Elżbieta Lech spoke in IZFiA Funds Forum debate on the role of social media

Elżbieta Lech, Manager of the Regulatory Supervision Team at the Investment Firms Department, spoke in a debate titled ‘From TikTok to Warsaw Stock Exchange: social media as a new capital market maker?’, during the 20th Funds Forum of the Chamber of Fund and Asset Management (IZFiA).

The debate focused on how digital platforms (TikTok, YouTube, X) alter access to information about investing and influence behaviour of market participants, where the line between financial education, marketing and investment recommendations runs, and what responsibility rests with influencers.

Elżbieta Lech pointed out that the supervision authority had been tracking the growing role of finfluencers for a long time and it had presented its position statements in this regard. Their aim was to promote responsible content creation in compliance with regulations and to draw investors’ attention to the risk of uncritical use of recommendations published online. She added that an effective message must not be based on presenting only success and positive results, but it should also take into account risk and potential for losses. It is only a balanced and trustworthy narrative that can build confidence among the audience and counteract unrealistic expectations towards financial markets.

She also pointed to the issue of online scams. Some people active in the sphere of financial social media do not cooperate with legit market entities but use their social media presence to make quick gains to the detriment of users. Supervisory authorities keep monitoring such activities, publish warnings and report detected irregularities to competent authorities. She has indicated that the development of the Retail Investment Strategy is to regulate the cooperation of firms with finfluencers and adjust rules to the new reality of digital communication, confirming that social media has become a permanent element of financial markets’ functioning.

She has also pointed out that even though social media creates certain trends in investing, investing should be a habit, not a fashion.