The Central Bank revealed more than 20 attempts to influence share prices through Telegram channels – Kommersant

Over the period from January 2022 to February 2023, the Bank of Russia identified more than 20 attempts to influence the value of Russian shares through Telegram channels. In 2022, 13 such cases were recorded, in January-February 2023 – 8. This was announced by the regulator in the Financial Markets Risk Review (.pdf).

The Central Bank noted that since 2022, private investors have become key in the Russian stock market after the departure of residents from unfriendly countries. In some months, their share in trading reached 81%.

As a result, new trends have appeared on the market: gamification, the growing influence of influencers on the behavior of retail investors, an increase in the volume of independent investment without financial intermediaries, a high risk appetite and investments in high-risk assets.

“Currently, influencers have a significant impact on the financial decisions of a significant number of private investors: the number of followers of leading financial bloggers on social networks reaches several million people,” the review says.

At the same time, bloggers are not responsible for content about investments, which increases the risk of rash and similar decisions on the part of private investors. Among the tactics that mislead investors, the Central Bank notes attempts to lure with fictitious returns, arguments only in favor of its recommendation, deletion of old records with unsuccessful recommendations.

The regulator recorded practices when a price trend was actually created using Telegram channels, as well as situations when a trend was formed due to market phenomena or unfair practices not related to the deliberate actions of bloggers.

Olesya Pavlenko