[kbenson]

Yelp is a very interesting example. It's hard to make the analogy work because there's an asymmetry to the transaction between restaurant owners and restaurant customers (you don't have to be a customer to leave a review).

Even so, Yelp is renowned for extorting restaurant owners for money (whether or not illegal, and officially extortion)[1]. That's in a market where all participants are supposedly acting legally. Why am I to believe that illegal, anonymous entities won't be willing to burn their reputation (which may only exist for this scam) when they decide to stop?

1: https://www.google.com/search?q=q=yelp+extortion