Yelp Adds ‘Proof of Vaccination Required’ and ‘All Staff Fully Vaccinated’ Filters

Yelp, a website that crowdsources reviews about businesses, created a new filter to widen the divide between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

“To help consumers understand how a business is currently operating as pandemic guidelines continue to evolve, today, Yelp is announcing two new, free attributes – “Proof of vaccination required” and “All staff fully vaccinated,” the company announced on Thursday.

The new filters will reportedly help users sort out jab-friendly establishments when searching for restaurants, nightlife, and the like. According to Yelp, businesses who pledge allegiance to the Chinese coronavirus vaccine will be clearly labeled for users to see.

The company compared its new coronavirus vaccine filters to other filters it created based on “identity attributes” like race and gender.

“We put a similar system in place when we launched our Black-owned attribute in June 2020, and followed the same process for our other identity attributes, such as Latinx-owned, Asian-owned, and LGBTQ-owned,” the company said.

Previously, Yelp also announced — at a time when businesses faced an unprecedented threat of race-riot looting — that it would introduce warning labels that tell the public if a business has been “accused of racist behavior.”

The company will be censoring “reviews focused on people’s stance on COVID vaccinations rather than their actual experience with the business,” citing potential backlash for businesses who proclaim loyalty to vaccines on their pages.

“In fact, since January 2021, we’ve placed more than 100 Unusual Activity Alerts on Yelp pages related to these incidents, which has resulted in the removal of nearly 4,500 reviews for violating our content policies,” according to the company.

The company’s announcement comes soon after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) passed a mandate forcing patrons to show proof of vaccination prior to entering indoor establishments, including restaurants and gyms. A few days prior, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is currently embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, asked private businesses, including bars and restaurants, to “go to vaccine-only admission.”

Some school districts and big companies like Walt Disney, Netflix, and Google have also begun mandating coronavirus vaccinations for employees.