[gyardley]

One recording of a Yelp rep saying something like that is one instance of a sales guy lying to make a sale so he can get a commission or make a quota. You know, something that happens all the time.

Yelp could never manipulate reviews and this restaurant owner could have been told exactly what he claims. The two things aren't mutually incompatible.

[danielweber]

So who is responsible for what Yelp's representatives say? Are they just a force of nature?

[gyardley]

Yelp, obviously, but 'greedy lying sales guy' is a different class of problem than 'company-wide extortion scheme'.