Perpetual Irrevocable Content License

What it is

When you post a review, photo, or other content on Yelp, you grant Yelp a permanent, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, copy, modify, and display that content, and this license continues even if you later delete your account.

Why it matters (compliance & governance perspective)

Your reviews, photos, and other contributions to Yelp are licensed to Yelp on terms that outlast your account, meaning content you post may continue to appear on or be used by Yelp even after you leave the platform.

Clause Stability Stable

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

Reviews, photos, check-ins, and other content you submit to Yelp are subject to a broad license that allows Yelp to reproduce, modify, and sublicense that content indefinitely, which may create tension with any expectation that deleting your account removes your content from use.

What you can do

Institutional analysis (Compliance & governance intelligence)

REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: The perpetual and irrevocable nature of this content license engages GDPR Article 17 (right to erasure) for EEA and UK users, as users may request deletion of personal data yet the agreement asserts a surviving license. The FTC has examined how platforms handle user data and content post-account deletion. CCPA also grants California residents rights to request deletion of personal information, which may interact with the asserted license survival. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: Medium. While broad content licenses are standard practice for user-generated content platforms, the assertion that the license is perpetual and irrevocable may conflict with GDPR and CCPA deletion obligations if the content constitutes personal data. The sublicensability of the license means third parties may receive rights to user content, further complicating erasure responses. JURISDICTION FLAGS: EEA and UK users have the strongest basis to challenge the perpetual license assertion under GDPR and UK GDPR erasure rights. California residents can invoke CCPA deletion rights. The extent to which reviews and profile content constitute personal data under applicable law will determine the practical scope of any conflict. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: The sublicensable nature of the content license means downstream partners and vendors may receive sub-licenses to user content. Procurement teams should assess whether vendor agreements with Yelp that involve user content include appropriate data processing and deletion obligations. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Legal teams should map the content license survival assertion against the company's privacy policy deletion commitments and GDPR/CCPA compliance procedures. Where user content constitutes personal data, deletion requests should be evaluated against both the license assertion and applicable law, noting that applicable law may override contractual assertions in EEA and UK contexts.

Applicable agencies

Provision details

Other risks in this policy

• Mandatory Individual Arbitration high
• Class Action and Representative Proceeding Waiver high
• Account Suspension and Termination medium
• Age Restriction and COPPA Compliance medium
• Changes to Terms with Continued Use as Acceptance medium
• Dual-Entity Jurisdictional Structure medium

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