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'Peeple' rating app stands firm

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 06 Oct 2015
The Peeple Web site is currently offline, but the co-founder says the app launch will go ahead next month.
The Peeple Web site is currently offline, but the co-founder says the app launch will go ahead next month.

Peeple, the controversial people-rating app, will be released next month, despite criticism from all corners of the Web.

The app allows users to rate people with one to five stars in different categories, such as personal, professional, and dating. Users are also able to leave comments about the person.

A Twitter user, after hearing about the app, said: "Peeple app seems dreadful! What's the logic behind this app?" Another tweeted: "Have we finally reached the limits of digital-age naming and shaming?"

Peeple received media attention from all major TV stations and newspapers in the US and some in Europe. Commentators say the app would open defamation issues when people post negative or false comments about another person, and potentially be breaking privacy laws.

In an online YouTube video, the founders of the app speak about how the app is meant to solve the problem of online reputation and integrity.

"We're not living in a village anymore where you can just go down the street to find out who someone really is. I hope this becomes the ultimate community," says co-founder Julia Cordray, who developed it because she wanted a way to review people she had not met yet.

After the bad press this week, Cordray posted a LinkedIn post defending the app.

"This has always been a positivity app. Peeple will not be a tool to tell other humans how horrible they are. Actually, it's the exact opposite."

Cordray says since the first interview appeared in The Washington Post, she has received death threats and been insulted online.

She explained Peeple is an opt-in system and users will not be able to rate people who have not decided to be on the app in the first place. Cordray also stressed users will be able to approve all comments made by other people about them.

"The question I received the most is: 'This must be a hoax. You're not seriously going to create this are you?' The answer is: it's real but not in the way it's currently being portrayed. We are in fact creating an app called Peeple and have every intention of releasing it at the end of November."

However, the Peeple Web site and social media accounts were taken down this morning.

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