the ability to share gossip efficiently about businesses using sites like Yelp is net positive for humanity
Maybe not Yelp specifically. They've been accused of effectively extorting small businesses, by asking them to pay for advertisements, and manipulating their reviews if they decline. The business owners sued and lost in the 9th Circuit, but (albeit from my brief skimming) the ruling doesn't deny review manipulation is happening, just says it's not illegal.
Businesses themselves manipulate reviews (for example, offering gift cards to customers for good reviews, also reporting bad reviews for inaccuracies), and unmanipulated reviews aren't reliable either because people are biased. Despite that, I still think (at least on forums where people are skeptical) that reviews are better indicators of quality than nothing. I also can't think of any regulation to prevent these kinds of sites from manipulating reviews without massive downsides, since review manipulation done right is practically impossible to prove. A more likely solution is that eventually most people stop trusting sites without transparent moderation, and stop trusting reviews without evidence or proof they are made by a real, credible person.
However, the idea that review sites are blackmailing small businesses for good reviews, and/or promoting big businesses more because they can pay more; especially because this could be contributing to why small businesses get less customers now than before (although overt advertising is probably a bigger factor); means that these sites may not be a net positive.
The election's still over a week away? I feel like it's been on the news forever. US political campaigns are way too long (and infrequent); there should be a short period where the news is flooded with a recap of each candidate's policies and past, then be done with it until the next election.
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