In recent times, YouTube has started blocking numerous finance-related videos of popular finfluencers in India. Notable names like Vijay Thakkar , Akshat Shrivastava, and Rahul Jain have also been affected, despite their reputation for providing value-driven content.

The reason?

According to YouTube, a government entity has filed complaints about these channels. While the exact identity of this entity remains unclear, it could be SEBI, RBI, or even the Finance Ministry.

In this video, we unpack the concerning implications of this action:

Differentiating Genuine Content from Manipulative Content: Many finfluencers who provide educational and analytical content are being flagged, while certain channels running live, unregulated trading tips and pump-and-dump schemes continue to operate freely.

This selective targeting could set a wrong precedent, disincentivizing credible financial content creators and impacting those seeking online financial education.

Understanding SEBI’s Regulatory Framework: SEBI's Research Analyst (RA) Regulations, 2014, specifically govern who can offer stock recommendations and advice. According to these regulations, any individual or entity providing financial recommendations or price movement predictions requires proper registration with SEBI.

Unregistered entities offering tips directly violate these RA regulations, which aim to protect retail investors from misguidance. The lack of action on channels blatantly violating these regulations raises questions about enforcement consistency.

What Should Finfluencers Do? Finfluencers affected by these mass blocks can reach out to SEBI to understand specific issues and discuss potential solutions to ensure their content aligns with regulatory guidelines.

We explain how to navigate this process and why SEBI’s feedback is essential to preserve quality in financial content.

At a time when retail investors rely on educational financial content, this approach could create a restrictive environment, both for creators and learners in the finance space. We believe that clarifying the concerns could enable responsible finfluencers to continue creating valuable content while curbing genuinely harmful channels.

Learn about the regulations, implications, and how finfluencers can protect their content. Watch the full video!

Email id of Shri Ansuman Dev Pradhan, DGM: ansumanp@sebi.gov.in
Email id of Shri Ananth Narayan Gopalakrishnan, Whole-Time Member: ananthg@sebi.gov.in

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0:00 - Introduction
1:06 - SEBI's Stand on Finfluencers
2:21 - Background of Affected Finfluencers
2:49 - Regulations - Rights & Wrongs?
5:06 - Concerns with this BLOCKING
7:06 - Channels with Violations
11:45 - Anything Wrong with Affected Finfluencers?
12:17 - What can Finfluencers do to counter?