Spanish securities regulator, CNMV, has asked large search engines and social media networks to cease offering advertising services to platforms that aren’t registered to offer financial or investment services. If these companies fail to address the issue, the regulator stated that it would promote regulation.
Spanish Regulator addresses Unregistered Platform Advertising Problem
The Spanish securities regulator CNMV is concerned about the unregistered advertising space big internet companies have given to their services. Rodrigo Buenaventura was the president of the organization. He spoke about this topic at an event called “Supervisor Cryptoactives and Advertising: Good Practice in the Sector” where he explained the CNMV’s position on the matter.
Buenaventura stated the following:
It is not right that search engines or social media companies broadcast advertising that includes paid advertisements. They are allowing ads from pirate entities to be displayed on their platforms, which are publically warned about.
Buenaventura also stated that these companies put their customers at risk by advertising such services, leading to various scams.
The organization has identified many of the fraud cases in Spanish courts, which have caused millions in damages and hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, as cases that were not authorized platforms. Buenaventura believes that these problems could be avoided if platforms had used the lists that the CNMV or other European regulators regularly issue to prohibit platforms from using advertising services.
He explained that he meant:
We ask them to make a commitment through self-regulation that their pages and networks do not spread deceit or other crimes in return for an increase in their income.
The Next Step in Regulation
To protect users of these services, the Spanish regulator will allow these companies some time to incorporate the changes. It also stated that it will take legal action against companies if they fail to meet its demands.
El Mundo stated that the CNMV sources said it would take only weeks to propose this regulation. These companies claim that technical problems, permission from their parent companies, time to analyze and put into practice the measures have stopped them from complying with these requirements.
The CNMV has already published a regulation that requires crypto-related ads campaigns targeting over 100K users to inform the regulator in advance.
