Credit: Ratatouille, Pixar Animation Studios.
In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so… ~ Anton Ego in ‘Ratatouille’
I saw a couple of news items trending recently: Food bloggers can now be sued for bad reviews and Food bloggers beware – you can now be sued for bad reviews, and a lot of people commenting on things like FoE on one side and how freeloaders must be taught a lesson on the other. I do not know if the news is actually credible or if this so-called “Hospitality Industry of India”, or “Indian Hospitality Association” are even real organisations (a simple Google search shows no results whatsoever). For the purpose of this post, I am assuming it is true, or at least believable enough to give some smart alec the bright idea of lobbying the real associations for this. So, here goes.
My perspective:
This is going to become a shitfest. Suing reviewers is neither practical nor legally defensible for too long on a reasonable scale. The current (more than sufficient) laws on libel and slander (Section 499 and 500 of the IPC) provide protection against false public statements with an intent to harm. But for a restaurant or even an association like HII, to take action for incidents such as what they claim to be a fake review would cost a lot of time and money. More importantly, the hospitality association (if it is the one that ends up spending such time and money on prosecuting reviewers) will need to have some kind of a Triage-equivalent system to decide who to sue and who to leave out, who to sue first and who to keep for later, how much to demand in damages, which legal team to engage, what to pay them, and how much time, money, and energy to put into each individual exercise.
Can you imagine the infighting, accusations, and heartburn?
My guess is that at most, we may see one or two high profile cases before the famed (notorious?) lack of unity in any such marketplace will create internal bickering with restaurants blaming each other for wanting their fake reviewer to be taken equally seriously as their competitor’s or to be sued/tackled before someone else’s. Some may even go so far as to plant fake reviews (which is already par for the course, but in this case, this would be used as bait) to defocus competition and push their hidden agendas.
Soon, my hypothesis is that there will be infighting and division within the association, and if sense prevails, the entire exercise will be dropped like a hot potato with some face-saving excuse as a get-out-of-jail card for all concerned. And if it can’t be or doesn’t happen, mayhem will likely ensue, and the association may break up into several smaller ones, geographically and/or along other similar lines. These smaller associations may start accusing and fighting against each other, fuelled from outside no doubt by the full treasuries of the various ratings and review platforms which they will use to their advantage. The South Indian restaurants may, for example, blame the North Indian ones and the Fine Dine ones will talk against the QSRs and the finger-pointing will become endemic. The press might get pulled in because each association would like to create some kind of PR around their story. We might even see suits and countersuits of defamation against each other! It will not be a pretty sight, and it will take quite some time, and some strong political leadership, along with deep VC pockets to smoothen ruffled feathers, and compromises on all sides for this to die down and things to go back to normal, which means status quo ante: जैसे थे, or rather अभी इस वक़्त जैसे हैं.
So, here is my unsolicited advice to the small restaurants & food manufacturers like Tasha & Girl as well as amateur reviewers like myself: Let the platforms & forums police themselves and ensure that the neutrality of reviews and reviewers is preserved, not for the sake of the restaurants, but for the sake of their own (the platforms’) reputation. Let those that are in the business of publishing reviews and “influencing” people police themselves so that the fakers and freeloaders amongst them are called out, and eventually go out of business, not because they want to chase some altruistic consumer utopia, but for the sake of their own reputations. No amount of legislation or threat of lawsuits or any other legal action is going to change the landscape. Over a period of time, the cream will rise, and the crap will sink. You cannot legislate this. You’ve got to let the free market decide.
To repeat, this (if true) is going to be a shitfest. For sure. So, if you are in the food business, my advice is to get a raincoat before the crap starts flying. And stay away from suing people & publications (including forums like PEO, Zomato, Yelp etc) and focus on providing better and better food, service, ambience, and experience. If you are a reviewer, stay true to your heart and keep reviewing without fear, but keep pieces of evidence like receipts, photos, teleconversations etc. In this fight between the powerful people in the hospitality industry and the extremely well-funded startups, if you aren’t careful and do not consciously stay neutral while continuing to do your job with diligence and honesty, you will become cannon-fodder. Especially if you think you can ally on one side or the other and be the hero.
