Student debate on finance in the age of social media
On Friday, 17 April 2026, a student debate entitled “Finance in the era of Instagram and TikTok: knowledge or hype?” was held. This traditional annual student debate forms part of the ongoing cooperation between the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) and the Croatian National Bank (CNB) with universities and their students.
Each year, students discuss a topical issue in the field of finance. The debate took place at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM), with students from Rochester Institute of Technology Croatia (RIT Croatia) and ZSEM participating, as part of the Public Finance course, led by Dina Dogan, PhD, MBA.
In preparation for the debate this year, students were supported by Anja Tkalčević from Hanfa’s Consumer Protection Monitoring and Education Department, and Josip Pintarić from the CNB’s Consumer Protection Regulation and Financial Literacy Department.
During the debate, students concluded that social media can serve as a useful initial point of contact for young people with financial concepts. At the same time, they highlighted the responsibility of content creators, as well as users themselves, to critically assess the information they receive via social media platforms. They also emphasised the importance of users further informing themselves, conducting their own research, and verifying the accuracy of information presented to them through social media.
