Website listing Toronto businesses with vaccination policies shuts down after receiving hateful messages
A new website meant to help customers find Toronto businesses with vaccinated staff or those that have COVID-19 vaccination policies has been forced to shut down after people started leaving fake google reviews and sending hateful messages.
According to the website, SafeTO-Do was launched with the hopes of helping customers make an informed decision over what businesses they feel safe visiting. It listed businesses that announced their staff’s vaccination status or have vaccine policies for higher-risk settings.
Thirty-eight Toronto businesses were listed on the website as of July 20.
However, the organizer of the website announced later that night they would be shutting down.
“Whenever I add a new business, there is a group of people (a small minority), who attack those businesses by leaving fake google reviews, making false bookings at their restaurants, and sending hateful messages to them,” the organizer said on Twitter.
“I cannot, therefore, in good conscience continue to add businesses to the website, because I cannot be certain that they will not be attacked by the same people.”
The organizer said that when they started the website less than a week ago, it was intended to be “a resource for those who had lower risk tolerances and/or medical conditions that made COVID a high risk for them.”
Not all of the reaction has been negative. Safe-to-do said they have received a lot of supportive messages from businesses and that one establishment received more than 100,000 views and only had to deal with about 20 negative posts.
“However, I have also received a significant number of personal hate messages, including one that I needed to report to the police today. The messages have become increasingly personal, directed, and hateful,” they said.
“I cannot, in good conscience, expose any more businesses to that.”
A website meant to list businesses with COVID-19 vaccination policies has shut down following backlash.
Many businesses have reported receiving negative feedback after creating their own COVID-19 vaccination policies in absence of a provincial standard.
Earlier this week, the owner of Restaurant Chantecler in the city’s west-end told CTV News Toronto that several fake reservations have been made and one-star reviews have been left after they asked guests who sit at the bar to show proof of vaccination.
“Creating a policy for six bar seats to keep our bartenders safe and keep ourselves safe from an outbreak that would surely close us down for two weeks...these are very reasonable and agreeable steps,” Jacob Wharton-Shukster said at the time.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has made it clear that he does not support a “COVID-19 passport” or any policies that require people to show proof of vaccination.
However, on Wednesday, the province’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table submitted a report saying that “vaccine certificates” could be useful to help in the faster reopening of higher-risk settings such as bars, gyms, indoor dining, and sporting events.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Made-in-Newfoundland vodka claims top prize at worldwide competition
A Newfoundland-made vodka has been named one of the world’s best by judges at this year’s World Vodka Awards.