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Are you a person? Well, that makes you eligible to be rated by anyone you know on the the new app Peeple. No, you can't opt out, and no, you can't delete any bad reviews left about you. If you have a particularly evil ex, now's the time to start worrying. Actually, if you've ever had an interaction with anyone at any time, things are looking pretty bleak.
If someone is over 21, has a Facebook account and is willing to leave a review under their real name (though I have no idea how they'll fact check this), they can review you in one of three categories: personal, professional or romantic. If someone wants to add you to the database, all they have to do is provide your cell phone number, something any troll on 4chan or any one of the 18 guys you've given your number to on OKCupid could easily come up with. They don't even have to be your Facebook friend.
Positive reviews go up immediately ("Jillian is a fabulous kisser") while negative reviews ("Jillian punched my baby and stole my cab") are queued for 48 hours in case the reviewee would like to contest them. How that would work logistically is beyond me, as any disputes would be based only on hearsay, unless the negative review has to do with a specific financial transaction where receipts and tax returns could settle the dramz once and for all.
The app has one saving grace: If you haven't registered, only positive reviews left for you can be shown. So, my advice to anyone and everyone: Do anything but sign up for this app. Even within the context of a positive review, you are unable to verify any part of what a person is saying about you in a very public space. Frankly, I'm riddled with anxiety as I write this.
The Washington Post reports that the app's co-founder Julia Cordray, in a statement reminiscent of a serial killer, said: “People do so much research when they buy a car or make those kinds of decisions. Why not do the same kind of research on other aspects of your life?” Yeah! Why not make judgments of people based off the words of strangers before you've even met them?! In fact, we already do this all the time, and there's even a similar app, Lulu, that lets women rate their ex-boyfriends—after heavy criticism, that app did see the light and now only lets women leave reviews for men who opt-in. Peeple isn't launching till November, but the company is already valued at $7.6 million—while the value of your character seems to be in the hands of, well, anyone, from a bad boss that always hated you to the guy who delivers your Seamless. Yep, your phone number is on every order.
This is particularly frightening for me as a woman, as I can only imagine the kind of misogynistic and threatening behavior that this app is capable of allowing from men. Peeple has banned behaviors including sexism, profanity, or sharing of private medical information, but there still seems to be plenty of holes for people to do what they do best on the internet—say mean things.
Cordray said, “As two empathetic, female entrepreneurs in the tech space, we want to spread love and positivity. We want to operate with thoughtfulness.” And yet, it seems no one gave much thought to one very important factor missing here, as the Post's Caitlin Dewey aptly points out—consent.