Mandatory anti-fake review rules for e-commerce firms soon
Consumer Affairs Secretary, Nidhi Khare said, "…fake reviews are still getting published. We are consulting with the stakeholders this week. We want to make these standards mandatory to protect consumer interest.”
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The government is planning to enforce mandatory anti-fake review norms for e-commerce companies to safeguard consumer interests. The Consumer Affairs Department is considering to notify the Quality Control Order (QCO) for online consumer reviews after a voluntary push failed to effectively curb fake reviews.
The department had issued quality norms for e-tailers a year ago, prohibiting them from publishing paid reviews and demanding disclosure of such promotional contents.
"Some entities claim that they are complying with it. But fake reviews are still getting published. We are consulting with the stakeholders this week. We want to make these standards mandatory to protect consumer interest," said Consumer Affairs Secretary, Nidhi Khare.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has come up with draft norms for "Online Consumer Reviews" and circulated it among stakeholders. The draft QCO specifies that all organisations (termed as review administrator) managing and publishing online consumer reviews shall comply with the norms. They must ensure that only "genuine" reviews get published and they won't publish any "fake or false" consumer reviews online.
As per draft norms, entities shall not publish reviews that have been purchased and/or written by individuals employed for that purpose or the supplier or by a third party. They can't reward or incentivise consumers based on the content of the review submitted. "The organisation shall not edit reviews to alter their message. The organisation shall not prevent or discourage people from submitting negative reviews," it added.
