Tech

Government warns Ed-Tech companies against unfair commercial practices


The government has warned high-tech companies against unfair trade practices in India. In a meeting with the Indian industry body Edtech Consortium (IEC), the Consumer Affairs Secretary said that strict guidelines will need to be put in place to ensure transparency if self-regulation is not limited. unfair trade practices in this area. The meeting was attended by IEC member companies including Byju’s, upGrad, Unacademy, Vedantu and WhiteHat Jr, among others. Electronic technology platforms gained a lot of attention during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic when schools and colleges closed due to lockdown. But the subsequent growing adoption pointed to gaps that needed to be filled.

On Friday, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh discussion issues related to unfair commercial practices and misleading advertising affecting the educational technology sector. Singh said that “some advertising and practices appear to be inconsistent with prevailing guidelines and applicable regulations.”

In addition to pointing out problems with advertising and commercial practices, Singh discussed ways to better manage consumer interests in India’s education tech ecosystem.

The meeting also raised concerns about an increase in fake reviews. Furthermore, the secretary advised the IEC to establish a joint working group with stakeholders to create standard operating procedures to “continue with active efforts to serve the ecosystem.”

Held in New Delhi, the meeting was attended by representatives Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), along with IEC member companies including Byju’s, upGrad, Unacademy, VedantuGreat learning, WhiteHat Jrand Sunstone.

Earlier this week, a report release of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) highlighted that ads coming from the education sector – mainly involving educational technology companies – have emerged as subject to ad code violations. largest report for the period from April 2021 to March 2022.

The Ministry of Education in December also issued an advisory for warn people against high-tech companies domestic. The Department has advised consumers to avoid automatic payments for high-tech platform subscriptions and advised them to read the terms and conditions before accepting any acceptance of the software or learning device. practice.

That advice comes after several reports revealed a lucrative practice by major educational tech companies including Byju, in which parents and students were allegedly targeted to pay for online content that they can’t even afford.

Due to the initial outage, IAMAI in January formed the IEC as a unified group of leading educational technology companies to “protect the interests of consumers” and self-regulate using A common ‘code of conduct’ as well as the establishment of two better grievance redress mechanisms.




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