I don’t see a real issue with this but as @EdS mentioned, the negative bias could easily be interpreted by users as a suggestion not to invest in/use BT.
What you don’t want is for the stock to be really successful down the line and someone saying ‘I would have invested but was put off by the Freetrade description’…, although of course, everyone should be doing their own due diligence and not just going off the descriptions.
(PS, I’m both a customer and existing investor of BT - my internet is superfast and I get decent dividends but this is not a recommendation to invest in or use BT. )
I hate BT personally, but I wouldn’t risk this from a business perespective, its almost certian that the ASA would have something to say about it, you are in effect advertising they have slow internet.
Thats the problem its not a fact is it, you show me how factual it is that BT has slow internet and I will take back all my comments.
Call it what you wan’t, but if a potential consumer reads anything about a company it has an impact, if it was found to be unfactual then there would be an issue.
People generally seem to like the idea of Freetrade being fun and accessible, but some are suggesting there should still be boundaries and this might cross one. I think it’s because it involves commenting on a third party in a way that suggests a negative opinion.
To me that feels unnecessary. Why not express the fun character of Freetrade in places and ways that don’t involve negativity?
I must admit I’m surprised that this hasn’t been updated to something more professional yet, it’s quite bizarre to have opinion of any kind in a stock description.
It’s like having a comment box that appears when clicking on BT that says ‘the Freetrade team think BT is a dinosaur in the world of communications and we strongly advise you to invest your money elsewhere’.
Unless I’m mistaken, providing investment advice isn’t the purpose of Freetrade, so descriptions should be professional and unbiased. That doesn’t mean they can’t be fun and informative or include quirky FACTS about the company in question, just not banal negative opinion.
Bigger picture wise, if the Freetrade team have such a negative opinion on BT, I can’t understand why it was included in the initial list of onboarded stocks in the first place?!
)
