The central government has stepped up its steps to protect customers from fake reviews of products and services on online sales platforms. According to the report, the government will come up with SOPs to protect the consumers. The government has also sought advice from other concerned parties including e-commerce companies in this regard.
Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, held a meeting on the issue with e-commerce companies and other stakeholders. According to the report, the Consumer Affairs Ministry discussed the issue of curbing the tendency of misleading potential customers with fake reviews during a virtual meeting with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Friday. After the meeting, the government said on Saturday that for the safety of customers, it will develop a format to stop posting fake reviews of products and services on online sales platforms.
In the report, a senior official of the ministry said that we are trying to understand whether any SOP exists in this regard. He said that the possibility is also being looked into as to what kind of standard operating principles could be formed to weed out consumers from fake reviews. Advice has been sought from all the parties involved in the meeting on this matter.
Based on the advice of all the parties, the Ministry will prepare a legal draft with a view to protecting the customers. Significantly, before this meeting, Secretary Rohit Kumar shared the screening of online reviews on 223 major websites in the European Union with all the stakeholders. The screening revealed that about 55 percent of the websites violate the EU's guidelines on business practice.
Most of the customers decide based on reviews
Not being able to see the products in physical form allows customers to decide on e-commerce websites through the reviews posted about the product before making a purchase. This is where companies often take the help of fake reviews to entice consumers. Such fake reviews lead the customers to make the wrong purchase.
Companies claim they have a monitoring system
In the meeting, all the stakeholders agreed that this issue needs to be closely monitored. Therefore, an appropriate framework and monitoring mechanism should be developed to protect consumer interests and control fraudulent reviews.
Representatives of e-commerce companies claimed that they are working under several parameters for this. They have a system in place by which they monitor fake reviews. He said that if the Center prepares a legal framework and they participate in it, they will gladly accept it.
Fake reviews and misleading information Violation of consumer rights
Fake reviews and misleading information is a violation of consumer rights under the Right to Information Act, 2019. The trend of online shopping is increasing continuously in the day-to-day life in the country. In this sense, fake reviews have a significant impact on consumer rights. The ministry had reviewed 223 major websites. It was found that 55 percent of the websites violated the rules of buying and selling set by the European Union.
Companies will also have to tell how the review was selected: Ministry
Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Rohit Kumar Singh said that ensuring the credibility of customers posting their reviews about products and services on e-commerce websites and fixing the website's accountability are two important aspects of this issue. . Also, e-commerce companies will also have to explain how they select the most relevant reviews fairly and transparently.
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