SEBI engaging with YouTube, Telegram to crack down on finfluencers

Meta has mandated its advertisers to verify before posting advertisements for all securities and investment-related ads on its platforms from July 31.
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KSL

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is engaging with media platforms, such as Telegram and YouTube, along with Meta, to curb the activities of unregistered investment advisors or financial influencers, according to sources.

“We are in talks with more of these social-media platforms and they are all cooperating. We have asked them to comply with our association regulations in order to gain competitive advantage,” said a source directly aware of the matter.

It is in the interest of these platforms to co-operate and comply, said another source. SEBI’s power could be used to dissuade regulated entities to associate and do business with these media platforms, the source said.

Most platforms engaged by SEBI have given a positive response and are working on measures to ensure unregulated content is taken down; entities or content are verified before being uploaded on their respective platforms, said one of the sources.

Prior mandate

Last year, in October, SEBI mandated regulated entities to not associate with unregistered finfluencers, directly or indirectly, for any transactions. These include money or money’s worth; referral of a client; interaction of information technology systems, or any other association of a similar nature or character.

This put a stop to any advertisements or promotion of registered investment services or products by finfluencers – taking away such sponsorship income from unregistered entities.

SEBI did not reply to the queries about ongoing discussions with other social-media platforms to curb unregulated activity.

As part of updated terms of service announced on June 26, Meta — the parent firm of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger — has mandated its advertisers to verify before posting advertisements for all securities and investment-related ads on its platforms from July 31.