Individuals are engaged in mass-rating the McDonald's restaurant where authorities apprehended an individual suspected of murdering the CEO of UHC, resulting in negative feedback.
The recent evaluations for the three McDonald's outlets in Altoona, Pennsylvania are all rated one star.
"This spot is swarming with rodents in the kitchen that'll make you sick, and your insurance won't cover it," claimed a 'local guide' who left a review on Google.
"Stay clear if you're a patriot. They'll betray you," said another.
"More like Ratting-donald's.... I hope obesity and heart disease are covered in PA. Deny, defend, depose, diarrhea @ McDonald’s," said a third.
One of these McDonald's was the scene of Luigi Mangione's arrest, a person of interest in the December 4 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The American health insurance system is universally detested, and Mangione has become an internet folk hero since the incident last week.
The media, law enforcement, and experts are scrutinizing his life, but the public is finding new reasons to admire him and showing their displeasure at his detainment by leaving unfavorable reviews. The Daily Beast reported that Google is deleting negative reviews for McDonald’s, but many are still visible and users can still post reviews for the establishments. Google confirmed to Gizmodo that they're monitoring the threads and only allow reviews that mirror a user's actual experience. "These breach our policies and are being removed," a Google spokesperson said.
Yelp is handling it in a distinct manner. The site has blocked reviews for the Altoona locations altogether, but all the old reviews are still accessible. If you try to view the reviews for these McDonald’s on Yelp, you're greeted by an "Unusual Activity Alert."
"This business has recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news," the popup explains. "While we don't take a stance one way or the other when it comes to this incident, we've temporarily disabled posting of content to this page as we investigate whether the content you see here reflects actual consumer experiences rather than recent events. Please note that we apply this same policy regardless of the business and regardless of the topics at issue."
It's amusing, in my opinion, to see Yelp fail to take a position on whether an assassination is good or bad. Is this an automated message it deploys whenever such an occurrence happens? Yes. But, I believe, this was maybe a moment that demanded the human touch.
Yelp hasn't finished examining the old reviews, and there are numerous pages of them. Some of them are humorous, some are sorrowful, but they all express animosity towards American healthcare and support for Mangione. "Avoid this McDonald's location—they're outside your network," the first one-star review said. "This food will hasten your demise, and no insurance will cover that—they're in the business of denials."
"The staff was rude, and they phoned the cops on my friend Luigi," another complained. "There were rats everywhere."
Some are lengthy, epic rants that rival the finest 4chan greentexts. "I won't be dining at this McDonald's again. I went in for a Big Mac and instead watched Officer Rat-Snitch (Employee of the Month) dial 911 on a HERO. The guy was just savoring his McNuggets after literally uniting Americans, but this cashier dialed 911 faster than he'd ever made a McFlurry," my favorite rant reads.
The reviewer continued: "The fries were cold—just like this employee's heart. I hear he was promoted to Assistant Manager for his 'outstanding citizenship,' possibly complete with a hall monitor sash and a lifetime supply of McMoral Flexibility. And of course, the ice cream machine was broken, though not as broken as my faith in humanity after witnessing this. At least Wendy's keeps things in check. P.S. The Hamburglar would be ashamed of you, Officer Rat-Snitch."
In the future, we might see an increase in lengthy, passionate reviews about food establishments, reflecting deeper societal issues. With the current scrutiny on Yelp and Google, tech companies are under pressure to ensure their review systems accurately reflect consumer experiences.
As technology advances, online review platforms may evolve to better mediate such controversial situations, maintaining a balance between user experiences and external events.
