Meta: SEC expands probe into Wall Street's personal messages
Meta Platforms' (META) personal messaging apps, like WhatsApp and Signal, are on the hot seat as SEC investigators expand their probe into Wall Street traders' private messages. Yahoo Finance Live's Rachelle Akuffo breaks down the investment firms that are under scrutiny and how Meta's stock is reacting to the situation in today's Trending Ticker.
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Video Transcript
RACHELLE AKUFFO: All right. Well, I'm watching shares of Meta Platforms dip today after a Reuters report reveals that the SEC has collected thousands of messages from Wall Street staffers on unapproved messaging apps like Meta's WhatsApp and Signal. Now, this is part of the securities regulator's probe into Wall Street's use of private messaging apps to discuss work.
The crackdown has lasted two years, initially targeting broker dealers for potential breaches of record keeping rules, netting the SEC over $2 billion in fines when it found that staff at big firms were discussing deals and trades on personal phones and apps. Now, this new report shows that the investigation has expanded to over a dozen investment advisors at firms like Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management, TPG, and Blackstone.
Executives at the firms had to give in their personal phones so that messages discussing business could be copied and sent to the SEC. Now, firms originally resisted, calling the probe invasive. The Managed Funds Association saying in a statement that the action, quote, "sidesteps due process and creates a dangerous precedent." We'll be keeping an eye on this developing story for you here on Yahoo Finance.
