It’s tough being shocked that Peeple, the new app that lets its users rate other human beings like they would a restaurant, is a thing. There’s an app for literallty everything and we already know people on the Internet are just the worst, so it’s no surprise someone is making a service so fundamentally bad that it’s almost funny. In fact, the founders of this Calgary-based startup act like there couldn’t possibly be anything wrong with this idea, boasting Peeple is the “Yelp for people,” as if that’s not a totally batshit, dystopian-sounding thing to say, let alone brag about.
It should be pretty clear why this is wrong-headed and potentially damaging—the notion that human beings, in all their complexities, strengths and faults, can be diminished to a five-star rating system should be pretty problematic to almost everyone—I’d hope. But, Peeple is even worse than its shitty concept suggests. Its website talks in verbose platitudes about being able to “showcase your character” and “enhance your online reputation for access to better quality networks, top job opportunities and promote more informed decision making about people.” That said, it’s hard to see it doing anything other than the exact opposite—or at least making it very easy for people who game the system. Even then, we’ve had the entire evolutionary history of human existence and social interaction to get a good idea of whether or not someone is a douchebag or respectable to babysit your kids.
To rate you on Peeple, all someone has to do is add your name and your cell number to the app and review you. Then you’re in the system. You, the person being reviewed by someone on the Internet, has no say in the matter.
Don’t worry. Negative reviews won’t show up if you’re not a member of the site, but positive and neutral ones will appear without your consent. There isn’t a way to opt out of the app or to stop people from giving the app your information. And Peeple does not check to see if the cell phone the reviewer has submitted is accurate.
The fact that anyone can add your information to an app without you knowing should give you serious pause. While it probably won’t quell any legitimate concerns, the site stresses it will attempt to stop bullying and harassment. Co-founder Julia Cordray explained to the Washington Post, “As two empathetic, female entrepreneurs in the tech space, we want to spread love and positivity. We want to operate with thoughtfulness.”
Oh, please.
Even with the flowery PR copy, the service is nothing but an invasive, privacy-shattering attempt that values crowdsourced data about human beings over actual human beings. With Yelp and Amazon, reviewing has a purpose—you’re getting a service and evaluating that service. With Peeple, everyone in every type of social interaction is up for review. Do we need this? Should we view other people as products to be rated or reviewed?
If there’s one positive to Peeple, and by positive I mean a possible speck of something edible on a giant shit sandwich, it’s that it’s not anonymous. In order to post a review, you have to be at least a 21-year-old with a working Facebook account and be willing to write the review under your own name. You also must confirm that you know the person you’re reviewing in one of three categories: personal, professional and romantic.
Peeple’s website elaborates about the reviewer-reviewee interaction, “Negative comments don’t go live on the app for 48 hours; they simply go into the inbox of the person who got the negative review and then are given a chance to work it out with the person who wrote the review.” The copy continues, “If you can’t work it out with the person you can publicly defend yourself by commenting on the negative review.” So, if you’re not willing to say to someone online who’s writing mean things about you, “Please stop writing mean things about me online,” you’re basically out of luck. Granted, you can just not join the site and that way, only neutral-to-positive reviews (nothing negative) will show up.
Even if you ignore the horrific premise behind Peeple, it doesn’t really even work on a practical level. When you go to a restaurant and have a good meal, chances are you’re not going to be compelled to write a positive review because the restaurant met your expectations. If you go to a place and have an awful experience with bad service and inedible, undercooked meal, you’re more likely to write about it. Research backs this up. Clifford Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford University, had this to say to the New York Times, “Some people do have a more positive outlook, but almost everyone remembers negative things more strongly and in more detail.” For Peeple, it’s less likely you’ll review some guy you met at a party who seemed pretty cool than the dude who puked on your shoes.
This is tech culture at its worst. It is “convenience” at the expense of human decency, making the uncertainty of your reputation a form of online currency. Peeple isn’t interested in real people or making the world a better place. In fact, there’s really no good purpose for this to exist: Humans get feedback all the time, be it in person or online. Peeple is instead interested in making real people commodities. While the Internet’s overwhelmingly negative response to this app should give us hope, it’s not hard to imagine our digital future being quite bleak with more nefarious apps, just like this one, popping up.
jterry@redeyechicago.com, @joshhterry
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