The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has become the first Spanish authority to set its sights on X, the social network owned by Elon Musk previously known as Twitter.
Sources familiar with the process explain that the supervisor is investigating whether the platform has breached the legislation by disseminating advertising for cryptocurrencies and other products through sponsored tweets in which the image of well-known actors is used without permission and newspaper pages are falsified.
The investigations focus on article 246 of Law 6/2023 on Securities Markets and Investment Services, published in March, which establishes that internet search engines, social networks and media must collect information to ensure that advertisers of investment products have the relevant authorization. They must also check that the advertisers have not been considered financial chiringuitos by the CNMV.
Publishing these advertisements without having carried out these checks is considered in article 290 a very serious infringement whose amount, according to article 312, can exceed 5 million euros in the best of cases. The punishment can go to extremes such as being equivalent to 5% of the offending entity's own resources.
The case being analyzed is in the investigation phase. If the CNMV sees signs that the conduct has been irregular, it could subsequently open a disciplinary file. What is being studied are the advertisements paid for by Quantum AI, which promoted X investments in cryptocurrencies, supplanting information from El País and the image of actors such as Martiño Rivas and Antonio Resines.
The CNMV is in the phase of asking X if it has fulfilled its obligation to ascertain the profile of its advertiser, in accordance with the obligations established in the new legislation. X He must demonstrate that he asked about the origin of Quantum Ia, that he does not have permission from the supervisor to operate, and that, if he had done it, he was deceived by the advertiser.
During his participation this morning in a financial meeting of Deloitte and ABC, the president of the CNMV, Rodrigo Buenaventura, explained that the supervisor is being "especially active" in the pursuit of fraud related to cryptocurrencies and contemplates "with concern" the "permissiveness and complacency" in some areas.
"In recent days we have detected advertising advertisements on social network
"We would like to see that all of us involved assume the shared responsibility of reducing the field of action of fraudsters", which include "social networks and technological platforms, which should not accept as remuneration for advertisements even a euro from companies without authorization," he added.
This initiative is not related to the decision of the executive committee of the CNMV announced today to initiate a sanctioning file against Miolo Desarrollos for two advertising campaigns carried out at the end of 2022 related to cryptoassets.
The social network
