Binance says footballer Andrés Iniesta was paid for Twitter post

footballer Andrés Iniesta was paid for by Binance for the advertising tweet, which triggered a counter reaction from the Spanish financial supervisory authority, but the deal was not announced on the basis of a "misunderstanding", the crypto exchange said.

The tweet of Iniesta was one of four posts prominent football player who had sponsored Binance as the "part of an influencer campaign". Spain's national securities market commission answered the post of the World Cup star on Twitter at the beginning of this week to remind him that "cryptoassets as non-regulated products recover some relevant risks".

Spain's financial supervisory authority is one of several national supervisory authorities who have taken care of celebrities and influencers who promote risk -rich digital assets on social media.

"What we say to the influencers, celebrities and everyone else is' Please take care, in return for money you recommend investments in non -regulated products that pose additional risks in public", said the Spanish regulatory authority at a request from the Financial Times to your tweet to Iniesta.

Binance said that it is generally intended that all sponsored contributions are disclosed. "The contribution was not marked with #ad because of a misunderstanding between Binance and.

tweets by Raúl Jiménez, who plays for the Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, the Colombian player James Rodríguez and the striker of Atlético Madrid, Luis Suárez, all appeared without disclosure that the exchange also attributed to misunderstandings.

Suárez announced the “paid partnership” in an Instagram post, while Rodríguez and Iniesta gave no indication of the sponsoring deal in their posts in the meta-owned picture sharing network.

Iniesta refused to comment. The other footballers did not respond to inquiries about comments.

The posts of the four sports stars, which together have 64 million Twitter followers, come at a time when regulatory authorities and consumer groups are increasingly concerned about the level of transparency that influencers offer in their business relationships.

The European Advertising Standards Alliance that advises the advertising industry on self-regulation says in its "Best Practice recommendation for influencer marketing" that the recognizability of commercial contributions is "a cornerstone of responsible advertising".

Thera Adam, co-manager for global intellectual property at the law firm Eversheds Sutherland, said that "most" EU judicialities would have introduced disclosure regulations, but that advertising standards at the national level would be implemented with some differences within the block.

The British authority for advertising standards in March published a warning to influencers in general after it found an "unacceptable" and "widespread failure to advertise" in accordance with the national regulations.

Watchdogs have also expressed concerns about the spread of online content that promote risky investment and trading ideas during the pandemic.

nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive The Financial Conduct Authority, said in a speech this summer that "non-accountable social media influencers" played a role in promoting risky investments such as crypto and speculative stock bets, especially among younger investors.

Anthony Morrov, co -founder of the financial advisory group OpenMoney, said that the turn to social media for customers who have no other source of financial advice is "like the wild west of investments".

Investigations of the Hargreaves Lansdown investment platform showed that the majority of retailers between the ages of 18 and 34 searched social media for investment ideas.