LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A single interaction can have a lasting impact, especially if it's posted online.
Channel 13's Paulina Bucka sat down with a local business owner who says an encounter with a stranger led to a slew of unwelcome social media bullies. But many in the Las Vegas community are stepping up to show their support.
On Charleston Boulevard near Rancho Drive, Jill Shlesinger is bringing the 1950s back with her bakery, the Starburst Parlor. Last month, Shlesinger told Channel 13 about how NV Energy's rate hikes have been impacting her business.
However, this week, Shlesinger didn't want to talk about bills, instead explaining a recent interaction — that, at first, seemed innocent — between her and a man named Bror Frederik, a lifestyle YouTuber from Las Vegas.
"He mentioned he had a gift certificate and he was here to use it," she said. "Then he mentioned he had a YouTube channel with over 24 thousand users and I said, 'Awesome!'"
Captured on the store's surveillance camera, as well as on Frederik's YouTube live stream, Shlesinger can be seen offering some food to sample, to which he declines.
"I'll just talk to about the business, and not the food — nothing like that," he says.
The camera shows Shlesinger and Frederik speaking for several minutes in a mostly empty dining area. For nearly 20 minutes, Frederik occupies one of the tables before starting a live stream on his YouTube channel.
Soon after, Shlesinger says the store began filling up. As she begins bringing a chair out for arriving customers, Frederik can be seen asking if Shlesinger would "want [him] to move."
"I said that would be awesome because these ladies have a pizza coming out and we're in tight corners," she said. "I said I don't want to kick you to the curb, meaning we're in tight quarters, but it's okay."
Shlesinger says she even suggest that he sit where the women were previously sitting, before Frederik ultimately got up, as seen in the surveillance footage, and decided against other accommodations.
Frederik then told his live stream, "I'm being kicked out, I'm leaving."
After the controversial exchange was posted to YouTube, review after review started pouring in, slamming the business.
"He walked out and we literally started getting Yelp reviews as his live stream was going," Shlesinger says.
While the two-hour and 16-minute live stream has since been taken down, Shlesinger says it included commentary that was "untruthful and hurtful to her business."
"There are total strangers contacting me from Florida, Texas, New Hampshire," Shlesinger said. "Basically, [he was] trying to impact my business in a negative way, he made comments about me being a feminist, my sexuality, my appearance, and specifically saying I kicked him out because he was a white man."
Channel 13 reached out to Frederik to get his side of the story, but he declined an interview on camera.
"It's quite unfortunate things didn't work out the way I had intended, or how we discussed in advance. I conducted myself respectfully in her place of business and only had the best of intentions," he told Channel 13 in an email.
Frederik also directed us to the bakery's surveillance camera, and to another post he made referring to the incident.
"I don't even know him, and to pick on a business like this," Shlesinger said.
Channel 13 brought Shlesinger's concerns to another local food critic, Vegas Starfish.
Jennifer Gay, otherwise known as Vegas Starfish, creates content for TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and collectively has a social media following of over 2 million people.
"I hope that his hope with the video was that he wanted to go viral, and not that this video was rooted in hate or his hatred of female business owners, or just in general being disrespectful of our small business community," Gay said.
Jennifer says as a content creator or influencer, there's a certain way she conducts herself — especially when approaching a business.
"I always call and make accommodations ahead of time," Gay told Channel 13. "You don't just ever show up to a business."
Shlesinger tells Channel 13 that has filed a police report with Metro about this incident. Additionally, Frederik says he's received a "volume of harassing and hateful emails" himself.
Sam Ryan Heidari, of Hedari Law Group, says a business on private property can ask anyone to leave at any time. Despite the lack of regulation of social media and freedom of speech laws, Heidari says there are still actions business owners can take when targeted online.
"Owners can sometimes bring a defamation lawsuit, that they are dealing with economic business loss and expectation of that business, and that this situation is creating a problem for that business," he tells Channel 13.
In a recent edition of 13 Investigates, chief investigator Darcy Spears spoke to Kay Dean, a former federal criminal investigator turned digital detective who scans the web for fake reviews.
"The online review world is truly the Wild West, and there’s really no regulating it at this time, little has been done to protect consumers," he told Channel 13. "I have found thousands of examples of [fake reviews] on Yelp."
Now, the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down.
A new proposed rule outlines hefty fines for suppressing negative reviews, paying for positive reviews, and writing negative or fake reviews.
"That's a fine line that YouTubers and social media influencers have to walk," Heidari says. "It depends on what they said, what they asked for, and whether that was the truth of the matter or not."
Gay adds, "We're here to provide information, We're not here to tell people what to think or how to think it. I personally think it's wildly inappropriate that he would take negative action."
She continued, "But I would feel the same if he told people to leave positive reviews as well. Blowing up a business with positive reviews is just as harmful."
With a collective social media following of over 2 million people, Gay says influencers and content creators have a responsibility to be transparent about their posts.
"I have given negative reviews, but the places I review negatively are generally large corporations that are not going to feel a significant impact from my negative review. But I also make it clear — these are my opinions, leave yours!" Gay says. "But you should never tell followers to spam and leave negative or positive reviews. Everyone's experience is unique, they should go try the business themselves and leave a review based on their experience."
As for the new FTC rule, it will soon be posted to the Federal Register, where consumers will have 60 days to make public comments.
