The Securities and Exchange Commission recently began a "sweep" of investment advisory firms to gather information about their use of social media. (Read:
'SEC said to 'sweep' advisory firms'.)
Below is an excerpt of the letter sent to advisers by the SEC that outlines the specific requests the agency has in its fact-finding mission:
Please produce the following documents within [Adviser]'s possession or custody or subject to [Adviser]'s control for the period January 1, 2010 to the present:
1. All documents sufficient to identify [Adviser]'s involvement with or usage of social media websites, including, without limitation:
a. Facebook;
b. Twitter, including, without limitation, AdvisorTweets.com;
c. LinkedIn;
d. LinkedFa;
e. YouTube;
f. Flickr;
g. MySpace;
h. Digg;
i. Reddit; RSS; and
j. Blogs and micro-blogs;
2. All documents concerning any communications made by or received by [Adviser] on any social media website, including, without limitation, snapshots of documents responsive to Item 1, above;
3. All documents concerning [Adviser]'s policies and procedures related to the use of social media web sites by [Adviser], including, without limitation:
a. All policies and procedures concerning any communication posted on any social media
website by [Adviser];
b. All policies and procedures concerning any prospective communications to be posted on any social media website by [Adviser]; and
c. All policies and procedures concerning any ongoing monitoring or review process related to communications posted on any social media website by [Adviser];
4. All documents concerning [Adviser]'s policies and procedures concerning a third party's use of any social media website maintained by [Adviser], including, without limitation:
a. All policies and procedures concerning any communication posted by a third party, including, without limitation, actual or prospective clients of [Adviser], on any social media website maintained by [Adviser];
b. All policies and procedures concerning any approval processes for prospective communications to be posted by a third party, including, without limitation, actual or prospective clients of [Adviser], on any social media website maintained by [Adviser]; and
c. All policies and procedures concerning any ongoing monitoring or review processes related to communications posted by a third party, including, without limitation, actual or prospective clients of [Adviser], on any social media website maintained by [Adviser];
5. All documents concerning [Adviser]'s policies and procedures related to the use of social media websites by [Adviser]'s personnel for personal, non-business related matters;
6. All documents concerning [Adviser]'s personnel training and education related to the use of social media websites by [Adviser], whether for personal, non-business related, or business related matters;
7. All documents concerning any informal or formal disciplinary action of [Adviser]'s personnel related to the use of social media for personal, non-business related, or business-related reasons; and
8. All documents concerning [Adviser]'s record retention policies and procedures concerning the involvement with or usage of, whether for personal, non-business related, or business-related matters, any social media website maintained by [Adviser] by:
a. [Adviser];
b. [Adviser]'s personnel; or
c. any third party.
