From something as basic as footwear to high end products such as smartphones or a watch, Amazon and Flipkart are flooded with options and discounts. The perils of spoiling people with choice have left consumers confused, spending a long time just to order one meal on Swiggy, wondering which restaurant is better. That’s when most users turn to reviews, which they trust as honest feedback from fellow customers, but in a lot of cases they might be fake.
Filtering out paid and biased feedback
Whether you order electronics or food, fake reviews can leave a bad taste, whether they are posted by random users or influencers trying to promote or malign a product for vested interests. Which is why norms announced by the Indian government to verify reviewers and curb fake feedback, are the need of the hour. But how do these benefit you, and more importantly how does compliance affect your online experience?
How does it upgrade your experience?
From Google to Zomato and Amazon to Meta, whichever site gives a platform to online reviewers, has to implement the norms voluntarily, until the government makes them mandatory.
If you wish to post reviews, first of all your identity will be verified using links which will be sent to your email address.
Apart from that, OTPs and captcha text can also be used to verify ID, while your IP address will be tracked to confirm location.
You also need to be careful about using words which might be considered foul language, and changing the review later is off the cards.
What will platforms have to do?
The entire process of verifying users, barring those whose reviews seem fake, and filtering out bias, will be done by an administrator either manually or using AI tools.
Under this process, Google might be a step ahead with a rigorous authentication process for new logins, and you might not have to go through a hassle while posting Google reviews.
The changes might affect developers on Apple and Google’s app store, or vendors on social media, who use paid reviews by influencers and other users to increase their ratings.
Here’s what to watch out for
So fake reviews are now legally considered fraud, and will be tackled using the laws framed for unfair trade practices. So be extra careful about what you write about that local restaurant or a new wireless headphone, because an angry rant can get you in trouble. Also feel free to flag reviews, in case you feel you got played by a scamster or a troll.
