Mouthshut.com is a consumer review and rating platform founded in 2000 by Faisal Farooqui. The platform hosts user-written reviews and ratings for over 800,000 products and services available in India. The platform covers over 400 categories. The company has been involved in legal challenges regarding internet intermediary rules, notably petitioning the Supreme Court against provisions of the Information Technology Rules, 2021, which led to the repeal of Section 66A and the reading down of intermediary guidelines.

History

Faisal Farooqui conceived the idea of a review website in 1998 while attending the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

Binghamton Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the con ...

. He recognized the significance of customer feedback for business growth during a class. He returned to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and launched MouthShut.com in late 2000. The platform was initially marketed via a curated email list of 1800 individuals, including contacts of the company's initial employees, staff, friends, and relatives. Later, Farooqui used the rear space of

auto rickshaws An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many other terms in various countries, including three-wheeler, Adaidaita Sahu, Keke-napep, Maruwa, auto, ...

as a medium to promote the website. In 2001, the team implemented a 'Dial-the-CEO' option, allowing users to provide direct feedback. Video reviews for products and services were enabled on the platform in December 2006. In May 2007, Farooqui expanded the video review concept into a dedicated video review platform, Dekhona.com. In December 2008, the platform introduced mobile reviews that could be posted via an SMS shortcode. In July 2012, the website transitioned from a reviews-only platform to one providing buying guides.

Products

In May 2011, MouthShut.com launched Dealface.com, a website offering sales deals across industry segments. This was later integrated into Mouthshut.com. In May 2014, the company launched its mobile application for

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

and

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

Awards and recognition

In 2006, MouthShut received the Manthan Award for Best Youth Website from the

Govt. of India The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territo ...

. MouthShut.com received the Best Portal of the Year - Gold award at the first India Digital Media Awards. MouthShut CEO Faisal Farooqui has been credited with introducing Web 2.0 concepts in India.

Mouthshut.com and freedom of speech

To protect its review writers from threats by brands, MouthShut stated in its filings with the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

that it would not reveal the identity of any review writers unless ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction. On April 29, 2013, MouthShut.com filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging India's Information Technology Rules 2011. MouthShut.com argued that this law would effectively delegate essential executive functions, such as censoring and restricting citizens' free speech, to private parties like MouthShut.com, leaving them vulnerable to legal challenges over user content. The verdict was in favor of MouthShut.com, leading to the repeal of Section 66A and the reading down of IT Rules and intermediary guidelines.

Controversies

In February 2014, MouthShut was blocked by

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

-based ISP ACT Internet company and its

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

-based subsidiary Beam Fiber, without a stated reason. The company escalated the issue with the

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is a regulatory body set up by the Government of India under section 3 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997. It is the regulator of the telecommunications sector in India. ...

(TRAI) and the

Department of Telecommunications The Department of Telecommunications, abbreviated to DoT, is a department of the Ministry of Communications of the executive branch of the Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union ...

(DoT). Later, the website was unblocked by the two

ISPs ISPS may refer to: * Isoprene synthase The enzyme isoprene synthase (EC 4.2.3.27) catalysis, catalyzes the chemical reaction : prenyl pyrophosphate \rightleftharpoons isoprene + diphosphate This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases, specifical ...

. In December 2017, the company blocked 80,000 fake user profiles to prevent potential spamming and fake reviews. In March 2018, MouthShut.com deleted 4,100 user profiles that were posting fake reviews.

References

{{reflist Review websites