Govt mulls anti-fake review rules for e-commerce firms
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New Delhi: The government is considering to make it mandatory for e-commerce companies to comply with quality norms for consumer reviews after a voluntary push failed to effectively curb fake reviews, a top official said on Monday.
The government issued the new quality norms for e-tailers a year ago, prohibiting them from publishing paid reviews and demanding disclosure of such promotional content. But fake reviews of products and services on e-commerce platforms are still slipping through, said Nidhi Khare, Secretary at the Consumer Affairs Ministry.
“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,” Khare said.
“To safeguard the consumer interest, now we want to make these standards mandatory,” she said, adding that the ministry has scheduled a meeting with e-commerce firms and consumer organisations on May 15 to discuss the proposed move.
