Facebook has partially eased its cryptocurrency ads ban, allowing advertisments of digital currencies upon certain conditions, the social media giant announced on Tuesday.
As per the new rules, effective as of June 26, cryptocurrency companies will be allowed to promote their products if they have passed a new application procedure. Crypto firms will have to fill in a form specifying, among other things, whether they have an official license, if their business is listed on a public stock exchange and what the purpose of their application is.
At the same time, organizations still cannot promote binary options and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
Original crypto ads ban
At the end of January, Facebook updated its advertizing strategy, prohibiting the promotion of cryptocurrencies, binary options and ICOs, as they are “frequently associated with misleading or deceptive practices”. Product manager director Rob Leathern stressed that while Facebook wants its users to be well informed about new products and services, it is concerned by the high risk of scams brought about by a large number of companies not operating in good faith.
According to Facebook, the January ban on crypto-related adverts was “intentionally broad”, since the company needed room to refine its policy. In the months after that, other big actors, such as Google, Twitter and Snapchat, also blocked advertizing related to virtual coins.
Safety still comes first
It took Facebook half a year to redesign its advertizing strategy. However, Leathern implies that ensuring safety has remained a core focus for the social media company. The application process is aiming to allow only eligible promoters who will not deceive users to advertize their products and services on Facebook’s platform. The product manager director said that “not everyone who wants to advertize will be able to do so”, but he did not elaborate on how exactly Facebook will determine which ads are safe.
Meanwhile, Facebook has asked its users to stay alert to any potentially misleading advertisements on its pages. If a user finds a suspicious ad, they should immediately select “report ad” in its upper right corner, Leathern said.
In a wider context, news about cryptocurrency-tied scams keep raising concerns about security in the sector. Another grim report appeared on Monday, when Andrew Smith, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said that US consumers are expected to lose USD 3 billion in crypto frauds in 2018. Virtual currency schemes have spread all over the globe and have hit both large crypto markets, like the US, and smaller ones, like Vietnam, where over USD 650 million in VND was stolen in two ICOs in April.
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