Twitter is the latest company to target cryptocurrency ads. The social network confirmed last week that the company will ban all cryptocurrency ads from their platform. The company claims that the ads fall under the auspices of the company’s restricted content policy. Token sales and initial coin offerings were specifically mentioned by Twitter.
“We are committed to ensuring the safety of the Twitter community. As such, we have added a new policy for Twitter ads relating to cryptocurrency, ” the firm said in a statement Monday. “Under this new policy, the advertisement of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and token sales will be prohibited globally.”
Twitter isn’t the only company to take coin safety seriously. Facebook and Google also made changes to their advertising policies in an effort to protect their users.
Bitcoin plunged following the announcement and fell to near $7, 000 when rumors of an ad ban were announced. Twitter claims that the company will continue to monitor their advertising policies, leaving the possibility of allowing cryptocurrency ads in the future.
Google, the largest ad provider in the world, updated their advertising policies in March. The company’s financial services policies were changed to reflect the advertising restriction. Google will begin enforcing their new policies in June.
The news of Google restricting cryptocurrency ads caused bitcoin to fall to below $8, 000.
Bitcoin has been struggling to maintain value since the end of 2017 when the virtual currency hit near $20, 000. Since then, the currency has fallen to around $7, 000 and has been greatly impacted by the recent cryptocurrency ad bans.
Facebook, another social media giant, also announced that they were banning cryptocurrency advertising in January. The news that Facebook, the second largest ad provider in the world, was banning cryptocurrency ads sent bitcoin falling 12%.
Ad companies have been under increasing pressure from regulators to remove misleading or deceptive promotional practices from their networks. Facebook went a step further by banning all binary option offerings as well as initial coin offerings.
Virtual currency insiders suggest that the move to ban ads is a positive thing for the industry. Many experts suggest that the ads allowed on the networks have been a “red flag.” They also point towards China’s ban on bitcoin since 2013, which has not had an impact on bitcoin.
The rise of ICO scams are also causing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to increase their efforts through subpoenas. New studies suggest that 25% – 81% of all ICOs may be fraudulent in nature. China has banned ICO offerings outright in 2017, as reports of investors being scammed was on the rise.
MailChimp has also announced its own policy changes to stop “scams, fraud, phishing, and potentially misleading business practices” on the company’s platform. The email distribution platform quickly had to clarify their decision, stating that emails can be sent as long as “the sender isn’t involved in the production, sale, exchange, storage, or marketing of cryptocurrencies.”
The company’s reason for initiating the ban is because of the belief that cryptocurrencies have been highly linked to frauds and scams.
Several countries, including Russia, China and South Korea, are planning to sue the companies for banning ads, calling their decision to ban the ads “cartel collusion.”