Building Trustworthy Influencers in the Digital Era
In the digital era, information has become both an economic asset and a powerful source of influence. With Indonesia’s internet penetration exceeding 80% of the population and social media users surpassing 140 million, public decisions regarding investment, insurance, online loans, and digital asset transactions are increasingly shaped by social media content rather than professional advice. This creates a paradox: while financial influencers successfully broaden financial education through simple language, they also open the door to misinformation, misleading promotions, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.
In this context, the Financial Services Authority Regulation (POJK) No. 6 of 2026 concerning the Conduct of Information Providers in the Financial Services Sector should be viewed not merely as a regulation for financial influencers, but as a step towards building information governance that safeguards consumer protection and public trust.
George Akerlof’s theory of information asymmetry explains that markets fail when information is unevenly distributed. In the digital space, this imbalance is magnified because popularity, follower counts, and engagement levels are often mistaken for competence. The 2025 National Survey on Financial Literacy and Inclusion (SNLIK) revealed that while financial inclusion has surpassed 80%, literacy rates lag significantly behind. Consequently, more people are using financial products without fully understanding their benefits and risks. The fact that thousands of illegal investment entities and over eleven thousand illegal online lending platforms have been shut down by 2026 underscores that financial misinformation is no longer an individual problem but a threat to public trust and the stability of the financial services sector.
This phenomenon aligns with behavioural economics. Daniel Kahneman demonstrated that human decisions are more often driven by intuition and cognitive biases than by rational analysis, while Robert Shiller’s Narrative Economics explains how compelling stories can spread virally and shape economic behaviour. In the digital realm, algorithms prioritise attention and engagement over accuracy, making promises of instant profit far more viral than education on risk management or long-term investing. The challenge, therefore, is not a lack of information, but a lack of credible information. The required transformation is a shift from an attention economy to a trust economy, where public confidence becomes the primary foundation for any information influencing economic decisions.
Financial Stewardship and a New Governance Architecture
Based on Stewardship Theory, providers of financial information must evolve from mere financial influencers chasing attention into financial stewards who responsibly wield their influence for the public good. The measure of success must shift from follower counts and virality to competence, transparency, accountability, and the ability to present information accurately while explaining risks proportionally. To achieve this, Indonesia needs to develop a Financial Information Governance (FIG) paradigm that positions information quality as integral to financial system stability. This can be built upon a Financial Information Integrity Framework (FIIF) resting on five pillars: competence, transparency, accountability, consumer protection, and digital ethics.
This approach mirrors global trends. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action against public figures who promote financial products without disclosing compensation. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has tightened oversight of financial promotions on social media, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have restricted and penalised misleading investment promotions. These policies demonstrate that modern regulators are no longer solely focused on the health of financial institutions but also on the integrity of the information that shapes public behaviour. Through POJK No. 6 of 2026, Indonesia is on a parallel path to strengthening public trust in the digital age.
The challenge will become even more complex with the advancement of artificial intelligence, which enables AI-generated financial content, deepfakes, and synthetic influencers capable of producing thousands of automated financial recommendations. While this technology expands access to education, it simultaneously heightens the risk of information manipulation, identity concealment, and the spread of unverifiable recommendations. Supervision must therefore extend beyond who delivers the information to how it is produced, disseminated, and accounted for. Information integrity will become as critical as institutional integrity, making POJK No. 6 of 2026 a foundational step for financial information governance in the era of artificial intelligence.