A damning report by Milwaukee Journal Sentinal on 1 November showed how travel website TripAdvisor was removing hotel and resort reviews that included rape and sexual assault claims.
The report found that the website labelled such reviews “inappropriate, not “family-friendly”, and “hearsay” when they included third-party medical diagnoses — and now TripAdvisor is responding by placing symbols “designed to identify health, safety and discrimination issues”, The New York Times reports.
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“These badges are intended to be informative, not punitive,” company spokesperson Kevin Carter told NYT.
In reality, the badges offer a vague way for the company to justify its intent on continuing to remove claims of injury and violence occurring on the venues it promotes.
The red badge found atop a listing’s TripAdvisor page reads:
TripAdvisor has been made aware of recent media reports or events concerning this property which may not be reflected in reviews found on this listing. Accordingly, you may wish to perform additional research for information about this property when making your travel plans.
This badge will stay up for three months after an incriminating post, and “if the issue persists”, the company says it will keep it up longer. The decision to add or remove the badge will fall on an employee committee.
TripAdvisor says it will never remove a listing, regardless of the number of complaints.
Along with this change, the company will also be working to let users know exactly which part of their review was flagged.
Feature image: screenshot, TripAdvisor
