The first and most important thing to remember about trading is that making money from trading is extremely hard. In the long run, less than 1% make returns above a bank FD. If anyone including influencers claims that they can help you get rich quick, they are mis-selling.
The reason why shady people who sell courses, stock tips, unauthorized portfolio management services, and useless financial products exist is because people believe making money from trading is easy, the crux of the problem.
This mis-selling is nothing new, it has existed in various forms throughout human history and the markets. But today, the internet has increased the audience for those wanting to earn a quick buck by mis-selling. Also in the physical world, there is usually no proof when someone mis-sells, but in the online world, it leaves a trail that can blow up like now.
The latest SEBI consultation paper on this is probably in the right direction. That is, disallow any registered intermediary with SEBI to associate in any way with anyone who is acting like an advisor or analyst without being registered. This can potentially put an end to anyone mis-selling that it is easy to make money trading the markets.
Should there be a brokerage revenue-sharing deal with APs, referrers, etc.?
The broking industry has thousands of people who rely on introducing customers by being APs, partners, etc., for a living. This is how our markets grew and how the industry has operated from the start. Their contribution has dipped as the world has moved online, but they still matter in smaller cities and towns.
Regulations made for a few people who are mis-selling, can hurt the livelihood of this entire industry and sector that depends on revenue from introducing customers to brokers. The solution to this isn’t as easy if you think of the overall structure of the capital markets.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, the majority of our referral customers are from individual customers and partners who are not the Finfluencer types.
Today, we don’t track any individual customer’s profitability; ideally, we don’t want to get into this. If someone is making any P&L claims, I don’t think we can get into the business of validating such claims, This is why we launched the verified P&L feature.
If someone is trading at Zerodha and showing a certain P&L screenshot or video, you can ask for a verified P&L link updated to the latest date. There is no way to manipulate this. Everything else that is a screenshot or video of P&L can be tampered with at Zerodha and any other broker, and hence can’t be trusted. By the way, screenshots of income tax returns can also be tampered with 
I think the right way to address this problem is what has been suggested in the new SEBI consultation paper. If someone acts like an advisor or analyst (RIA, RA) without being registered with SEBI and is earning indirectly, try finding ways to plug that payout.
So no registered intermediaries can have any financial dealings. Without these explicit regulations, any broker creating their own rules around this has a large risk of backfiring, given the power of all the finfluencers today.
Link to the SEBI consultation paper. I think everyone who has a view on this should comment. The last date is September 15th 2023.