of interest (including those written by individuals with undisclosed ties to the business or who received incentives in exchange for their review).

Yelp’s User Operations Team Maintains Content Integrity

Yelp’s User Operations team maintains the reliability and integrity of content on Yelp by protecting data quality, investigating potential fraud, and moderating content.

• Yelp relies on consumers and business owners to report reviews they believe violate its policies. In 2025, Yelp removed over 193,700 reported reviews, with 25% of those removed reviews not reflecting firsthand consumer experiences.³
• More than 46,200 reviews containing inappropriate content were removed by Yelp’s User Operations team through proactive and reactive measures.³
• Over 1.3 million user accounts were closed for violating Yelp’s Terms of Service (a 138% increase from 2024), driven primarily by an influx of airline phone support scams.¹
  • In 2025, Yelp’s detection systems identified and User Operations team removed more than 889,800 fake phone support accounts related to large-scale airline phone support scams.¹
• More than 50,700 potential new business pages were rejected by Yelp’s User Operations team for being associated with spammy behaviors.⁶
  • This was a 29% increase from 2024, driven by improved moderation processes that more effectively identify and reject suspicious submissions in high-risk emergency service business categories—such as locksmiths, garage door repairs, roadside assistance, and plumbing—where vulnerable consumers in urgent need of assistance are especially susceptible to scams.⁶
• Yelp removed more than 1,340 business pages linked to deceitful lead generators that were caught attempting to create fake business pages to sell leads to the highest bidder.¹

Combating Incentivized and Deceptive Reviews

Yelp strictly prohibits compensated and incentivized reviews, which can mislead consumers and hurt businesses. Yelp’s User Operations team proactively investigates Yelp’s platform and third-party sites to monitor and infiltrate online groups where people may attempt to trade or pay for reviews.

• Yelp placed 128 Compensated Activity Alerts on business pages after receiving evidence of someone offering payment or other incentives in exchange for writing, changing, preventing, or removing reviews.¹
• Yelp placed 363 Suspicious Review Activity Alerts on business pages after detecting a large number of suspicious positive reviews coming from a single IP address, or reviews from users who may be connected to a group that coordinates the buying or selling of online reviews.¹
• Nearly 2,000 user accounts were closed for being associated with review exchange rings or other suspicious review activity.⁶
  • This 49% increase in account closures stemmed from a proactive audit and investigation by Yelp’s User Operations team to uncover review exchange rings and suspicious activity.⁶
• Yelp made over 1,020 reports to other online platforms (like Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, and Craigslist) to warn them of content it found on their sites attempting to trade or pay for reviews.¹
  • Yelp identified more than 1,100 suspicious groups, posts, or individuals attempting to trade or pay for reviews, a 45% increase compared to 2024.¹
  • 60% of Yelp’s reports resulted in action being taken by these other platforms to remove the deceptive content, a 62% increase compared to 2024.¹

Moderating Business Pages That Gain Public Attention

When a business receives public attention or goes viral online, Yelp uses signals to detect an unusual spike in activity on its business page. If warranted, Yelp’s User Operations team may temporarily disable the ability to post content and place the appropriate Media Attention Alert to remind users that reviews must reflect genuine, firsthand experiences.

• In total, Yelp saw a 58% increase in Unusual Activity Alerts and Public Attention Alerts placed on business pages compared to 2024, resulting in the removal of more than 80,000 reviews.³
  • Of these alerts, 75% of incidents stemmed from review activity related to viral social media posts in 2025, which resulted in the removal of more than 63,100 reviews.³
• More than 1,190 Unusual Activity Alerts were placed on business pages in 2025. This occurs when a business, after gaining public attention, receives an influx of Yelp reviews that do not reflect firsthand experiences.³
• 266 Public Attention Alerts were placed on business pages in 2025. This occurs when a business receives an influx of reviews after gaining public attention for either being accused of, or the target of, discriminatory behavior.³

Protecting Consumers From Abuse of the Legal System

At times, legal actions can be used to unfairly silence reviewers, which is why Yelp carefully evaluates, and often objects to, subpoenas and other legal demands that seek personal information about user accounts.

• In 2025, Yelp avoided producing personal information related to 99% of user accounts that were the subject of legal demands from law enforcement, government agencies, and private parties.³
• Yelp placed 6 Questionable Legal Threat Alerts on business pages after receiving evidence that a business may be abusing the legal system. These alerts mainly stemmed from legal action and threats businesses made to consumers to suppress their reviews, as well as gag clauses.³

For more information, read Yelp’s 2025 Trust & Safety Report. To learn more about the ways Yelp maintains the integrity and quality of its content, visit trust.yelp.com.

¹ Data is sourced globally.
² Data is sourced globally. These account closures stem from both user reports and proactive investigations. When an account is closed due to suspected deceptive or abusive behaviors, the associated reviews are removed as well.
³ Data is sourced from the U.S. only.
⁴ Data is sourced globally and reflects reviews from January 1 to December 31, 2025. This number has been rounded and includes reviews that are currently recommended, not recommended, or that have been removed.
⁵ Reviews removed by Yelp’s User Operations team or reviews removed as a result of account closures for content policy violations. Yelp users can remove their own individual reviews or remove all their reviews by closing or deleting their accounts.
⁶ Data is sourced from the U.S. and Canada.

About Yelp Inc.

Yelp Inc. (yelp.com) is a community-driven platform that connects people with great local businesses. Millions of people rely on Yelp for useful and trusted local business information, reviews, and photos to help inform their spending decisions. As a one-stop local platform, Yelp helps consumers easily discover, connect, and transact with businesses across a broad range of categories by making it easy to request a quote for a service, book a table at a restaurant, and more. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in 2004.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260225039344/en/

Press Contact
Yelp Inc.
Julianne Rowe
press@yelp.com

Source: Yelp Inc.