DNS - Yelp Facing Class Action Lawsuit

Business review and rating Web site operator Yelp is reportedly facing a class action lawsuit alleging that it extorted money from companies in return for suppressing negative reviews.

According to a report on TechCrunch, two law firms, Beck & Lee from Miami and The Weston Firm in San Diego, have filed the class action lawsuit alleging unfair business practices in Los Angeles federal court.

The plaintiff in the suit, Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital of Long Beach, Calif., reportedly asked Yelp to remove a negative review from its Web site last year. As per the complaint, Yelp initially denied the request -- however, one of its sales representatives later contacted the hospital and demanded payments of roughly $300 per month in exchange for hiding or deleting the review.

The suit comes just weeks after Yelp took a large investment from Elevation Partners -- and about two months after it walked away from a $550 million Google (News - Alert) acquisition deal.