Financial advisors could face enforcement actions for not deleting misleading social media posts, said Katy Gordon, senior counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investment management division, who spoke Friday at an American Bar Association Business Law Section seminar on social media in Washington, D.C.

“If you can’t control that site, why are you in that space,” Gordon said, adding that Twitter, LinkedIn and most social media sites allow users to remove messages from outsiders.

The panel’s moderator, Jay Baris, vice chair of the committee on federal regulation of securities of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section, warned that professional posts on advisors’ personal social media sites are a train wreck waiting to happen.

Regarding which social media sites are appropriate for advisors to let their employees be on, Gordon said firms need to consider the reputation of the site and who the users are. They also need to keep updated on changes in a site’s features, and have clear policies on who is allowed to speak and what they are allowed to say on those sites.

Given the multitude of posts advisor employees and their followers make to social media sites, Gordon said her division at the SEC will be reasonable for judging how quickly a firm needs to remove a deceptive tweet or response.

A message that is still on the site 30 seconds after it has been posted is okay, she said, while a post remaining on the web for two weeks wouldn’t be okay.

Gordon said the SEC’s investment management division has been getting a lot of inquiries from financial advisors about when and if LinkedIn endorsements on their company and employee pages are allowed.

She said the SEC is allowing clients and friends to laud an advisor’s charitable activities on social media.

“We are not worried about someone’s community work,” Gordon said. “We are worried about their work as an investment advisor––what kind of statements are made and when advisors cross the line on sites is the problem.”

Gordon called social media regulation a moving target. “We have not made a comprehensive statement,” Gordon said. “Let’s reason together on this. It is changing for all of us.”