Meta has made it mandatory for advertisers running securities and investment advertisements (ads) on its platforms in India (including global campaigns) to get verified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) or if exempt from such registration, opt for identity or business verification. Experts said the move is likely to significantly impact finfluencers on social media.

Platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram have to comply with the mandate by July 31, 2025, according to Meta’s updated service requirements for advertisers targeting users in India with securities and investment ads.

The verified information will be disclosed on the ad. The move is in line with the regulator’s earlier direction to advertisers to register themselves with the social media platforms.

To impact finfluencers

Meta’s update on verified investment advertisers on its platforms comes at a time when SEBI is cracking down on finfluencers and those luring unsuspecting investors to invest in dubious schemes through ads on social media platforms. Ads promising to teach people to be professional traders in a few days or assured high returns on investments are rampant on social media.

According to Sahil Arora, Partner at Saraf & Partners - Corporate and Regulatory practices, “These new guidelines are likely to significantly impact finfluencers, given the large target audience and associated marketing potential of Meta platforms, Further, since there is a thin line between investment ‘education’ and ‘advice’, some people who are merely providing stock market education services may also get inadvertently caught up within the rigors of these guidelines.”

He added that the should not have an adverse impact on targeted advertisements in general, with most Indian advertisers remaining unaffected by these new Meta policy changes.

While the compliance will be enforced from Tuesday, the implementation will vary depending on when an advertiser or individual becomes eligible to set the beneficiary and payer of ads.

An advertiser will receive a notification informing of when they are eligible to complete the verification and disclaimer process. Meta began rolling out the verification process on June 26, with global access to the process by July 28, 2025. Advertisers will have at least a month to complete the requirements confirming who benefits from and pays for the ads and selecting the verified beneficiary and payer information to disclose on the ads.

This means the ads will contain a disclaimer featuring the name and SEBI registration number of the ad’s verified beneficiary and payer. This disclaimer will be created during the ad creation process. Ads published prior to July 31 will not be edited with beneficiary and payer information, as long as the account is verified.

Meta asked advertisers to complete verification themselves and provide business documents and related details for the verification.

“We also recommend that clients have at least partial access to any accounts that are running ads on their behalf in order to complete verification,” said Meta in its blog.

In March, SEBI had asked all its registered intermediaries uploading and publishing advertisements on Social Media Platform Providers like Google and Meta to register on the platforms as well using email ids and mobile numbers registered on SEBI SI Portal. The companies will then verify the advertiser to publish the ads.

Finfluencers face compliance demands

Meta’s new mandate also means a strategic reset for India’s finfluencer economy and creators, who previously largely relied on personal brand, follower count, or content quality for ad viability.

“Regulatory recognition is now essential. Those who have not formalised their advisory status, or whose content previously operated in a regulatory grey area, are likely to find themselves disqualified from promotion-based monetisation. This change is already altering how financial influencers engage with brand partnerships and structure their content,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst at Greyhound Research.

Greyhound in a previous research had noted that more than 50 per cent of financial marketers have paused or re-evaluated influencer engagements in response to rising compliance risk, adding a layer of regulatory legitimacy to this industry.

“The net result is clear: finfluencers must now navigate an environment where compliance is not a constraint — it is the cost of legitimacy,” said Gogia.

Published on June 30, 2025