The Securities and Exchange Commission should come out with a rule aimed at digital engagement practices, according to one investor advocate. While the regulator already has rules in place governing online brokers and robo-advisors, it’s best to come out with a rule to deal specifically with such issues as gamification and other digital engagement approaches, Stephen Hall, legal director and securities specialist at Better Markets, an investor and consumer advocacy group, said last week during the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee meeting, according to FA-IQ sister publication Ignites. “The SEC definitely needs to consider alternative approaches in part because it may be too difficult to determine that [digital engagement practices] are recommendations,” Hall said, according to the publication. “If the SEC cannot regulate these [digital engagement practices] simply because they are not labeled as recommendations, then digital platforms will have a de facto digital exemption.” But Steve Shu, a panelist at the session and a managing principal at Digital Nudging Tech, a financial technology and behavioral economics consultancy, believes the SEC already has all the tools it needs to cover contemporary technology and practices, according to the publication. Zero-commission brokerage Robinhood Financial, for example, landed in the spotlight last year after one of its users died by suicide after seeing a huge negative balance in his account as a result of trading a complex options strategy. But the regulator could force investment platforms to require their users to pass a test before accessing complex instruments such as options trading, Shu said, according to Ignites. SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, speaking in front of the committee, said that regulators have a tendency to overregulate new technology when they should instead use their platform to engage with investors and inform them about the technology, according to the publication. Do you have a news tip you’d like to share with FA-IQ? Email us at [email protected].