Centre To Issue Framework For Countering Fake Reviews By Next Week

SUMMARY

The Centre will direct ecommerce players to ask consumers to add information such as bills, pictures, and videos while posting reviews

The ecommerce companies will also be asked to take down unverified buyers and reviewers from their platforms. If they fail to do so, then action will be taken against them

Under the new framework, ecommerce companies will also be penalised for publishing paid and negative reviews against their competitors

The Indian government will issue a standard framework to counter fake reviews published on ecommerce and other allied platforms by Monday next week.

Business Standard quoted sources informing that under the new framework, the Centre will direct ecommerce players to ask consumers to add information such as bills, pictures, and videos while posting reviews. The shared information will then be cross-verified using KYC method by ecommerce platforms.

The ecommerce companies will also be asked to take down unverified buyers and reviewers from their platforms. If they fail to do so, then action will be taken against them, said sources.

The development has come two months after the Centre informed that it finalised a framework to prevent the online posting of fake reviews on ecommerce platforms. Earlier in June, the Centre formed a committee to oversee fake reviews published on ecommerce platforms.

Under the new framework, ecommerce companies have to follow these regulations voluntarily in the beginning. However, it will be mandatory to follow the laid guidelines if the companies fail to comply with them.

Besides, ecommerce companies will also be penalised for publishing paid and negative reviews against their competitors.

The regulation substructure has been drafted by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on the basis of the report shared by the committee, which was formed in June. The committee is inclusive of all industry stakeholders – Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

In the last two years, the ecommerce sector has gained dominance in the consumer market owing to the after-effects of the pandemic. However, the sector is affected by a series of challenges including funding crunch, market inflation and changing consumer preferences, among others.

According to an Inc42 report, ecommerce startups bagged $1.2 Bn in the second quarter of 2022 as compared to $1.9 Bn raised in the first quarter of this year.