Facing a strong backlash, person-rating app Peeple seemingly vanishes

The online presence of the widely lampooned purported app Peeple, which apparently allows people to rate individuals, has been pulled from the Internet. As of Monday, its website has been removed, as have its Facebook and Twitter accounts. Meanwhile, the company’s Instagram account has been set to private as of Sunday.

Its previous YouTube videos have also been yanked except for one, released on Saturday, entitled “Peeple Watching Ep11 - Viral & Global in 24 Hours.” It features the company’s cofounder, Julia Cordray, essentially congratulating herself on garnering so much media attention. Cordray did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.

The app that The Washington Post famously dubbed “Yelp for People” has not actually materialized—its purported release date is “November 2015.” No one has seen or used the app outside of a few alleged screenshots. The app development studio that Peeple reportedly has contracted with, Y Media Labs, did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.

Various press accounts have only had the vaguest of references to its details, even including a claimed market capitalization. The Post reported that “As of Monday [September 28], the company’s shares put its value at $7.6 million,” a figure that seems oddly specific for a privately held firm with no way to independently verify it. Earlier last month, the Calgary Herald reported that the company claimed to have taken in $270,000 in "private capital funding." The company’s investors, if they are real, have not been named.

Cordray also declined to respond to an October 2 question posed by Motherboard asking about a $50,000 “business grant from the Government of Canada” that was referred to in a YouTube video, which has also since been deleted.

All that seems to be left of the self-proclaimed app is a short blog entry posted on Sunday to LinkedIn, where cofounder Julia Cordray doubled down on the app:

Except, there is one thing I must tell you; 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.

Peeple is a POSITIVE ONLY APP. We want to bring positivity and kindness to the world.

And now I’m going to use myself as an example for what can happen when negative comments can be made about you without your approval.

However, according to Snopes, in "Peeple Watching Ep4" (since removed) Cordray spoke this line on August 27 2015: "I think this app does really help to know and find the best in each of us and the good in each of us, but it would be pointless if it was all positive."

In the company's LinkedIn post, Cordray seemed to deny that the app is a hoax. "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," she wrote.

On Monday, TechCrunch reminded the world that a very earnest attempt at such an app was previously tried—five years ago. It failed.