The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has introduced new guidelines requiring registered financial intermediaries to verify their identities before advertising on digital platforms like Google and Meta. This initiative aims to tackle the growing number of investment scams spreading through social media.
The move comes in response to a rise in fraudulent schemes promoted via platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, X (formerly Twitter), Telegram, and the Google Play Store. Scammers have been using these channels to deceive investors with misleading content and false promises of high returns. Under the new rules, intermediaries must register on social media platforms using their SEBI-approved email addresses and mobile numbers, which are already listed in SEBI’s Supervisory Information (SI) Portal.
SEBI has set a deadline of April 30, 2025, for intermediaries to ensure their contact information is updated on the SI Portal. The regulator sees this step as a key measure in protecting investors and maintaining transparency in the financial sector – social media companies will be responsible for verifying their details before allowing financial advertisements to be published, and those that avoid being verified will not be able to advertise on social media platforms.
By enforcing stricter identity verification, SEBI hopes to limit deceptive marketing practices that could cause significant financial losses. The policy is expected to make it more challenging for fraudulent operators to use major online platforms to promote misleading schemes, but naturally also acts as a shake-up that forces current advertisers to properly verify themselves if they want to continue advertisng in Indian social media spaces.
