ASCI welcomes Zerodha's initiative to tackle financial misinformation and mis-selling

Online trading platform Zerodha introduced its own social media page, Zing on YouTube in October. This initiative is a joint collaboration between the fintech company and the edtech platform LearnApp. "ASCI welcomes initiatives focused on educating and informing consumers about various aspects related to advertising or content, especially in the financial sector, given the heightened vulnerability of consumers in this space," Manisha Kapoor, chief executive officer & Secretary General, ASCI said.

Zerodha called attention to misinformation and deceptive practices influenced by social media in the context of financial misinformation and mis-selling. “Finfluencers”, for example, is a big social media phenomenon that has gotten so big that SEBI is looking at it to curb financial mis-selling on social media.

"In our continued decade-long attempt to provide quality financial education and to tackle mis-selling and mis-information in finance and capital markets, we’re trying something new with Zing,” the company noted.

In August, the Advertising Standards Council of India amended its guidelines for finfluencers. The guidelines for finfluencers stated that influencers could offer investment-related advice only if they are registered with SEBI and they must showcase their registration numbers alongside their name and qualifications.

Influencers would need to display their qualifications, registration or certification details on visuals that are readable or upfront.

For other financial advice services, influencers are required to possess credentials or a licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, or they must be qualified chartered accountants or company secretaries.

The revised guidelines were introduced when SEBI complained of influencers spreading misleading advice on investment and stock trading.

For blogs and text-based posts, the credentials must be highlighted upfront or in a manner that can be read by consumers. In the case of audio content, the details must be stated at the beginning.

Moneycontrol had conducted an investigation that revealed some finfluencers were approached by financial companies to put up content related to initial public offerings. The finfluencers, not registered with SEBI, were asked to promote content without declaring them as ads, which was in violation of the rules set by ASCI. As per ASCI’s guidelines on IPOs, any content put out by financial companies needs to carry a disclosure label stating that it is an advertisement.

Influencers and content creators were being offered Rs 50,000 per tweet and Rs 1 lakh per video, according to Moneycontrol. Rates for creators specialising in writing about IPOs would increase.