The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has urged firms and “finfluencers” to keep adverts on social media channels fair and clear.

The regulator warned they could not be misleading and needed to have balance and risk warning enabling people to make well informed financial decisions.

The organisation said that social media has become a central part of firms’ marketing strategies with many using memes, reels and gaming streams to promote their products.

Influencers promoting financial product without the FCA’s approval could be a criminal offence. The FCA said consumers need to be vigilant, but influencers need to ensure they are obeying the rules and consider what would happen to their reputation should they be found promoting products illegally.

The FCA warned that social media will not always be the best place to promote complex product and firms need to consider whether a platform that offers limited characters or space is the right place to advertise.

It added that it had increased its scrutiny of financial promotions and last year it removed over 10,000 misleading adverts, up from around 8,500 in 2022.

“Any marketing for financial products must be fair, clear and not misleading so consumers can invest, save or borrow with confidence,” said Lucy Castledine, director of consumer investments at the FCA. “Promotions aren’t just about the likes, they’re about the law. We will take action against those touting financial products illegally.”

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