Yelp Can’t Be Ordered to Take Down Negative Review in this Case

That’s the decision from the highest court in California. The case involved a client who posted a bad review about a law firm. The lower court ordered the client to take down the post, and also ordered Yelp to take down the review. Because  Yelp wasn’t a party to the case, it couldn’t be ordered to do so. It filed an appeal to California’s highest court. It asked that the order be set aside, and a recent decision did just that. In a split decision, the majority concluded that it can’t hold Yelp accountable, reversing the lower court’s removal order to Yelp. The reason: an order to Yelp would “interfere with and undermine the viability of an online platform.”