SEBI Pushes for Social Media to Tackle Unauthorized Financial Advice

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) seeks expanded powers from the government to remove unauthorized financial advice on social media platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. They want access to call records for market violation investigations. This request follows intensified probes into unregulated advice on these platforms.

In 2022, the government didn’t approve SEBI’s initial request. Now, social media companies like WhatsApp refuse access to group chats, citing the current IT law doesn’t identify SEBI as an ‘authorized agency’.

SEBI aims to take down messages, information, links, and groups that violate securities regulations. They also want access to call or message records on digital platforms. Currently, only law enforcement agencies have these powers, not regulators.

SEBI struggles with serious market violations due to the lack of power to access call data records. The government is now considering SEBI’s new request. Typically, such powers are granted only for serious crimes.