Regulators across the globe, led by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), have joined forces to protect social media users from illegal financial promotions by rogue finfluencers.
Nine regulators, from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Italy, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom took part in the week of action, which began on 2 June 2025.
In the UK, the FCA has:
- made 3 arrests with the support of the City of London Police (the National Lead Force for fraud)
- authorised criminal proceedings against 3 individuals
- invited 4 finfluencers for interview
- sent 7 cease and desist letters
- issued 50 warning alerts
The warning alerts will result in over 650 take down requests on social media platforms and more than 50 websites operated by unauthorised finfluencers.
Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said:
“Our message to finfluencers is loud and clear. They must act responsibly and only promote financial products where they are authorised to do so – or face the consequences.”
Sharing her views on the announcement, Giang Hughes, Business Support Manager at Simplify Consulting, said: “It is encouraging to see that the FCA in collaboration with global regulators are taking action against bad actors that are using social media to promote financial services and products illegally or without the proper authorisation.
“Whilst the FCA have provided guidance on checking warning lists and signposting other resources to help people make better investment decisions, are they bringing that awareness to the right audience, the typical investors that are likely to be enticed into these schemes through social media.
“Wider responsibility is given to social media giants to be more responsible for their content, but with limited governance they can’t be forced to effectively monitor and police finfluencers to protect consumers. Legal action tends to be exerted only once large losses have already been incurred by investors, but little recourse is available for consumers that have already fallen foul of these schemes by undetected illegal finfluencers. And what of those detected bad actors that will continue to pop up in a difference guise once they receive cease and desist letters? Is there sufficient data from the social media platforms to show the effectiveness of the regulators actions or are these actions just a scratch at the tip of the iceberg?
“We expect the regulator to be more deeply involved with social media firms to help protect consumers. Providing a platform upon which unauthorised (and often uneducated) individuals can ‘advise’ consumers without any recourse is not consistent with the highly regulated landscape upon which financial advice firms must operate within. It is time social media platforms take their responsibilities seriously.”
Legal experts also share reactions
In response to this announcement, legal experts have also shared their reaction to the news with us as follows:
James Alleyne, Partner in the Financial Services Regulatory team at Kingsley Napley LLP, says: “The FCA first warned those advertising and trading investments on social media about the risks of doing so in March 2024 and has subsequently been extremely assertive in its approach to Finfluencers. It has proactively policed social media to find accounts of concern and has not hesitated to issue criminal proceedings where it believes someone has crossed the line in terms of providing advice or conducting other regulated business.
“It is clear that the FCA sees Finfluencers, particularly those who promote complex and high-risk products, as being a key driver of consumer harm and research shows an ever increasing swathe of people of all ages are accessing this content given the huge growth in social media.
“However, one of the particular challenges for the FCA in policing this type of activity, is that many of these accounts are based outside of the UK, and effective long-term enforcement will ultimately require a coordinated approach with law enforcement and regulators on a cross-border basis. This ‘Week of Action’ sends an important signal therefore. That a number of international regulators seem to be taking similar action is certainly a positive and the FCA’s latest actions demonstrate that this remains a priority area and it intends to keep up the pressure in the months and years ahead.”
Terry Green, Social Media partner at international law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP (Katten) says: “Whilst there has been a lot of coverage on protecting people from harmful behaviours and illegal materials online, the Online Safety Act’s wide remit also mandates the protection of people from fraud and financial offences. This includes rogue financial promotions especially in social media and messaging services.
Online platforms will be expected to assess the risk of people being defrauded or being taken advantaged of by people carrying out regulated activities when they have not been authorised by the FCA, such as providing financial advice or conducting financial promotions. The Online Safety Act specifically highlights this as one of the 17 types of illegal content and online platforms must conduct a risk assessment on in relation to the likelihood and harm of this occurring on their platform. They must also outline and put in place ways in which these risks and harms are mitigated. These risk assessments should have been in place from March 2025 and measures are expected to be in place from September 2025.
Whilst the FCA has targeted specific social media users, Ofcom will go after the social media and online platforms that are enabling this. We may expect to see more cooperation between the FCA and Ofcom to tackle these types of content online.”
Caroline Black, Consultant at Gherson Solicitors comments: “This is a hugely positive development in the important role that Regulators have in protecting the public from rogue traders and fraudsters. Although social media platforms are notoriously difficult to police, the deterrent effect of a criminal investigation should not be underestimated. We can expect more action of this type to come”.
Karl Foster, Financial Services Partner at Spencer West LLP says: “Regulators have taken an increased interest in the activities of the so-called “finfluencers” (influencers promoting financial products) as the power and popularity of social media evolves, particularly with younger demographics. Those pushing stories of how large portfolios can be amassed and profits made, may not realise that once they begin to reference products, specific stocks, or tokens, they venture into giving investment advice which is a regulated activity. Unauthorised financial promotion in the UK is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine and/or up to 2 years in prison.
As with the consumption of news via social media platforms, traditional methods are being replaced. In terms of investor education via social media, a higher potential for an advice gap, risk of misinformation, or even scams can be expected. Social media provides the perfect space for people to operate beyond the regulatory scope of regulators. Whilst not entirely without regulation and with enforcement being taken, the possibilities of oversight and redress are limited with regulators increasingly dependent on the good will of the social media platforms themselves to provide the practical steps to help minimise the risk of unruly advice. In a world with little accountability, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine who might be a reckless, or even a malicious, actor.
From an FCA perspective, the protection of consumers from harm and ensuring the integrity of the financial system are overriding statutory duties. Therefore, taking action against non-regulated individuals who could cause harm (willingly or unwittingly) is likely to encourage the adoption of regulatory oversight by those who wish to continue practicing or even the cessation of unregulated activity by those who don’t. For a number of years now, the reduction in high-risk investment by those with a low tolerance of risk (think general prohibition on promotion of cryptoassets for example) has been a goal of the FCA; this latest action is complimentary to and enabling of that goal. Only a few months ago, the Treasury raised the issue of fraud and finfluencers the with the FCA.
It is important to note that this is a global issue and not just for the UK. Recent action in India to ban Asmita Patel, the influential YouTuber, and this coordinated action by regulators from around the world, demonstrates the importance of regulatory cooperation in today’s financial services landscape.
The importance of such co-operation will only increase as defi is brought into the wider financial services landscape. Unsurprisingly, given the views that such finfluencers drive on social media platforms, and consequently the revenue that generates, the Treasury Committee’s reference to Meta taking a long time to respond to takedown requests comes as no surprise, notwithstanding a social media platform’s need to follow a diligent process in actioning such requests.”
