On Saturday, the government said it would develop a framework to check fake reviews posted on e-commerce sites to protect consumers’ interests. On Friday, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) held a virtual meeting with stakeholders, including e-commerce entities, to discuss the seriousness of fake reviews on their platforms.

Fake reviews mislead consumers into buying online products and services. According to an official statement, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) said that they would develop these frameworks after reviewing the existing mechanisms followed by Indian e-commerce entities and global best practices.

Consumer forums, law universities, lawyers, FICCI, CII and consumer rights activists, among others, participated to discuss the magnitude of the problem and the future roadmap for fake reviews on e-commerce sites. Since e-commerce involves a virtual shopping experience without the opportunity to see or inspect products in person, consumers rely heavily on reviews posted on the platform to see the opinions and experiences of users who have already purchased goods or services.

It added that stakeholders of e-commerce companies claim they have established frameworks to monitor fake reviews and are happy to be involved in developing a legal framework on the issue.

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ASCI CEO Manisha Kapoor highlights the categories of false and misleading reviews and their impact on consumer interest. Issues discussed at the conference included paid reviews, unverifiable reviews and how a lack of disclosure in the case of incentivised reviews makes it difficult for consumers to identify genuine reviews.