FINRA and SEC rules for financial advisor videos: approval, testimonials and archiving

Updated 25 October 2026 · Written by Reyansh Juneja and Naman Dhiman, the co-founders of SOVE7GN, who run the campaigns and review the clips

A short video a registered representative posts on a public account is usually a retail communication under FINRA Rule 2210, so a registered principal must approve it before it goes up and the firm must keep a copy. For an SEC-registered investment adviser, a clip that offers its advisory services is an advertisement under the Marketing Rule, which sets testimonial disclosures, performance limits and a five-year record.

Which rules apply to you?

What does FINRA Rule 2210 require for a video clip?

Which category it falls in. Rule 2210 splits communications by audience. Correspondence goes to 25 or fewer retail investors within 30 calendar days. A retail communication is distributed or made available to more than 25 retail investors in that period. A public Reel, Short or TikTok is made available to anyone who scrolls past, so treat it as a retail communication.

Approval before use. "An appropriately qualified registered principal of the member must approve each retail communication before the earlier of its use or filing" (2210(b)(1)(A)). The rule excepts, among others, retail communications posted on an online interactive electronic forum, and retail communications that make no financial or investment recommendation and do not otherwise promote a product or service of the firm (2210(b)(1)(D)(ii) and (iii)); those must still be supervised and reviewed like correspondence. Our reading: a reply in a live comment thread is interactive and a produced clip is not, and a clip that mentions your services promotes them. Most clips worth posting fall under pre-approval, so the simplest workflow sends every clip through it.

Content. Communications must be fair and balanced, with no "false, exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory or misleading" claim (2210(d)(1)). They may not predict or project performance or imply that past performance will recur (2210(d)(1)(F)).

Testimonials. A testimonial about the firm's investment advice or performance must prominently say that it may not be representative of other customers' experience, that it is no guarantee of future performance or success, and, if more than $100 in value was paid for it, that it is a paid testimonial (2210(d)(6)).

Records. The firm keeps every retail communication for the period in SEA Rule 17a-4(b), with the dates of first and last use and the name of the principal who approved it and the date (2210(b)(4)). Rule 17a-4(b)(4) sets that period at no less than three years, the first two in an easily accessible place.

What does Notice 17-18 change for shared and outsourced clips?

FINRA says third-party content becomes the firm's communication if the firm paid for or was involved in preparing it ("entanglement") or endorsed or approved it ("adoption"). It also says that sharing or linking to specific third-party content, such as an article or a video, adopts it (Regulatory Notice 17-18, April 2017).

So a clip an outside editor cuts for you is your communication from the start, and reposting a news clip or another creator's video adopts what it says. The notice also says an associated person's post is only subject to Rule 2210 if it relates to the firm's products or services.

What does the SEC Marketing Rule require?

What counts. An advertisement is a communication to more than one person that offers the adviser's advisory services with regard to securities. The definition excludes "extemporaneous, live, oral communications". Our reading: a live webinar may fall outside it, but a clip cut from the recording and posted later is neither live nor extemporaneous in how it reaches viewers, so treat the clip as an advertisement.

Testimonials and endorsements. The ad must clearly and prominently disclose whether the person is a current client or investor, whether they were compensated, and any material conflict of interest (206(4)-1(b)(1)).

Performance. Gross performance only alongside net performance of equal prominence, portfolio results over one, five and ten-year periods, and hypothetical performance only with policies and disclosures (206(4)-1(d)). A 30-second clip rarely carries that, so performance stays out.

Records. Keep a copy of each advertisement (204-2(a)(11)) for at least five years from the end of the fiscal year in which it was last disseminated, the first two in an appropriate office (204-2(e)(3)).

What happened in the M1 Finance case?

FINRA announced on 18 March 2024 that it fined M1 Finance $850,000 over posts by social media influencers it paid, in its first formal enforcement action on a firm's supervision of influencers (FINRA news release; the AWC). From January 2020 to April 2023, about 1,700 influencers helped open more than 39,400 funded accounts. One influencer said margin loans could be paid back "at any given time", which was not accurate. FINRA found that M1 did not review or approve the posts before use and did not keep them. M1 settled without admitting or denying the findings.

A clip approval workflow that fits these rules

This is how we run it with an advisory firm. Your compliance team owns every decision; we do not review clips for compliance.

The service built on this workflow is on financial advisor video marketing. Paid promotion by others also needs an ad disclosure under FTC rules; see clipping FTC disclosure. Other niches are on our founders page, or book a 30-minute call and bring your compliance contact.

Questions people ask