The CNMV fines X (formerly Twitter) €5M for advertising financial scams
The penalty is the seventh highest ever imposed by the stock market regulator.
BarcelonaThe Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has decided to fine X (formerly Twitter) €5 million for a very serious infraction. Specifically, the social network failed to cooperate when the agency requested information about advertisements for "financial scams" published on its platform, as reported this Thursday by the newspaper. Official State Gazette (BOE).
According to the regulator, the company failed to fulfill its duties of cooperation after not properly addressing a request related to advertising by the company Quantum AI. The sanctioning file details that X did not verify whether Quantum AI had authorization from the CNMV (Spanish National Securities Market Commission) to offer financial services, nor whether it appeared on the list of entities warned for operating without a license.
The then president of the agency, Rodrigo Buenaventura, had already warned in 2023 that The company owned by tycoon Elon Musk was being investigatedAs part of its efforts to protect investors against potential fraud or financial scams spread through social media, the CNMV (Spanish National Securities Market Commission) has finally decided to sanction the new platform X after it failed to verify whether Quantum AI was authorized to provide investment services, nor did it check if the company appeared on the regulator's blacklist of entities. The sanction is now final because the platform has waived its right to appeal through administrative channels, although it could still challenge it before the National Court. This is the seventh highest fine imposed by the CNMV since records of its resolutions began. Advertisement featuring Antonio Resines
The agency is concerned about the "growing impact" of fraudulent financial schemes that exploit the image of Spanish public figures through ads on social media platforms like X, which simulate news stories. In this type of advertising, these celebrities claim to have obtained high returns thanks to these applications.
Specifically, Quantum AI used the image of the Spanish actor and star of series such as The Serranos Antonio Resines and the newspaper The Country. The CNMV already warned in December 2023 that this entity was among the companies that committed this alleged fraud and that had already been the subject of specific warnings by the agency.
