When an app emerged on September 30 that promised to let users give anyone they knew a publicly visible star rating that was extremely difficult to dispute or have removed, it was widely condemned by everyone from TV personalities to internet users.

The Washington Post, which was one of the first to run a story on the Peeple app, described it as a kind of ‘Yelp for People’ service.

“Imagine every interaction you’ve ever had suddenly open to the scrutiny of the internet public,” the Post said, branding the app as “terrifying”.

It was the beginning of a major backlash as Peeple quickly made a name for itself as the year’s most despised social media entrant, before the app even went live. It was even satirised heavily by HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.