Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Wednesday said the markets regulator has asked tech giant Google to ramp up its artificial intelligence (AI) tools and enforcement measures to monitor financial influencers who “transgress the regulations”.
He also urged Big Tech firms to coordinate more closely to act against fraudulent players.
The regulator has taken down over 100,000 links of misleading content on social media. “We have also requested Google to actively take up their own AI measures, and we will help them develop it where they can actually track those influencers who transgress our regulations,” Pandey added.
“We must develop tools according to our laws and regulations, which will prevent this thing and help kick out such people out of the cyber space which they are destroying through social media platforms and creating so much of a problem for the community,” he said.
Pandey was speaking at the launch of verified app labelling in partnership with Google — a move aimed at protecting investors from fake apps impersonating market intermediaries.
Apps of Sebi-registered intermediaries, such as stock brokers, on the Google Play Store will carry a verification tick mark to help investors identify authentic applications. At present, over 600 apps have been verified, and the facility will soon be extended to other intermediaries.
Pandey said the move will make the journey of first-time investors safer. “Today for many investors the market begins on a screen, it begins with an app, but where access becomes digital, so does the risk. Fake apps are now a serious threat and can cause irreparable financial harm,” he said, alluding to instances of fraudsters luring investors with promises of quick returns.
In addition, Sebi may soon sign a Memoranda of Understanding with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to strengthen action against cyber fraud.
The regulator had earlier launched initiatives like @valid handles for UPI handles of registered investor-facing intermediaries, and the Sebi Check platform to verify such UPI IDs, so investors can ensure payments are made only to authentic entities.
