Facebook's commercial pages need to be regulated

In Bangladesh, Facebook became popular around mid-2000s. Its popularity increased another notch with the rise in sales of smartphones and affordable mobile internet around 2015. As more and more people opened accounts on Facebook and were communicating with each other, local entrepreneurs saw the lucrative market that was open to them through the social media platform. Within a few months, thousands of Facebook-based shops/pages were initiated. These sold all kind of products. Recent newspaper reports have speculated that there are over 15,000 Facebook shops/pages in the country.

A matter of concern is that some of these shops/pages offer low-quality products and their service is not up to the mark. It is almost like a gamble for consumers. Since these are not government-registered businesses, laws related to consumer rights do not cover them. There are rules and regulations for formal e-commerce businesses. The informal shops or pages that operate through Facebook only should also be regulated by laws and rules. There should be a system through which consumers can complain to an authority if they receive bad products or service from these shops.

M. Meraj Hossain

East West University, Dhaka

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