We believe that a consumer's review is sacrosanct: MouthShut.com

All eyes are on Faisal Farooqui, Founder and CEO of consumer review website MouthShut.com. He has been in the news for filing a writ petition in the Supreme Court earlier this year for challenging the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2011. The case will come up for hearing in the Supreme Court in April 2014.

Mouthshut.com is an online community for consumer reviews and has often been threatened with legal notices by several companies in the past under the IT Rules 2011. But the provisions of the IT Rules, many feel, are extremely vague and do not define clearly what is acceptable and lend themselves to misuse. In an exclusive email interview with Shamni Pande of Business Today, Farooqui says he is fighting for the benefit of consumers.

Q. Is the situation faced by MouthShut peculiar to India, or do such situations exist elsewhere?

A. Our plea seeks to declare the Information Technology Rules contained in the IT Act of our country as violation of Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantee freedom of expression. Our plea is to protect the freedom of expression of the consumer and organisations. Our plea is against the IT rules that state 'any affected person' can simply send an email to get any content removed from any website or such sites can lose their 'safe harbour' protection and may have to pay damages. This situation is peculiar to countries like India, Pakistan, etc but not necessarily in the Scandinavian or North American companies. These countries have already sorted such issues long ago.

Q. Do you have the benefit of any precedence in this case?

A. As far as India is concerned, MouthShut.com is the first company that made the Internet a two-way medium. We were the first organised web business that enabled people to write and express on the Internet rather than just read. We launched the whole user generated content revolution in the country, which later evolved into social media. So in a way, some brands are unable to digest the brutal and honest reviews of consumers sometimes. Then they serve us legal notices and lawsuit threats and hence this petition, asking the highest court in the land to protect the aam Indian consumer and us.

We are doing this for the Indian consumer and for the overall Internet industry in this country. Online businesses will evolve and we feel India is at the cusp of an unprecedented change using the power of Internet.

Q. There have been instances where MouthShut had removed content. How can you still claim to offer an unbiased view?

A. We have only removed content when there has been a court order or where it violates our websites terms of service. Most brands understand that when consumers write negative opinions they are basically expressing something about an experience gone wrong. Well, there are some who feel otherwise. Most recently, we were blocked by Beam Fiber an ISP in Hyderabad because we feel they were reviewed most critically by their users on MouthShut.com. My only response is to appeal to such companies to please not consider the consumer to be your enemy. Rather than fighting the consumer, fix your own services.

It is extraordinary acknowledgement of the power of consumer reviews that a major ISP chose to block us. It is a testimony to the fact that somebody influenced the ISP to block us because they didn't want others to read these reviews!

Q. MouthShut has also entered into partnerships with brands such as Aegon Religare, where verified users file their views. How do you maintain an element of unbiased reporting of views, especially with a client who is paying?

A. We believe in the truth. MouthShut.com has always believed that a consumer's review is sacrosanct and is sacred. We do not edit or delete any review as I said earlier. No amount of attempts to give us "revenue" or "bribe to remove review" can convince us to remove any genuine review.

Our partnership for verified review is to bring authenticity backed by a transaction behind every review. Our systems are designed such that after every transaction, the customer of the verified review partner receives an alert from MouthShut.com to write a review of that service or product.

Q. In what other ways have you sought to grow, other than getting brands to engage with MouthShut visitors?

A. Yes, we have always made consumers our focus. Brands and companies are important to MouthShut.com but our primary goal is to help the consumers make a judicious decision on what to buy and what to avoid. These are on the basis of reviews, ratings and recommendations of other users.

Q. MouthShut has the first mover advantage but it has had a very chequered growth. Consumers have no reason to keep revisiting the site other than when they are seeking specific information?

A. MouthShut.com started as a simple review website. We started with 15,000 products and services and today more than 500,000 products and services are reviewed. You will find reviews on cooking oil and grocery items too. We have now extended the power of reviews to mobile phones through a simple, easy to use ad free mobile app. The app is built on the foundation of reviews but you can now find hospitals, spas, restaurants, gyms in your locality and compare their ratings and reviews and then decide. We have the largest amount of consumer information and feedback of any product in this country.

People keep-revisiting MouthShut.com because everybody is a consumer of something! From cars to books to mobile phones to restaurants, MouthShut.com helps you discover!