Is Shutterstock (SSTK) stock Halal?

Shutterstock is a technology company that operates as a leading global provider of high-quality licensed photographs, vectors, illustrations, videos, and music. The primary function of Shutterstock is to connect creators and businesses by offering a vast library of digital content, enabling clients to enhance their visual storytelling with professional-grade media. Shutterstock’s platform significantly impacts sectors such as advertising, publishing, media, and commerce by supplying creative resources essential for design and marketing initiatives. Before any of that matters to a Muslim investor, one question comes first: is Shutterstock stock Halal?

Is Shutterstock Shariah compliant?

No. In the October 2026 screening Shutterstock (SSTK) does not pass AAOIFI screening: it fails the interest-bearing debt screen. For a company like Shutterstock, the first question AAOIFI Shariah Standard No. 21 asks is about content and advertising: platform businesses can carry impermissible elements, and the standard tolerates them only as incidental income below 5% of revenue. Only then do the financial ratios come into play.

Does Shutterstock pass the business activity test?

The activity screen is only part of the picture this month: Shutterstock currently fails the interest-bearing debt screen, so the overall verdict is not compliant regardless of the business itself. The watch item is content: advertising and programming can include impermissible material, which AAOIFI treats as incidental only below the 5% revenue ceiling.

Is Shutterstock's income Halal?

Yes, within AAOIFI's tolerance. Shutterstock's income from non-permissible sources stays below 5% of revenue in the October 2026 screening.

Does Shutterstock meet AAOIFI's debt and investment ratio requirements?

Not in full. Interest bearing debt currently exceeds the 30% cap, measured against a market capitalisation of $156M (market data as of 1 October 2026), while the other ratio stays within it. One breach is enough to fail the screening; the ratios are reassessed monthly under our Shariah Supervisory Board.

Why do other halal screeners show a different verdict for Shutterstock?

Screeners can disagree without either being wrong. AAOIFI Shariah Standard No. 21, which Tabadulat applies, measures interest bearing debt and investments against market capitalisation with a 30% ceiling. MSCI and FTSE measure them against total assets with a 33% ceiling, and S&P and Dow Jones Islamic use a multi year average of market capitalisation. Data dates differ too, because each provider reads filings and prices on its own schedule. The same company can therefore pass one standard and fail another in the same month. Tabadulat publishes one answer, the AAOIFI result as of October 2026, and re-screens it every month.

Tabadulat is an ADGM regulated brokerage whose license covers Shari'a Compliant Regulated Activities, as the FSRA permission names them. New to the terminology? Gharar and Maysir, Sukuk, Zakat and purification are all explained in plain English.

New to the screening method? Read Why a Halal Stock Screener Matters for Halal Investing