India’s market regulator has intensified its crackdown on unregistered financial influencers, taking down nearly 100,000 videos that offered unauthorized stock tips. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said the move aims to curb the spread of unverified investment advice circulating on social media platforms.
SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey revealed that the regulator’s artificial intelligence system, Sudarshan, is being used to detect and track such violations. The AI tool identifies unlicensed investment content across platforms like YouTube and Instagram, prompting platforms including Google and Meta to remove offending videos.
The regulator’s action follows several high-profile enforcement cases. In December 2025, SEBI barred finfluencer Avadhut Sathe and his trading academy from the market, impounding Rs 546 crore in alleged unlawful gains. The agency also prohibited other influencers, such as “Baap of Chart” founder Mohammed Nasiruddin Ansari, for similar violations.
To protect investors, SEBI launched SebiCheck in October 2025, allowing users to verify in seconds whether a bank account or UPI handle is authorized for securities transactions. The move follows a survey of 90,000 investors, which found that 62% had acted on finfluencer advice and only 36% had moderate or high market knowledge.
Additionally, SEBI has restricted regulated intermediaries from partnering with unregistered finfluencers and mandated that educational market content use data at least three months old. The regulator says these measures are crucial to safeguarding retail investors from misinformation and exploitation in India’s rapidly expanding digital finance ecosystem.
