Facebook is putting a lid on adverts pertaining to cryptocurrency, binary options and initial coin offerings (ICO). Facebook announced its new advertising policing of putting a ban on all cryptocurrency ads in a blog post on January 30. This action is to put a stop to misleading or deceptive ads that seem to have increased with the boom in Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and Cryptocurrency. The new advertising policy will not only affect Facebook as it will also be enforced on Instagram and Facebook Audience Network.
Facebook Product Management Director Rob Leathern wrote in a blog post acknowledging that although the policy might be reviewed later, It was intentionally made broad to target misleading ads pertaining to cryptocurrencies, ICOs and binary options. It is Facebook’s desire that “people continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception.” Facebook is trying to stand on its core adverting principles that “ads should be safe, and that we build for people first.”
The boom in cryptocurrency has seen the likes of Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum, and initial coin offerings hitting the mainstream. Likewise, so many companies using Facebook to advertise binary options, cryptocurrencies are “not currently operating in good faith”. Therefore, the ad prohibition is to make it “harder for scammers to profit.” It would be difficult to monitor all the ads and catch violators, but Facebook has encouraged its users to report any content that violates this new policy. Users are asked to help monitor the community by reporting any violating ad simply by clicking on the upper right corner of the ad.
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