Share this article
'Love Island' Twins' Crypto Instagram Posts Misled Viewers, UK Ad Authority Says
Instagram influencers have to explain the risks when promoting crypto investments, the country’s advertising regulator said.
Updated May 11, 2023, 5:01 p.m. Published Sep 7, 2022, 2:59 p.m.
Two former contestants from U.K. reality TV show "Love Island" have been told to stop misleading their Instagram followers with pro-crypto posts, local regulators said in a statement published Wednesday.
Jessica and Eve Gale should have warned people about the risk of losses from crypto investments in posts made earlier this year, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
It appears to be the first time the ASA has taken action for crypto promotions placed by social media influencers, who, the regulator says, still have to apply marketing norms in full.
“We concluded the ads were misleading,” the regulator said, in part because they “did not include any risk warning making consumers aware that crypto assets could go down as well as up, or that the crypto assets were unregulated in the U.K.”
The twins appeared in 2020 on the popular dating show, in which a group of single people live and love in a luxury villa in Spain.
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority is awaiting new legislation that would give it the power to treat crypto ads like other financial promotions, which would mean caps on holdings and warnings for buyers.
Until that happens, the ASA has said tackling misleading crypto promotions is a “red alert” priority.
The ASA itself previously took out ads to warn people about influencers who repeatedly failed to flag when posts are actually paid-for promotions, including the Gale twins.
Representatives for the Gales did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more: UK Crypto Investors Should Limit Holdings, Financial Regulator Says
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
U.S. Senate's Crypto Market Structure Bill Gets Messy as Calendar Weighs Down
The White House has shut down proposals, and lawmakers are circulating the Democrats' asks in what had been a close negotiation, revealing 11th-hour pressure.
What to know:
- Democrats shared a response to Republicans outlining their continuing priorities for a crypto market structure bill, which they said was intended to "reach an agreement and proceed towards a mark-up."
- The document laid out concerns with financial stability, market integrity and public officials' ability to trade and profit off of crypto, echoing concerns laid out in a framework Democrats shared in September.
- The Senate is running out of time in the Congressional calendar to hold a markup hearing — a key step toward progressing the bill — before 2025 ends.
Top Stories
