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I appreciate your viewpoint, but I'll argue that were Google to do that, it still wouldn't be extortion.

There is a ethically a world of difference between:

a.) Having the option of paying to appear higher in the rankings (IIRC Yahoo used to do this way back when) and...

b.) Getting a call from Yelp informing you of some "anonymous" negative review posted about your business, with the offer of "making it go away" in exchange for cash.