By Samuel medina/ south news editor
The upcoming app Peeple allows one to rate and review people as if they were restaurants or hotels. CEO/co-founder Julia Cordray described Peeple as the “Yelp for people.”
One creates a page for someone by linking a Facebook account to the app and using that person’s phone number. All it does is text the people to let them know they have been rated so they can check it out. Reviews are made under the person’s own name in an effort to keep anonymity to a minimum, but who knows if it’s actually that person?
If a person gets a bad review, that individual has 48 hours to talk it out with the person who left the review and then publicly defend him/herself if an agreement was not made.
The company is preying on the curiosity and insecurities of people to download the app to check out the reviews.
It is just ridiculous there is no way to opt out or even remove a profile that someone else has created. The entire idea is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Much to Cordray’s surprise, the app that lets people rate other human beings without their consent has been met with some concern. It seems as if the app can become a bullying site quickly, if not instantaneously.
Rating people from one to five is not innovative or a gift as Cordray claims. Gifts don’t make people insecure or hurt themselves. Peeple is potentially the ideal tool for abusers, bullies and stalkers.
Even though the founders say they’re “creating the world’s largest positivity app,” they are asking the Internet to judge and rate people. Cordray may have good intentions, but a superficial app is not the way to become part of the “positive revolution.”
Are the creators defending it because they truly believe in it or because it’s valued at $7.6 million before they even launch at the end of November?
An online petition demanding Apple and Google ban its launch received almost 8,000 signatures in seven days. If the app manages to launch regardless of the petition, the number of libel lawsuits Peeple might receive could shut down the company.
