Stakeholders’ consultation to protect consumers from online fake reviews held
New Delhi: The Department of Consumer Affairs on Wednesday organized stakeholders’ consultation to protect consumers from online fake reviews.
During the meeting, it sought to mandate the implementation of Indian Standard (IS) 19000:2022 - ‘Online Consumer Reviews — Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication. Consumer complaints relating to e-commerce on NCH rose from 95,270 in 2018 (22 per cent of total grievances) to 4,44,034 in 2023 (43 per cent of total grievances).
During consultation, representatives of e-commerce and business organizations apart from representatives of National Law Universities participated and gave their opinions to curb fake reviews.
Addressing the participants, Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director-General, BIS stated that standards were very important for safety and reliability of products and the proposed Quality Control Orders (QCOs) will mandate all the e-commerce aggregators and organizations engaged in publishing online reviews to declare self-compliance to the prescribed essential requirements.
Department of Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare stated that fake reviews have a significant influence on online shopping decisions, distorting perceptions of product quality and trustworthiness. She emphasized that recognizing and addressing this issue is vital for maintaining transparency and consumer trust in online marketplaces.
As a solution, the department plans to implement Quality Control Orders on such reviews.
