FTC Subpoena Revelations, Thousands Of Complaints Send Yelp's Stock Price Tumbling

The Federal Trade Commission has exposed thousands of consumer complaints they've received about the company.

Yelp is facing one of its biggest challenges yet: The Federal Trade Commission says thousands of business owners have filed complaints against Yelp (PDF) between 2008 and 2014--and the company's stock dipped 12% a few hours later. In total, consumers made 2,045 complaints against Yelp to the federal government. The disclosure was made in response to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal into whether Yelp gives preferential treatment to companies who advertise on the service. The FCC disclosed that Yelp receives six federal subpoenas monthly, some of which request the names of anonymous users. It's bad news for the massive review database company--and great news for competitors like Foursquare, Facebook, and even Google's review efforts.

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