Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said the FCA had made three arrests with the support of the City of London Police (the National Lead Force for fraud), authorised criminal proceedings against three individuals, sent seven cease and desist letters and issued 50 warning alerts.
“Our message to finfluencers is loud and clear. They must act responsibly and only promote financial products where they are authorised to do so – or face the consequences,” he said.
He said it is anticipated that the warning alerts will result in over 650 takedown requests on social media platforms and more than 50 websites operated by unauthorised finfluencers.
The danger of finfluencers
The move comes after the FCA launched targeted action against those who produce financial content on social media back in October 2024.
Finfluencers are social media personalities who use their platform to promote financial products and share insights and advice with their followers.
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The FCA said there has been a significant increase in finfluencers over recent years.
It said: “These people are not FCA-authorised and are unqualified to be giving financial advice to the younger and often very impressionable age groups who follow them.
“Finfluencers need to check the products they promote to ensure they are not breaking the law and putting their followers’ livelihoods and life savings at risk.”
Meta ‘too slow’
The news comes as the Treasury Committee on finance wrote to Facebook and Instagram owner Meta asking why it has responded so slowly to harmful finfluencer comments.
The committee has asked Meta to set out why “it has taken you on occasion up to six weeks to respond to a takedown request from the Financial Conduct Authority?”
