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Yelp’s New ‘Racist’ Alert Raises Concerns Among Small Businesses

  • Owners and advocacy groups worry about false accusations
  • New tag, rolled out this month, is extremely rare, Yelp said
    

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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Yelp Inc.’s recently launched feature of flagging businesses accused of “overtly racist actions” is raising concerns among U.S. small-business owners who worry about false accusations.

Desarae Mueller-Fichepain, who has been running French-cuisine restaurant Le Voltaire in Omaha, Nebraska, for almost 20 years, said the feature, while well-meaning, could hurt the people it’s intending to help.