--- description: Yelp announced Tuesday an agreement encouraging users to review government agencies, and government agencies to respond to reviews. title: Yelp Wants You to Review the Government image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt526a3ff64e5c376b/69885fe45f570f16ddb1cfc1/yelp-government-agency-review.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Yelp Wants You to Review the Government ## Video: TIME Explains: The Deep Web [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: The Deep Web](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DQbujPQY.m3u8) (2:19)  _Published 2013-10-31. The FBI takedown of the online market Silk Road reveals the challenges of regulating the Deep Web. Here's what you need to know._  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 18, 2015 8:02 PM CUT  The Yelp logo is displayed in the window of a restaurant in New York on March 1, 2012. The Yelp logo is displayed in the window of a restaurant in New York on March 1, 2012.Scott Eells—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 18, 2015 8:02 PM CUT Reviewing federal agencies on Yelp may soon feel more like a two-way dialogue rather than a shout into the wind, the company [announced](http://officialblog.yelp.com/2015/08/how-many-stars-would-you-give-the-tsa-review-federal-agencies-on-yelpand-maybe-get-a-response.html "undefined") on Tuesday. Under a new [agreement](http://www.digitalgov.gov/2015/08/07/five-star-customer-experience-in-public-service-with-yelp/ "undefined") with Yelp, federal agencies can now claim their existing Yelp pages or launch new ones to respond officially to reviews, according to Luther Lowe, vice president of public policy at Yelp. “It’s exciting because it allows government agencies to take real-time feedback from citizens and act upon it in a way that helps our democracy operate better,” Lowe says. Non-government services like restaurants and bars have long been able to claim their pages and respond to reviews, Lowe explains, whereas federal agencies had not previously been able to do so — even though many of them, from [USPS locations](http://www.yelp.com/biz/usps-new-york-3 "undefined") to [congressmen offices](http://www.yelp.com/biz/office-of-congressman-mark-takano-washington "undefined"), have been reviewed on Yelp for years. “Basically, we had to create a special [terms of service](https://www.digitalgov.gov/files/2015/08/Yelp-Terms-Amendment-for-use-by-Govt-FINAL-07-30-2015.doc "undefined") for government service agencies, to make sure that the government isn’t endorsing one platform over another,” Lowe says. The visual changes on the site are subtle. Users won’t see a badge indicating that a federal agency has claimed its page, Lowe explains. But they can still tell whether a page has been claimed if, under the business information, there remains a link that reads, [“Work here? Claim this business.”](http://www.yelp.com/biz/us-post-office-arlington-15?hrid=EX6zM8zugJ0JGDldP7RGoA "undefined") A similar transparency [initiative](http://officialblog.yelp.com/2015/08/yelps-consumer-protection-initiative-propublica-partnership-brings-medical-info-to-yelp.html "undefined") was launched by Yelp last week to improve medical services. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4002064/yelp-review-federal-agencies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4002064/yelp-review-federal-agencies/"},"headline":"Yelp Wants You to Review the Government","datePublished":"2015-08-18T20:02:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:06:24.137Z","description":"They can now respond to your feedback, too","url":"https://time.com/4002064/yelp-review-federal-agencies/","keywords":["Tech","Social Media","White House","Yelp","Web","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt526a3ff64e5c376b/69885fe45f570f16ddb1cfc1/yelp-government-agency-review.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt526a3ff64e5c376b/69885fe45f570f16ddb1cfc1/yelp-government-agency-review.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Yelp Federal Government Agency Review","caption":"Yelp Federal Government Agency Review","creditText":"Scott Eells—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4002064/yelp-review-federal-agencies/","name":"Yelp Wants You to Review the Government"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Explains: The Deep Web","description":"The FBI takedown of the online market Silk Road reveals the challenges of regulating the Deep Web. Here's what you need to know.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DQbujPQY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-10-31T00:08:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DQbujPQY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4002064/yelp-review-federal-agencies/","duration":"PT2M19S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4002064/yelp-review-federal-agencies/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```