FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION: FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICES - 2019 EDITION

158 Webcasting is often provided by a specialised service provider. It is relatively costly to put in place and is organised on a case‑by‑case basis. The issuer must choose between an audio webcast and a video webcast. The latter is more costly as it is technically more complicated and because the event itself must be filmed by a team of specialists. Conference brokers are increasingly providing issuers with the chance to webcast their events and assume responsibility for the organisation from a technical and budgetary standpoint. Social networks With the continued expansion of social networks (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.), financial information and business information spread rapidly, irrespective of industry or geographic location. In this respect, the AMF published a number of recommendations on the use of social networks 196 : n the disclosure of financial statements on social networks: the AMF recommends that companies indicate to users that their financial statements can be found on their website under a specific section visible from the homepage or on a “Finance” or “Investors” page; n authentication and access to information: the AMF recommends that companies authenticate social network accounts (e.g., certification of Twitter accounts), set out a charter on the terms of use of personal accounts on social media for executives and employees and inform executives that they remain liable as officers of the company even when using personal accounts on social media; n monitoring procedures: companies should actively monitor social media in order to stay abreast of information concerning them on social media and to quickly react to hacking; n message formats: the AMF recommends that disclosures should be contextualised so as to avoid claims that they are misleading and that links should systematically be provided to the related press releases or sources of information published in their entirety, allowing users to easily locate a comprehensive account of the information; n possible and/or necessary actions, in accordance with regulations, for rumours or leaked information: if a rumour has only appeared on one social media site and the denial of the rumour is not considered insider information, a company may refute the rumour on the social media site on which it originated without issuing a full press release. In all other cases, the company’s response to the rumour should be in the form of a full press release. It should be noted that in April 2013 the SEC authorised the disclosure by American companies of regulatory information via social media such as Facebook and Twitter, provided that investors are informed of the social media strategy. In France, the AMF confirmed 197 that issuers can only disclose insider information on social media if, and only if, the information has been previously disclosed in a full press release and if the information disclosed by the issuer, irrespective of the channel used, is accurate, true and fair in accordance with the requirements of the AMF General 196 – AMF Position/ Recommendation no. 2016-08 – Guide to ongoing disclosures and the management of insider information (section 1.6.4.2). 197 – Articles 223-1 to 223-10-1 of the AMF General Regulations.