Sebi Urges Regulated Entities To Display Registration Number And Name On Social Media Platforms

Participation in the Indian securities market has risen since Covid and the ‘Demat Boom’. In the last five years, the number of demat accounts has grown from 41 million in 2020 to 210 million as of October 2025.

This rise in participation has been catalysed by the advent of technology and social media. However, the same has also led to a rise in fraud related to the securities market.

Capital market regulator, Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi), said in a consultation paper released on November 28, that social media platforms are being used by fraudsters to proliferate these frauds.

“It has been observed that fraudsters/unregistered persons have been perpetrating frauds in the securities market in various forms, including by way of misleading/ manipulative social media content, etc,” Sebi said.

To combat the issue, the market watchdog plans to increase the surveillance and monitoring of content that may defraud investors. Thus, the regulator plans to carry out effective monitoring of such content by distinguishing content uploaded by Sebi-registered entities and other content uploaded by non-Sebi-registered entities.

“In order to carry out effective monitoring of such contents and in the interest of promoting transparency, a need is felt to distinguish social media contents uploaded by persons regulated by the board (hereafter referred to as ‘regulated entities’) on SMPs from the contents uploaded by other unregistered persons,” Sebi said.

The market regulator also plans to help investors in distinguishing between potentially fraudulent content uploaded by unregistered finfluencers and content uploaded by registered entities. Thus, the market watchdog has proposed that a provision will be made to allow disclosure of registered name and registration number by Sebi-regulated entities and their agents.

“It is also important that the public at large is  able  to identify whether the content uploaded on SMPs is uploaded by Sebi-regulated entities and their agents. In view of the above discussions,  it is proposed to specify provisions for disclosure of registered name and registration number by Sebi-regulated entities and their agents on social media platforms,” Sebi said.

Further, the market regulator also urged the regulated entities to upload or publish videos or content on their social media handles that do not contain elements that may harm investors or be in violation of Sebi’s norms regarding financial content.

Earlier this year, the capital market regulator detailed its code of conduct for registered entities as well. Sebi said that the content uploaded by registered entities should not contain misleading claims, guaranteed returns, past performance, exaggeration, or unapproved associations. 

“In  order  to further strengthen the conduct of regulated entities, while uploading/publishing any video/ other content on their social media handles on social media platforms and in the interest of protection of interest of investors,  it is important that the content published by them do not contain anything which is prohibited under law or may harm investors’ interest,” Sebi said.

To conclude, the change seeks to protect investors by differentiating content uploaded by registered and unregistered entities. If the proposals are approved, investors will be able to look for the registered name and registration number on a social media handle or post before and ascertain whether it is coming from a registered or an unregistered entity. While the rules seek to increase accountability for registered entities and curb unregistered entities from making misleading content, investors should continue to exercise caution and use the disclosed registration information for independent verification before making investment-related decisions.