WASHINGTON—The Securities and Trade Commission released a vast-ranging critique Friday of the on the web tactics that brokers such as Robinhood Markets Inc. and expenditure advisers use to interact with customers, aiming to ascertain no matter whether tools like smartphone notifications are in the very best interests of buyers.

The SEC solicited general public reviews Friday on “digital engagement practices” in the money business. These include things like social-networking equipment, investing online games and contests with prizes, digital badges, and leaderboards, notifications, celebrations for trading and chatbots.

Requests for community comment normally stand for a initially step in the process of developing new policies to tutorial behavior in the industry.

Robinhood and other on the internet brokerages have promptly attracted tens of millions of novice buyers with improvements like zero-fee buying and selling and gamelike apps. Buying and selling frenzies in GameStop Corp. and other so-termed meme shares —amplified by online discussion boards this sort of as Wallstreetbets—have prompted regulators to get a nearer seem at field techniques.

“In the very last several a long time, we’ve viewed a proliferation of trading apps, wealth-administration applications, and robo advisers that use these tactics to create and deliver investment decision advice to retail investors,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler reported. “In several scenarios, these characteristics may possibly inspire traders to trade additional generally, spend in distinct merchandise, or modify their investment decision method.”