FINFLUENCERS - ECONOMY
News: Who
are finfluencers, and why are they under SEBI’s scrutiny?
Finfluencers:
● Finfluencers
are people with public social media
platforms offering advice and sharing personal experiences about money and
investment in stocks.
● Their
videos cover budgeting, investing, property buying, cryptocurrency advice and
financial trend tracking.
Importance of Finfluencers now:
● Some
of them have lakhs of followers with their investment advice being closely
followed by millions of people across the country.
Guidelines for Social media influencers:
● Last
February, the Advertising Standards
Council of India (ASCI) released new guidelines for social media
influencers and other advertisers about publishing ads about virtual digital
assets (VDA) including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), in line
with the government and Reserve Bank of India’s long-held stance on
cryptocurrencies.
● As
per the guidelines, all advertisements for VDA products, VDA exchanges or
featuring VDAs should carry a disclaimer
that says, “Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky.
There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions”.