The US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has threatened the head of Netflix with legal action for posting information about the company’s performance on Facebook rather than though official channels.

Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings announced on the site that monthly viewing figures had passed one billion hours in June for the first time. Shares rose after the posting.

SEC said the information should have been released via a press release or regulatory filing in order to give “full and fair” public disclosure of any “material” information affecting the value of shareholders’ investment.

Hastings said he did not believe the posting constituted the kind of information that needed to be released in that way.

Netflix’s Facebook page has more than 244,000 subscribers to the page.

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