What is Yahoo! Local?
Yahoo! Local is a site that lists businesses, events, and attractions by area. It helps people find local information, pinpoint businesses on a map, and discover other people’s recommendations and reviews. You could use Yahoo! Local to find the best pizza in town or to recommend the top heart specialist in your area. Yahoo! Local Help tells more.
What are some potential risks on Yahoo! Local?
Just as there may be risks in the town where you live, the Yahoo! Local community may pose certain risks, such as receiving unwelcome communications. Yahoo! Local has a number of safety features, but knowing how to take care of yourself is important too.
Start with some of our general tips for online safety. And remember these points when using Yahoo! Local:
- Protect your personal information. Yahoo! Local’s content is publicly accessible. If you post personal information in Local collections or reviews, it could be used by strangers to identify and contact you. They could potentially expose you to unpleasant, sexually suggestive, or abusive language.
- Report harassment. When you post reviews, strangers can potentially identify and contact you, possibly with inappropriate language. Report it through the report abuse link that’s found on many site pages.
- Report mature content. Yahoo! Local’s Terms of Service does not permit posting adult content. Please report any inappropriate material to Yahoo!.
To limit these risks, review Yahoo! Local’s safety features, learn how to report abuse, and ask your family for help staying safer on Yahoo! Local. And remember, everyone on Yahoo! Local must follow the Yahoo! Local Terms of Service.
What safety features can help protect me on Yahoo! Local?
Know how to:
- Post Reviews. If you post reviews, you can choose to be identified publicly as “a Yahoo! Local user” or you can create an alias instead of showing your Yahoo! ID. Yahoo! Local’s Review Guidelines have more details about writing reviews.
- Report Inappropriate Photos. People on Yahoo! Local can add a photo to a business listing. If you find a photo that contains adult-oriented or otherwise offensive content, click the Flag as inappropriate photo link to report it to Yahoo!.
- Report Abuse to Yahoo!. Report any offensive content or inappropriate contact from others through the Yahoo! Local Report Abuse form. Links to it are at the top of any collection page and beside each review for a business listing.
How can I report problems on Yahoo! Local?
If you are exposed to obscene language, mature content, threats of physical violence, harassment, or anything else that violates the Yahoo! Local Terms of Service, please fill out and submit the Report Abuse form. Please give specifics about the location of the offending content and the identity of the person in question.
Yahoo!’s Customer Care team takes appropriate action as necessary, which may include deactivating an abuser’s account. Reports that indicate activity involving child pornography or solicitation of a minor are dealt with promptly by Yahoo!’s legal team and, when appropriate, reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
What can I do to use Yahoo! Local safely?
Yahoo! is committed to providing a safe online experience for everyone and, accordingly, complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Yahoo! Local provides a number of safety features to limit potential risks. However, protecting children online is a responsibility shared with parents, teachers, and other caregivers.
Start by learning some basic practices for online safety. These include safeguarding your identity online, keeping passwords secret, being cautious about contact with strangers, and creating a family pledge for online safety.
If you are exposed to obscene language, mature content, threats of physical violence, harassment, or anything else that violates the Yahoo! Local Terms of Service, please report the abuse. Yahoo! is committed to providing a safe online experience for everyone. Protecting children online is a responsibility shared with parents, teachers, and other caregivers.