AN AVENUE TO COMBAT FAKE REVIEWS ON E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS VIS-À- VIS CONSUMER RIGHTS
Keywords:
Fake review, Influencer, E-commerce, Consumer rights, Spotting of fake reviews and combat fake-review.Abstract
The digital world has altered how we find information, which has had an impact on how we shop. It is no longer only a collection of information because it provides an interactive platform for sharing personal experiences with products or services. As a result, suppliers no longer possess sole control over the provision of information. Because of the interactive aspect of the web, customers may also contribute information, which lessens information asymmetry. Online reviews provide valuable consumer-based information for potential buyers, making them a crucial component of the decision-making process when making a
purchase. Products values are impacted by emotions. Especially Indian middle-class consumers assess a product based on its usefulness and appeal, and to determine whether it lives up to their expectations, they rely on reviews of people who claim to have used the goods. 2 Online reviews even serve as the foundation for the entire business model of several e-commerce platforms when the targeted market is the middle class. Due to this, sometimes companies will offer paid services for the creation of fake or falsified reviews to influence consumer attitudes, and certain influencers with tremendous followers have been paid to
advertise goods that may not be as good as they claim to be. The false narrative of products is thus turning into a serious problem in the market because influencer marketing extends beyond mere e-commerce platforms. The fact that this method purposefully misleads customers has caught the attention of Regulators. Consequently, it is also critical to highlight
how crucial it is to comprehend influencer marketing and how it differs from review on e- commerce platforms when employing it as part of a marketing strategy to appreciate the viability of having explicit legislation. The paper will analyse the implication of fake reviews on consumer rights in Indian legal ethos and the effective means to combat the pervasive issue in this regard.
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