Google and Yelp seem to have disabled the ability for users to leave reviews about some crisis pregnancy centers that are listed on their platforms. This could, some activists claim, prevent them from giving accurate information about these centers. They are well-known for persuading women to not get abortions. Google seems to have disabled the ability for users to leave reviews about certain abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.
Members of Gen-Z for Change, a progressive youth activist group, first noticed the suspension of the ability for users to review reviews. They launched an initiative called S.A.F.E.R. — Spam, Assist Fund, Educate and Register — Tuesday.
People were encouraged to flood anti-abortion pregnancy crisis centers and anti-abortion tip line with reviews and comments. They could use one of many versions of prepared text explaining that a company is not an abortion clinic to give transparency about the actual services they provide. website. The S.A.F.E.R. Site users could run a script to automatically leave reviews on Yelp’s crisis pregnancy center pages.
Sometimes, crisis pregnancy centers used questionable marketing methods to reach young women who became pregnant.
According to Planned parenthood, crisis pregnancy centers disguise themselves as places where women can have abortions to coerce them into terminating their pregnancies. Many platforms allow you to search for abortion services or pregnancy care. These results will include crisis centers, but they won’t be distinguished from other medical facilities offering abortion.
Sean Wiggs is a digital strategist associate at Gen-Z for Change. He noticed that Yelp had removed the ability to leave reviews for many organizations on Thursday.
The button to leave reviews for any “pregnancy center” that is listed on Google as a crisis pregnancy center appeared disabled as of Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear why a center’s review buttons were removed. Some centers viewed on NBC News were not classified as “pregnancy centers” but still had review buttons. It’s not clear when review buttons were removed. Some “pregnancy centers” have reviews that were posted as recent as two weeks ago. NBC News ran searches in several states for crisis pregnancy centers using different internet service providers and proxy server, with similar results.
Google did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Wiggs stated that it felt like Yelps or Googles were siding with the crisis pregnancy center rather than those who are actually seeking abortion.
“It is more disbelief than that they would preemptively get in people’s way of leaving reviews. The reviews are not inaccurate. Wiggs stated that the listing is merely a list of services offered at these crisis pregnancy centres.
Howevertons could not be used on Planned Parenthood sites on Google. Some of these locations do offer abortions. Some of the reviews that stated that the centers do not offer abortion are still visible. Not all crisis pregnancy centers listed on Google have reviews that state that they don’t offer abortions.
Sundar Pichai (CEO of Alphabet), was contacted by 20 Democratic House members and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to correct Google’s inaccurate searches for abortion providers. Soon after the letter was sent, on June 28th, Letitia James, New York’s Attorney General, wrote a letter to Google informing them of her concern over Google Maps’ inability to differentiate between crisis pregnancy centers and abortion providers.
James stated that New Yorkers and other visitors to the state should have confidence in Google Maps to provide accurate information and direct them towards safe and reliable care.
According to James’ news release, Google stated that it would investigate the issue in 2018. According to James’ office’s news release, Google stated that it has begun to use human analysts to determine “which facilities offer abortion” and “which work with a pregnant person’s decision.” James said that a recent test revealed that the problem persists.
Google’s support page states businesses and organizations must be certified by Google if they wish to advertise to women seeking abortions.
Yelp temporarily disabled review sections for organizations that were tagged as “faith based crisis pregnancy centres” or “crisis pregnancy centers”. People were unable to leave reviews because the business had received more attention in the news. This often indicates that people visit this page to share their opinions on the news and not to have a direct consumer experience.
The statement continues to state that temporarily, the ability to post about the company is disabled. Those who wish to share their experiences can check back later.
A similar notification is displayed when a user looks at existing reviews. It warns the viewer that the business has received more attention. Users can still view older reviews, which may explain why the center is not offering abortion.
Yelp reviews for clinics that are disabled do not include reviews explaining that they don’t offer abortions.
Yelp spokesmen stated that they “condemn any attempt to mislead people looking for abortion care” and that clinics that do not offer abortion services are re-categorized as “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” or “Faith-based Crisis Pregnancy Centers” when the business does not.
A spokesperson stated that reviews of crisis pregnancy centers pages in the U.S. have been increasing rapidly since July 5. “These reviews do not reflect real consumer experiences and instead, are statements of ideological views.” “Yelp’s Content Guidelines requires that reviews are based on real, first-hand experiences of consumers, even when we agree with some views in these reviews.”
Yelp prohibits users from posting reviews that “concentrate overwhelmingly on nonconsumer issues such as the political ideology of a business.”
Olivia Julianna is a political strategist for Gen-Z for Change, and an abortion rights activist. She said that S.A.F.E.R. was launched by the organization in a text message interview. With the mission of ensuring that every American has access to safe abortions.
Julianna stated that Gen-Z for Change had submitted “over 25000 honest reviews” to more than 2000 crisis pregnancy centers before Google and Yelp closed down the ability for people to leave reviews.
