On 6 April, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a statement to fight against the social media influencers who promote crypto in their advertisements. The FCA has collaborated with Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to educate the fin-influencers about the crypto industry. According to the statement released by the FCA, they will seek help from Love Island star Sharon Gaffka to promote education related to crypto scams.
According to reports, there is also an infographic included that outlines the points influencers should look out for before agreeing to brand deals for financial goods and services. These infographics and other related tools will provide additional information to the influencers.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority along with the report revealed six-point infographics to provide information straightforwardly. It reveals that an influencer who makes an unlawful promotion is a criminal act and can be convicted of up to 2 years in prison and an unlimited fine.
United Kingdom authorities are not the exception who are keen to protect their citizens from any scams, in October 2022, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) imposed a heavy fine of $1.26 million on Hollywood celebrity Kim Kardashian. She was fined for “touting on social media” about EMAX without revealing that she had taken $250,000 for the post. The United States has been very active in preventing its citizens from fraud. On 22 March, the United States SEC published a detailed report, accusing eight celebrities, Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, DeAndre Cortez Way (Soulja Boy), Austin Mahone, Michele Mason, Miles Parks McCollum, Shaffer Smith, and Aliaune Thiam. In the report, Justin Sun, a crypto asset businessman also charged with manipulating unregistered offerings and trade of crypto securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT).
In January 2022, the United Kingdom ASA banned two advertisements on crypto.com related to credit card purchases and interest rates. The Advertising Standards Authority said that crypto.com manipulated the audience’s mindset by failing to provide information about the risk associated with it. It also added that the company took advantage of general inexperience in the industry.
The United Kingdom FCA in the guidelines released in February 2023 said that those not made using legal routes will breach section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), which is a criminal offense punishable by up to 2 years imprisonment. From the United States to UK to France every country is very proactive in tackling illegal advertisements made by social media influencers. The strict measures taken against them will prevent any unforeseen potential fraud and loss of money if customers in the future.
