Those looking to run advertisements for cryptocurrencies and related products may soon have to steer clear of Twitter, which Sky News haws reported is “preparing to prohibit a range of cryptocurrency advertisements amid looming regulatory intervention in the sector.”
Sky News wrote it had learned that prohibitions on ads for “initial coin offerings (ICOs), token sales, and cryptocurrency wallets” would be rolled out globally in two weeks, and is likely to implement similar restrictions on advertising for exchanges with some exceptions.
If true, the move closely tracks similar decisions by Google, which banned cryptocurrency-related ads from appearing in its ad networks this week, and Facebook, which did the same in January as part of a crackdown on “financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” In a blog post, Facebook explained that they had opted for an “intentionally broad” prohibition to better prevent the ads from creeping back in a new form on the platform. Other platforms like Reddit have also implemented policies against cryptocurrencies and token sales.
Authorities globally have been moving to implement restrictions on cryptocurrencies amid both surging prices and a wave of scams, flops, and worrisome connections to criminal activity. South Korea and China both banned initial coin offerings entirely, with China reportedly also going after exchanges. European Union and English officials have warned that regulation could be coming, and though US regulators are still stumbling over the issue, pressure is growing on them to sort out whose responsibility enforcement in the crypto space should be. In the private sector, there’s also been some attempts to curb risky speculation by customers with widespread bans by major banks on using credit cards to make purchases on exchanges.
Google and Facebook already reportedly control nearly three-quarters of all US online advertising. Twitter’s ad share is a mere fraction of that, but with every major company that ditches on the market, the crypto world gets hedged in a little further.
[Sky News]