[Insurance Industry] The Insurance Regulatory Authority Strictly Crack Down on "Clickbait" Insurance Posts, Citing Misleading Practices in Dividend Products, and Listing Six Principles for Social Media Promotion

The Insurance Authority (IA) said in its latest regulatory bulletin that it is paying close attention to how insurance intermediaries and insurers promote their products on social media. It specifically pointed to certain posts as “clickbait,” intentionally creating content that is imbalanced and misleading, especially targeting dividend products that include non-guaranteed returns.

Common misleading traps:

• Selective presentation of dividend performance: only showing the dividend realization rate for the first one or two years of a policy, while ignoring later performance.
• Illusion of growth at multiples level: using charts to exaggerate non-guaranteed returns, without mentioning potential risks.
• Improper comparison: directly comparing insurance products with bank deposits, highlighting only return ratios.
• “Personal testimony” tactics: selling under the guise of personal purchase experience, while ignoring the professionalism required to assess insurance needs according to individual circumstances.

The IA emphasized that it does not accept the approach of “one post about gains and another about risks.” Each and every social media post must independently comply with all relevant conduct requirements, presenting product information in a fair and balanced manner.

6 key principles for social media promotion

To ensure the insurance industry continues to develop professionally, the IA sets out six principles that intermediaries must follow when promoting online:

• Fair, clear, and not misleading;
• Provide balanced viewpoints, ensuring that protections for and the disclosure of benefits are not more prominent than risks and material exclusions (and the latter must be included);
• Use clear language that customers can understand;
• Provide sufficient information to help customers understand and make a fully informed decision;
• Only target customers who fall within the customer segment to which the policy applies;
• Comply with the social media policies of principals (insurers/agent firms/brokerage firms)

Received 1,173 complaints last year　up more than 20% year-on-year

In addition, the IA received 1,173 complaints in 2025, up by 195 complaints or 19.9% year-on-year. Complaints in the first half saw a year-on-year increase of 33%; afterward, they eased in the second half. The major complaint categories were still “conduct” (26%), “business or operations” (25%) and “information disclosure” (19%). The full-year figures were broadly similar to those before the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking into account the continued expansion of the insurance market, total gross premiums in the first three quarters last year reached HK$637.0 billion, up 12.35% compared with before the pandemic and 2019, and the IA believes the complaint trend remains relatively moderate.

A message to intermediaries: show ethics and professional conduct　put customers’ best interests first

The IA has a message for the industry: insurance intermediaries must demonstrate ethical and professional conduct in every action, with transparency and customers’ best interests as the top priority, so that Hong Kong’s insurance industry can continue to thrive.

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