India’s Market Regulator Seeks Authority to Monitor Financial Advice on Social Media
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has once again requested additional regulatory powers from the government, seeking authorization to remove unauthorized financial advice from platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, as well as access to call records for investigating market violations, according to a government source and a document reviewed by Reuters.
This marks the second instance since 2022 in which SEBI has pursued these expanded powers, though government approval remains pending.
The request comes as SEBI intensifies efforts to curb market violations and restrict the spread of unregulated financial advice on digital platforms. Despite previous discussions with SEBI, social media companies have not complied with requests to share call data records or details of groups and channels, the regulator stated.
In a recent letter sent last week, SEBI noted that companies such as Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp have refused to grant access to group chats, citing legal constraints under India’s current information technology laws, which do not recognize the regulator as an “authorized agency.”
To address this challenge, SEBI has proposed new powers that would allow it to remove messages, links, and groups from social media channels if their content violates securities regulations. Additionally, it has requested the authority to access call and message records from digital platforms to strengthen its investigations.
At present, such investigative privileges are only granted to select law enforcement agencies, including the Tax Department, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, and the Enforcement Directorate, but are not extended to financial regulators like SEBI.
“SEBI faces constraints in probing serious market violations due to its lack of authority to access call data records,” the letter, dated February 3, stated.
Neither SEBI, the Finance Ministry, nor Meta Platforms responded to Reuters’ emails requesting comments on the matter.
Meanwhile, in an updated statement sent to Reuters on Friday, Telegram confirmed that it is in regular contact with SEBI and complies with valid content moderation requests, provided they meet the necessary legal requirements.
“Telegram is fully cooperating with authorities regarding requests to moderate content or block groups and channels, following the IT Act 2000 guidelines,” the company stated.
However, it also clarified that its technical infrastructure prevents it from providing access to call data records, making compliance with such requests impossible.
