The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a final report on “finfluencers” that assesses how social media investment content affects retail investor behaviour and sets out non-binding good practices for securities regulators, market intermediaries and finfluencers, alongside revised tips for retail investors. The report highlights that finfluencers can broaden access to financial information but also raise risks such as unlicensed investment advice, fraud and scams, promotion of potentially higher-risk or more complex products, misleading content, and undisclosed conflicts of interest. IOSCO’s survey found that most respondents viewed finfluencer activity as a potential source of investor harm, and that contractual relationships between market intermediaries and finfluencers are common. Proposed good practices cover regulatory clarity on when finfluencer activity is regulated, enhanced monitoring and enforcement (including use of data analytics and social media surveillance), conflict-of-interest detection and disclosure (including standardized disclaimers and clear transparency on remuneration), strengthened intermediary controls over the selection, contracting, training and oversight of finfluencers, and greater cross-border cooperation using tools such as IOSCO’s Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding and Enhanced MMoU. The final report incorporates feedback from IOSCO’s consultation launched on 19 November 2024, which closed on 20 January 2025 with 17 responses, including targeted amendments on cross-border supervision and additional emphasis on finfluencer education. IOSCO also updated terminology in the good practices by replacing “high-risk” with “potentially higher-risk or more complex”, including where crypto assets are used in decentralised finance, and revised the set of 10 retail investor tips. IOSCO indicated it will continue working with platform providers throughout 2025 to urge mitigation of online risks to retail investors.

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