Guwahati: The Centre will create a framework to combat fraudulent reviews on e-commerce platforms.

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) would build these frameworks after evaluating the current method used by e-commerce firms in India as well as best practises available worldwide.

In a meeting, DoCA, in collaboration with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), and various stakeholders such as E-Commerce entities, Consumer Forums, Law Universities, Lawyers, FICCI, CII, Consumer Rights Activists, and others, discussed the magnitude and future of fake reviews on websites.

Consumers rely extensively on reviews posted on e-commerce platforms to see the opinion and experiences of users who have previously purchased the thing or service because e-commerce entails a virtual shopping experience with no opportunity to physically inspect or scrutinize the goods.

"The two important challenges here are traceability through guaranteeing the validity of the reviewer and the platform's related responsibility." "E-commerce businesses must also reveal how they select the "most relevant reviews" for display in a fair and transparent way," said Shri Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary DoCA.

All stakeholders agreed that the issue should be actively watched, and an appropriate structure for false reviews could be devised to handle the issue and defend consumer interests.

E-commerce stakeholders stated that they had mechanisms in place to monitor bogus reviews and would be happy to participate in drafting a regulatory framework on the subject.

The meeting was also attended by Ms. Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary, and Mr. Anupam Mishra, Joint Secretary, in addition to Secretary DoCA. Ms. Manisha Kapoor, CEO of ASCI, emphasised the types of fraudulent and misleading reviews, as well as their influence on customer interest. Among the difficulties mentioned were paid reviews, unverifiable reviews, and the lack of disclosure in the case of incentivised reviews, which makes it difficult for customers to distinguish genuine evaluations.