This paper presents the ?rst evidence of the e?ect of ?nancial regulators’ social media use on corporate and individual behavior. Using the staggered launch of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regional o?ces’ Twitter accounts, I ?nd that ?nancial regulators’ presence on social media reduces opportunistic insider trading, customer complaints against investment advisers, and ?nancial misreporting. Additional tests suggest that the salience and dissemination of regional o?ces’ enforcement activities via Twitter play a role. The deterrence e?ect of SEC regional o?ces’ Twitter use is concentrated among o?ces with more followers, ?rms with more retail investors, and advisers with more retail clients….
Source: Regulating via Social Media: Deterrence Effects of the SEC’s Use of Twitter by Jinjie Lin :: SSRN
