TikTok Finfluencers Rarely Disclose Risks, Study of 13K Videos Finds
Only trading content includes disclaimers; most financial advice goes unchecked.
A longitudinal study of UK finfluencers on TikTok analyzed 13,215 videos and 104,097 comments from 71 creators across two periods (April–September 2024 and October 2025–March 2026). Using topic modeling, researchers identified four dominant content themes: Entrepreneurship & Side Hustles, Property Investing, Active Trading, and Saving & Budgeting. Sentiment analysis showed audience comments are predominantly neutral-to-positive, while engagement rates had negligible correlation with video length.
Explicit disclaimers and risk-related language remain uncommon overall and are concentrated almost exclusively in trading-related content. Social network analysis revealed a collaborative ecosystem where mid-tier finfluencers frequently act as bridges between creator groups. The findings underscore serious gaps in financial transparency and consumer protection on short-form video platforms. The paper calls for clearer, standardized financial risk disclosures and has been accepted for presentation at the MSNDS 2026 workshop of ASONAM 2026.
- 71 UK finfluencers, 13,215 videos, and 104,097 comments analyzed over two data collection periods (2024 and 2025–2026).
- Four dominant topics identified: Entrepreneurship & Side Hustles, Property Investing, Active Trading, and Saving & Budgeting.
- Explicit disclaimers rare—concentrated in trading content—and mid-tier creators serve as network bridges.
Why It Matters
With 13K+ videos lacking risk warnings, TikTok's financial advice ecosystem poses serious consumer protection risks.