European consumer organization BEUC has filed a complaint with the European Union’s consumer protection bodies, urging social media networks such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter to strengthen their crypto advertising rules. BEUC’s Director General Monique Goyens stated, “Consumers are increasingly being promised ‘get-rich-quick’ investments by ads and influencers on social media. Unfortunately, in most cases, these claims are too good to be true and consumers are at a high risk of losing a lot of money without recourse to justice.”
The complaint calls for national regulators to require social media networks to tighten their policies and ban influencers from promoting crypto. BEUC believes that extra measures are necessary under existing consumer laws that prohibit unfair commercial practices, as crypto scams could lead to heavy financial losses. Agustín Reyna, a BEUC staffer, added that if social media networks cannot stop interactions with misleading material, they should ban all crypto promotions outright.
France recently passed legislation to regulate influencers, allowing crypto promotions only for crypto firms that are registered with regulators. BEUC’s Director General Monique Goyens expressed her disapproval of certain influencers, saying, “I was not a fan anymore of Matt Damon and was boycotting soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, stars of recent promotions linked to Crypto.com and Binance.”