The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider a request by a San Francisco attorney for the removal of a review on Yelp found libelous by a lower court. Federal law protects internet service providers from lawsuits over statements posted by third-parties. Yelp examined the review when it was challenged but did not think it was libelous. (San Francisco Chronicle, January 2, 2019,by Bob Egelko)
Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act protects platform providers such as Yelp, Twitter and Facebook from liability for user posts. The act was whittled down with the passage of FOSTA last year that made platforms responsible for prostitution ads. And there is more talk in Congress urging platforms to police their sites more aggressively . (TechSpot, January 23, 2019, by Cal Jeffrey