(Board of Directors, November 19, 2009; effective December 24, 2009)
INTERPRETIVE NOTICE
On-line social networking groups have changed the way people make trading decisions. A number of NFA Members sponsor blogs, chat rooms, and forums (also called message or bulletin boards), and some use sites like Facebook or Twitter for business purposes. Associates may also sponsor or participate in these groups. Unfortunately, these on-line communities provide opportunities for posters to spread unsubstantiated rumors and intentional misrepresentations. The form of communication does not change the obligations of Members and Associates who host or participate in these groups, and electronic communications must comply with Compliance Rules 2-9, 2-29, 2-36, and 2-39.
NFA’s interpretive notice entitled NFA Compliance Rule 2-9: Supervisory Procedures for E-Mail and the Use of Web Site,” (NFA Manual, ¶ 9037) provides guidance on how NFA’s promotional material and supervision rules relate to e-mail and web sites but does not specifically address other types of electronic communications.1 This notice discusses a Member or Associate’s responsibilities in connection with on-line social networking facilities such as blogs, chat rooms, forums, Facebook, and Twitter.
Obviously, any electronic content that can be viewed by the general public, or even by a more closed community that includes current and potential customers, can be promotional material. For example, blogs dealing with commodity futures or options are promotional material when written by an NFA Member or Associate, and forex blogs are promotional material when written by a Member or Associate subject to the forex rules. Therefore, content generated by the Member or Associate is subject to the requirements of NFA Compliance Rules 2-29, 2-36, or 2-39. The same is true for futures, options, or forex content written by a Member or Associate and posted on a third party’s site.
The issue becomes more complicated for user-generated comments responding to a Member or Associate’s blog and for Members and Associates who host chat rooms or forums. What is their responsibility for posts from customers or others over whom the Member or Associate has no direct control? When inadequately monitored, social networking sites may contain misleading information, lure customers into trades that they would not normally make, or be used in an attempt to manipulate prices.
If a Member or Associate hosts a blog, a chat room, or a forum where futures or forex are discussed, the Member or Associate is required to supervise the use of that community. This requires, at a minimum, that the Member or Associate regularly monitor the content of the sites it hosts, take down any misleading or otherwise fraudulent posts, and ban users for egregious or repeat violations. Not only are these actions required by NFA’s supervision rules, they are both common sense and common practice. Similar requirements apply to Facebook and other sites that allow others to post to the Member or Associate’s “wall” or other assessable area.
Audio pod-casts and videos on the Internet—whether on the Member or Associate’s Web site or on an independent site such as You-Tube—are similar to radio and television advertisements. If they make specific trading recommendations or refer to profits that have been obtained in the past or can be achieved in the future, NFA Compliance Rule 2-29(h) requires the Member or Associate to submit them to NFA for approval ten days prior to use.
Members should have policies regarding employee conduct. These policies could require employees to notify the employer if they participate in any on-line trading or financial communities and provide screen names so that the employer can monitor employees’ posts periodically. Alternatively, the policy could simply prohibit participation in such communities. The Member must, of course, take reasonable steps to enforce whatever policies it adopts.
http://www.nfa.futures.org/nfamanual/NFAManual.aspx?RuleID=9063&Section=9
