‘Peeple’ Sites Taken Down After Online Backlash Against The People-Rating App

The website and social media pages for a controversial app that enables people to rate each other appear to have been taken down.

The website is unavailable for many, though according to the BBC, some have reported being redirected to a sparse landing page with the message ‘join the positive revolution #oct12’.

The app’s Facebook and Twitter profiles also appear to be unavailable.

The app created a social media storm when it was announced last week, with many criticising the concept of individuals being able to rate anyone they know.

The potential for cyberbullying was highlighted, as well as the possibility of people posting libellous reviews.

“Peeple is an app that allows you to rate and comment about the people you interact with in your daily lives on the following three categories: personal, professional, and dating”, according to its makers.

Following the backlash, rumours began to circulate that the app could just be a hoax, referring to the minimal online footprint of its founders as well as seemingly vague details about how the app would actually work.

However, Peeple CEO co-founder Julia Cordray took to LinkedIn to deny the rumours and further explain the app, saying:

“Peeple will not be a tool to tell other humans how horrible they are. Actually, it’s the exact opposite.

“Peeple is a POSITIVE ONLY APP. We want to bring positivity and kindness to the world”.

Cordray stated that she had received numerous negative online comments, along with several death threats since news of the app broke.

She admitted that it was a mistake referring to the app as ‘Yelp for people’, which implied that the same type of negative comments that can be left on the popular reviews app for local businesses could also be applied to people.

Cordray reassured potential app users that:

“Peeple is focused on the positive and ONLY THE POSITIVE as a 100% OPT-IN system. You will NOT be on our platform without your explicit permission. There is no 48 hour waiting period to remove negative comments. There is no way to even make negative comments. Simply stated, if you don’t explicitly say ‘approve recommendation’, it will not be visible on our platform”.

Ironically, it appears that Peeple may have had to take down its social media presence - whether permanently or temporarily - due to bad reviews.