Remember Peeple? The controversial Calgary-based app is back and set to launch Monday.
The people-rating app, which some critics dubbed as "Yelp for people," was first announced last year. Its site was temporarily taken down after facing widespread outrage and controversy.
The app's founders initially described it as a place for users to "provide a rating and review on everyone [they] come in contact with."
Now, the website has adopted new language, describing itself as a "reputation management" software, that provides a "safe space" for users to check their online rep.
Reviews will only be posted with the user's consent — giving leeway to delete negative reviews.
The idea is a clear improvement over allowing anyone to be rated — even people who don't use the app. Those who want to read negative comments will have to pay.
Peeple is calling that extra perk an upgraded "truth license." The "truth license" will allow users to see all reviews, even hidden ones, for a more accurate picture of a person's reputation, according to a company release.
“That’s a way to try to have it both ways,” Tom Keegan, an author of a book exploring technological privacy, told the Calgary Herald.
Keegan said he feels the changes make the app more "irrelevant" than "controversial."
One of the app's co-founders, Julia Cordray, says backlash against Peeple pushed her to make changes.
"There was a huge thread that this was a bullying app, which was kind of ironic because you can't bully people in our app and in fact, us as founders and as a company were bullied on every social media platform there is...
"That just makes a better case for why you need the Peeple app — because you can safely manage your online reputation," Cordray told CBC News.
Cordray said she's expecting up to one million users to sign up in the first month due to last year's buzz, according to Metro News.
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