Influencer investment posts investigated by ad watchdog

 Instagram “influencers” promoting unregulated foreign exchange investment schemes are to be investigated by the advertising watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Authority said it was assessing posts made by a number of fashion models and reality TV stars on the social network, encouraging their hundreds of thousands of followers to sign up to day-trader schemes.

The posts, flagged by The Daily Telegraph and which did not appear to clearly state if they were an advertisement, will be investigated to see if there was a commercial relationship between the traders and influencers.

Under current guidelines all social media influencers have to clearly mark any posts they have been paid to promote with #ad.

An ASA spokesman said: “If a celebrity is promoting a financial product and is in a commercial relationship then they would have to ensure they followed our advertising rules.”