ESMA, CONSOB Crack Down: Crypto and Finance Influencers Face Regulatory Heat Over Promotion Practices

European watchdogs are drawing a line in the digital sand.

Influencers peddling crypto and financial content just got served a stark warning from two of Europe's top regulators. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and Italy's Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB) are turning up the heat on promotional practices that blur the lines between entertainment and financial advice.

The Core Grievance: Undisclosed Promotion

The regulators aren't targeting crypto itself—they're targeting the murky ecosystem around it. The central issue? A lack of clear, upfront disclosure when content is sponsored or constitutes a promotional arrangement. It's the classic 'this is not financial advice' disclaimer, often buried in a sea of rocket emojis and hyperbolic promises, that's drawing regulatory ire. The concern is that followers, especially retail investors, may not recognize they're being sold to, not just informed.

A Signal to the Broader Market

This coordinated move isn't happening in a vacuum. It's a clear signal that the 'Wild West' era for financial social media marketing is closing. Regulators are meticulously applying existing financial promotion rules to the new digital frontier. For influencers, the message is unambiguous: understand the financial products you promote and make the commercial nature of your content unmistakably clear. For platforms hosting this content, the scrutiny is now undeniably on.

The Compliance Reckoning

Expect a shake-up. Influencers and the brands that hire them must now navigate a complex web of MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulations and traditional financial marketing rules. This means rigorous compliance checks, transparent labeling (#ad, #sponsored, #promotion), and a significant toning down of guaranteed-returns rhetoric. The alternative could be hefty fines and legal action—tools CONSOB, in particular, has not been shy to use in the past.

Finance's age-old dance—where hype often outpaces substance—just met its digital-era chaperone. While some will decry this as innovation-stifling, it's ultimately a push for the maturity and transparency the crypto space has long claimed to seek. The path to mainstream adoption, it seems, is paved with compliance paperwork.

CONSOB treats crypto promotion as regulated investment advice

The ESMA factsheet, shared by CONSOB through its official channels on Tuesday, makes it clear that promoting financial products online is not comparable to advertising consumer goods. Short disclaimers and statements like “this is not investment advice,” do not protect influencers from legal responsibility, the Italian financial authority said.

“Posting investment recommendations, even in informal language, can qualify as regulated investment advice under EU law. Moreover, telling followers what to buy or avoid may require authorization from a national regulator,” the notice read. 

According to ESMA, disclaimers cannot supersede regulatory obligations on investment recommendations or advertising. Public figures and influencers who advertise financial products without the watchdog’s permission will be held accountable if their content is personalized or passes for directive advice.

The regulator warned that social media posts encouraging risky strategies can have “negative consequences” for retail audiences and inexperienced investors. ESMA and CONSOB insist that any compensation, gifts, or other benefits connected to promotions must be clearly disclosed.

“If you are not authorized to provide investment advice, do not provide personalized recommendations on what to buy, sell, or hold. Even publicly sharing your opinion about whether a stock or cryptocurrency will rise or fall, or promoting an investment strategy, may be considered an investment recommendation, to which specific rules may apply,” CONSOB wrote in its statement.

Some of the products mentioned included CFDs, Leveraged forex trades, certain crowdfunding investments, and cryptocurrencies, and any asset that would result in the loss of all invested capital. 

The authority explained that influencers are legally responsible for the content they publish, so any misleading, exaggerated, or reckless posts WOULD lead to sanctions under EU financial law.

Italy joins European countries in financial influence enforcement

The Italian notice fits into the European clampdown on online investment promotion, which ESMA first addressed in October 2021. At the time, the EU markets watchdogs propounded that misleading social media posts and undisclosed conflicts could breach the Market Abuse Regulation.

In serious circumstances, this kind of behavior could be seen as illegal investment advice or even market manipulation under EU legislation. Individuals who break the rules can be fined up to five million euros, while institutions can be fined even more.

In France, the Autorité des marchés financiers partnered with the advertising watchdog ARPP in 2023 to launch a Responsible Influence Certificate. The program requires influencers promoting financial products, including crypto assets, to complete training and testing before working with ARPP member brands.

Over to the west, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Kim Kardashian $1.26 million for promoting EthereumMax tokens on Instagram without disclosing a $250,000 settlement for the advertisements.

CONSOB strengthens domestic law after MiCA compliance deadline

At the end of last year, Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission reported that the number of blocked investment websites had now topped 1,500, six years after the start of the enforcement period. CONSOB was granted authority back in 2019 to order internet service providers (ISPs) to block websites run by unregistered virtual asset service providers.

Since then, the regulator has reportedly shut down 1,507 websites and blocked 763 individual web pages, taking the total number of blocked domains to 2,270, as of the start of 2026.

CONSOB also reiterated upcoming regulatory deadlines for crypto service providers operating in Italy. VASPs in the jurisdiction without the proper licensing were allowed to continue issuing services until the end of December last year, in tandem with the EU’s crypto law Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.

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