Faisal Farooqui


Faisal Farooqui is an Indian technology entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder and chief executive officer of MouthShut.com, a consumer review and rating platform launched in 2000.
Farooqui's work in the Indian technology sector has focused on user-generated content, data privacy, and scalable infrastructure. He has also co-founded Zarca Interactive, the parent company of Sogolytics and K12Insight, and was an early investor in the agritech platform DeHaat.
In 2015, he was among the petitioners in a case before Supreme Court case that resulted in the striking down of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. Farooqui has also served as spokesperson for actor Dilip Kumar and authored a memoir about Kumar's life and career.

Early life and education

Faisal Farooqui was born in Mumbai, India, as the youngest of ten children to Idris Farooqui and Tahera Farooqui. His father, originally a farmer, came from a land-owning family whose ancestors had rebelled against British colonial rule in 1857. He later established bakeries in Mumbai, expanding the traditional joint family business.
Farooqui attended St. Stanislaus High School in Bandra and completed his higher secondary education at Jai Hind College, Mumbai.
He later moved to the United States, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Information Systems and Finance from the State University of New York at Binghamton. During his time at university, he was elected to the Faculty Senate Committee and student government, and served as technology editor of the campus newspaper, Pipe Dream.
Farooqui developed an interest in computing during his school years. In 1988, he encountered a computerized railway reservation system at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, which encouraged him to explore programming. He began experimenting with BASIC on a Casio SF-3500 digital diary, later gained access to an IBM-compatible PC at school, and worked with database tools such as dBASE IV while developing a system to manage surgical records for a family member. He also used MS-DOS and Unix environments and learned COBOL and other early programming languages.

Career

After finishing his undergraduate studies, he started working at American Management Systems as a telecommunication consultant. He moved to India in 2000 and established MouthShut.com as a platform for reviews of products and services. MouthShut popularized the concept of advertising on rickshaws for marketing purposes.
In 2001 Faisal started the dial-the-CEO program on MouthShut where consumers could directly call the CEO. The program was later adopted by many businesses for interaction between CEOs and customers directly.
In 2011, he beta-launched Dealface.com which connects consumers with local businesses. This was the first website that provided SMS-based coupons. Later Dealface was integrated with MouthShut.
He was also the official spokesperson to Indian actor Dilip Kumar. His family has a long-standing relationship with Kumar. During the last days of actor Faisal released all his health updates to the media. He received a 2006 Manthan Award for Best Youth website. In several interviews in 2015, he stated that he supports net neutrality. In a 2017 interview, Farooqui stated his preference for shifting India's time zone by 30 minutes.
Farooqui's biographical memoir of Dilip Kumar titled In The Shadow of a Legend: Dilip Kumar was launched on 7 July 2022, the first death anniversary of Dilip Kumar.

Auto Rickshaw Advertising

Faisal is credited with introducing the concept of using auto-rickshaws as a medium for advertising and mass media. He used the back of the hoods of autorickshaws to advertise his startup Mouthshut.com in 2001.

Freedom of expression

As an advocate of Freedom of expression on the Internet, Faisal filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court for challenging the Information Technology Rules, 2011. The Supreme Court in its verdict directed striking down the Section 66A and reading down of many other sections of the Information Technology Act of India terming it was unconstitutional.

Board membership

Publications

Books

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Research papers

Controversies

Pune-based Kumar builders sent a legal notice to Faisal and MouthShut.com and demanded Rs.2000 crore damages for fake reviews appearing on MouthShut.com about them.
Institute of Management and Technical Studies sent a legal notice to Faisal for fake review post on his website MouthShut about the institute. It alleged that the reviews were intended to bring the institute's reliability down.

IT Act/Section 66A

Faisal was among the lead petitioners who challenged the sections of IT Act section 66 A through a petition in the Supreme Court of India in 2013. In 2015, the court struck down 66A, holding it unconstitutional and diluting many other sections.
Faisal's firm MouthShut has received 790 takedown notices, 240 legal notices, and 11 court cases against it. Hence, Farooqui and Mouthshut.com decided to challenge these notices by petitioning the Supreme Court of India to read down the Intermediary Guidelines Rules 2011.
In 2014, Beam Fiber, an ISP in Hyderabad and Bangalore blocked access to Mouthshut.com. Farooqui challenged this illegal block and Beam Fiber later unblocked its access with an apology.

Philanthropy

Farooqui is a founding trustee of the Tahera & Idris Farooqui Foundation, a family-run charitable organization that supports initiatives in education, healthcare, clean water, and rural development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation distributed medicines and essential supplies to communities with limited access to resources.

Awards and honors