Social media has the potential to make or break a business and the power is very much in the hands of the consumer.

Sites such as Facebook and Twitter are great to publicise business, pop stars and even to promote events. However, it is an equally powerful tool for users to vent frustrations. This is something which retailers, manufactures and service providers might not like – or 'like' -  but is almost out of their control.

Suppliers of goods and services to consumers in the real world must ensure that their products meet the quality and fitness for purpose specifications under the Sale of Goods Act 1979. However, the provisions are not universally understood by consumers and it is much less clear to what exent those obligations apply to digital goods or services. As a result, customers who are having difficulty getting satisfaction about poor products or bad customer service may resort to sharing their frustration by letting off steam on social media rather than relying on the law to obtain recompense. Clearly this is not a satisfactory state of affairs.

In June 2013, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills published its consultation paper on reforming the existing consumer rights law, together with a draft Consumer Rights Bill (the Bill).The draft Bill has four key objectives:

i. streamline existing consumer laws for the modern age;

ii. provide clarity where the law is confusing, or written in legal jargon;

iii. reduce business burden and cost by removing redundant or unduly onerous provisions;  and

iv. enhance measures to protect consumers, where appropriate to do so.

The policy aim is to produce a new law that will help ordinary consumers know and understand what their rights are and make it easy and straightforward for them to obtain redress.

The draft Bill also introduces a new category of consumer goods: digital content. This would mean that suppliers of digital content such as mobile apps, e-books, music downloads and online games would have to pay much more attention to the scope of their liability to the consumer.

Developers and programmers should start preparing themselves for a consumer law 'switch to digital' and review their existing terms and conditions and terms of business. Failure to meet growing customer expectations backed by clearer legal rights could lead to a mob of negative Tweets and/or Facebook updates, such as the ones recently in the news about the tax practices of companies including Amazon and Starbucks.

For consumers and users of digital content this initiative should mean that they will no longer have to suffer in silence or be limited to voicing their dissatisfaction through social media. The government  intends to remove the jargon of the old law and make it easier for consumers to bring an action and obtain an adequate remedy, such as refund, replacement and compensation for additional damages.

It is expected that after the public consultation stage, the draft Bill will be scrutinised as it passes through parliament and a new law should be passed early next year. The government's intention is that it should apply to all consumer contracts entered into after 13 June 2014.

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