Compliance With Consumer Review Norms To Be Made Mandatory For Ecommerce Platforms

The union government plans to make it mandatory for ecommerce platforms to comply with quality consumer review norms to curb the problem of fake reviews.

News agency PTI cited consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare as saying that fake reviews on ecommerce sites continue to “slip through” despite the Centre notifying voluntary standards on “online reviews’ in late-2022. 

“It’s been more than one year that the voluntary standard on ‘online reviews’ was notified. Some entities claim that they are complying with it. However, fake reviews are still getting published… To safeguard the consumer interest, now we want to make these standards mandatory,” Khare said.

As per the report, the Department of Consumer Affairs has scheduled a meeting with major ecommerce firms and consumer organisations later this week (May 15) to discuss the proposed move.

It is pertinent to note that the Centre released a framework in 2022 to safeguard and protect consumers’ interest by cracking down on fake and deceptive reviews on ecommerce portals. 

Developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the framework bans reviews “purchased and/or written by individuals employed for that purpose by the supplier or third party concerned”. The quality norms for ecommerce players also demand disclosure of such promotional content and paid reviews. 

However, the framework is voluntary in nature. But, now the Ministry seems to have cracked the whip and is looking to take action against such transgressions in “consumer interest”.

This comes a few months after reports surfaced that the government was mulling making it mandatory for ecommerce sites to adopt a system of curbing fake reviews. Back then, the then consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh underscored the need for authenticating product reviews and developing standards that manage and prevent fake reviews.

The latest move is part of the efforts by the government to protect the interests of online consumers. In June last year, the Department of Consumer Affairs warned ecommerce platforms against the use of ‘dark patterns’ in their user interface. 

Authorities first wrote a letter to major ecommerce platforms warning of action if non-compliance persisted, and afterwards hinted at its intent to issue guidelines if the industry did not comply voluntarily. Eventually the guidelines on dark patterns were released in December 2023. 

Some of these dark patterns encompass false urgency, subscription traps, confirm shaming, forced action, bait and switch and hidden costs.

As per an ASCI report, nearly 29% of advertising complaints processed by it during 2021-22 pertained to dark patterns and were promoted by influencers. Sectors such as crypto, fashion, and ecommerce led the charts in such non-compliance.