The Government has issued new frameworks to counter fake reviews on e-commerce platforms. Now e-commerce companies will have to disclose the methodology of giving star rating to products and services.
The companies will also have to disclose if a customer review is solicited or paid for or purchased. They will also have to verify the author of a review and take permission from the author of the reviews to post their personal data on the sites.
The standards will come into effect from 25th November. India will be one of the first countries to have develop such frameworks.
As per media reports, Amazon, Flipkart, Reliance, Google, Meta, Zomato, Swiggy, Meesho etc., were a part of the committee that helped Government develop these standards.
Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs said that the objective is to minimise the bias and fraudulent reviews to start with. The standards are self-regulatory at the moment. However, they may be made mandatory in future.
Consumers heavily rely on reviews posted on platforms to see the opinion and experiences of users who have already purchased the goods or services.
The companies which follow the standards to curb fraudulent reviews can obtain certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). BIS has formulated a new standard ‘IS 19000:2022’ for Online Consumer Reviews — Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication.
BIS will release a certification process within the next 15 days to determine whether an organisation is adhering to these requirements.
While developing the standards, industry organisations like CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM, ASCI, NRAI and CAIT were also contacted.
