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For better or worse, now when people go looking for life advice or want to find answers to burning questions, the place we increasingly turn to is social media. And sure, there are a lot of areas in our lives where this can be great. Suggestions on how to use up half a can of chickpeas or learning how to braid your hair is one thing. But when it comes to things like our health and finances, the risks associated with getting advice from unqualified influencers are exponentially higher.
That’s one of the reasons that I was happy to see that the Australian Securities and Investments Commissions recently took part in a global crackdown on financial influencers, also known as “finfluencers”, along with regulators from the United Kingdom, Italy, Hong Kong, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
Following the crackdown, ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland explained: “It’s important that consumers separate fun from fact when it comes to influencer content. Popularity doesn’t equal credibility.” In other words, a finfluencer might have 100,000 people eager to listen to what they have to say, but that doesn’t mean they have the qualifications, expertise or a legal right to be saying it in the first place.
In the UK alone, the regulator issued 650 requests for content to be removed from social media, 50 takedown requests to websites being operated by influencers, and seven cease and desist letters. The regulators also invited four influencers in for interviews, and made three arrests.
