Story of MouthShut.com
Born on April 23rd, Faisal Farooqui is an Indian entrepreneur and also the founder and chief executive officer of MouthShut.com, which is a consumer review website, containing user-generated content.
In his own words, he is ‘’an advocate of freedom of expression on the internet,’’ and it is on this principle that he commenced the website, so that people can come across untainted, unbiased, honest reviews.
He made a huge impact when he challenged India’s IT Rules that laid down a series of restrictions for internet users in the country, in the Supreme Court, and as a result of that the Supreme Court had finally taken down the infamous Indian Section 66A, alongside removing a list of other sections from the Information Technology Act of India.
This received massive media coverage in the form of MouthShut.com & Faisal Farooqui vs. Union of India.
In the year 2009, Faisal Farooqui was declared to be a Youth Icon by Doordarshan, which is India’s national television news channel.
And in the year 2012, he was honored by Entrepreneur Magazine, which listed him in the Top Business People in India, and also included him in the list of those entrepreneurs who have made history, in different areas of life.
In fact, he has also been included in the league of 50 Indians in the list of young leaders who have showcased immense optimism of the country and also showcased exceptional leadership skills, by the British High Commission based in Delhi.
Coming to his alma mater, Faisal Farooqui pursued his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance as well as Information Systems, from the State University of New York in Binghamton. In the university, he was a senator as well as a tech-column writer for their campus newspaper, called Pipe Dream. He later functioned as the Technology Editor of the same.
He was recruited from his campus itself by the American Management System, now acquired by CGI Systems in Virginia. He quit this job in the year 2000, to start his own venture: MouthShut.com , and received the Manthan Award Best Youth Website in the year 2006 by India’s then IT Minister Sachin Pilot.