Digital communications are now a primary focus of SEC and FINRA enforcement in financial services—and firms are expected to prove how online content is captured, supervised, and preserved.
This SEC & FINRA Digital Communications Compliance Toolkit is a practical reference guide that includes a compliance checklist and worksheets to help you identify risk, close compliance gaps, and prepare for audits with confidence.
SEC & FINRA Rules Quick Reference Guide for Digital Communications
SEC Rule 17a-3 (Record Creation)
Requires broker-dealers to create accurate and up-to-date records of their business. This includes digital communications published on websites, social media platforms, or anywhere else online.
Remember: If it’s published online, it’s a record.
SEC Rule 17a-4 (Record Preservation)
Mandates how records need to be preserved.
Key Requirements:
- Records must be stored in a WORM (write-once, read-many) format
- Archives must be non-rewritable and non-erasable
- Records must be indexed for fast retrieval
- Firms must be able to produce records promptly during exams
Remember: Screenshots, CMS backups, and social media platform exports do not meet this standard.
FINRA Rule 4511 (General Recordkeeping)
Extends SEC record retention requirements to FINRA members.
Remember: Applies to all digital communications, including online advertising and social content.
FINRA Rule 3110 (Supervision)
Requires firms to maintain supervisory systems to:
- Review and approve certain communications
- Review representatives online activity
- Document review and escalation steps
Remember: This applies to both firm-controlled content and registered representatives’ online activity.
FINRA Rule 2210 (Communications with the Public)
Governs the content of public-facing communications. Firms must ensure that digital content is:
- Fair and balanced
- Not misleading
- Supported by appropriate disclosures
Remember: Records must demonstrate how compliance was achieved, not just the final published version.
SEC Guidance on Social Media
The SEC has repeatedly emphasized that:
- Social media posts are advertisements, and therefore subject to recordkeeping and compliance requirements
- Comments, replies, likes, and reshares may qualify as business communications
- Deleted or edited content is still subject to retention rules
Remember: If it’s used in a business context, it must be preserved.
Digital Communications Risk Assessment Worksheet
Regulators have issued billions in fines over the last five years, particularly targeting firms that failed to capture off-channel communications—such as WhatsApp, iMessage, personal email, and unapproved social platforms. Missing records not only result in financial penalties but also erodes client trust and creates internal strain during audits or investigations.
This worksheet helps firms identify exposure across all digital channels and document where supervision or capture processes may be lacking.
Step 1: Identify Communication Channels
Check all that apply:
Step 2: Evaluate Current Coverage
| Channel | Capture | Retention | Supervision |
| Website | ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| X/Twitter | ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| YouTube | ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| iMessage | ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Signal | ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Slack | ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Teams | ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
| Other ________ | ☐ None ☐ Partial ☐ Full | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No |
Step 3: Identify Areas of Risk
| Compliance Requirement | Assessment | Risk Evaluation |
| Are digital communications explicitly covered in recordkeeping policies? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are records automatically captured or do they require manual intervention? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are any “off-channel” communication platforms being used? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are your website records complete, with all previous versions? (No gaps.) | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are there supervisory workflows in place for website content? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Is social media use by employees documented and supervised? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are there approval workflows for social media content? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Do all website or social media records include metadata? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Do all website or social media records include digital signatures? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are records stored in tamper-proof format? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are systems in place to preserve edited or deleted content on social media? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are records indexed and easily retrievable in the event of an audit? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
| Are records being captured with all required metadata and WORM requirements? | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ High ☐ Med ☐ Low |
Website Capture & Operations Compliance Checklist
Financial institutions rely on their websites for disclosures, fee schedules, investment commentary, and compliance messaging. Regulators expect firms to reproduce any historical version exactly as it appeared, including layout, links, and embedded elements. Traditional content management system (CMS) backups cannot do this.
Use this checklist to audit your website archiving practices to ensure you’re compliant and ready for an audit or exam.
Website Compliance Requirements & Recommendations:
Social Media Capture & Operations Compliance Checklist
Social media has become an important component of financial services marketing and communication. That means every post, comment, reaction, video, story, or retweet must be captured. Unfortunately, content can be deleted seconds after posting, and platform exports are rarely complete or compliant. Regulators want exact reproductions of social content—including UI, metadata, and timestamps.
Use this checklist to evaluate whether your social media recordkeeping processes meet SEC & FINRA expectations.
Social Media Compliance Requirements & Recommendations:
Technology & Vendor Evaluation Guide
How Technology Supports Compliance (Without Increasing Burden)
Modern digital communication archiving platforms are designed to:
- Capture content automatically and continuously
- Preserve content in its original, native formatting
- Apply retention and legal hold policies
- Support supervision, search, and export
This reduces reliance on manual processes while maintaining compliance and audit trails.
This section will help you evaluate whether an archiving vendor meets the technical and regulatory standards required for SEC & FINRA compliance.
Core Technology Capabilities
Rate each capability for your current or potential vendor:
| Requirement |
Rating |
|
Real-time capture of digital content |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Support for websites and social media |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
WORM-compliant storage |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
SOC II + ISO certifications |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
High-fidelity capture (high-quality & accurate) |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Metadata capture |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Digital signatures / Hash values |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Legal hold support |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Advanced search & indexing |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Multi-format export (WARC, PDF, CSV) |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Supervisory workflows |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Keyword alerts/monitoring |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
|
Public access link for regulators |
☐ Poor ☐ Acceptable ☐ Excellent |
Key Vendor Questions:
- How do you capture dynamic website content or ephemeral social content?
- Do you support interactive replay of historical web pages?
- How do you handle third-party embedded content?
- What certifications and security standards do you maintain?
- How quickly can we produce data during an exam?
- What onboarding and support resources do you provide?
How Pagefreezer Supports SEC & FINRA Digital Communications Compliance
In this complex regulatory landscape, advanced recordkeeping technology is indispensable. Solutions like Pagefreezer offer a way to navigate these challenges effectively. Pagefreezer offers compliant archiving solutions for website, social media, and enterprise collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams.
Here are just a few of the ways Pagefreezer can help your firm stay compliant with SEC and FINRA recordkeeping requirements:
Automated Real-Time Capture and Archiving
Pagefreezer automates the capture of website, social media, and team messaging app platforms so none of your content is ever missed. This data is always accessible to users for browsing and export via our user-friendly dashboard.
Secure Data Archiving
Pagefreezer has achieved the SOC II Type 1 & Type 2 reports, as an attestation that our services comply with SOC’s standards for operational security. Our management system is also ISO 27001:2013 certified, meaning that we consistently meet the security goals outlined in ISO 27001. The data centers that we use are SOC 1, SOC 2, and ISO certified.
Easy, Authenticated Data Exports
The Pagefreezer dashboard allows administrators to export records in WARC, PDF, and CSV. All exports have the metadata, timestamps, and digital signatures needed to prove authenticity. Firms can also make use of a public access link to provide easy entrance into an entire archive for regulatory audits.
