Google is coming down on cryptocurrency ads and anything directly related to it such as Initial Coin Offerings, wallet services, or even trading advice.
The company is banning these even if the service is legitimate. The ban will be officially implemented starting in June 2018.
As big as this seems, it comes as no big surprise that Google does this since Facebook just announced a similar ban last month. The reasoning behind the ban was not yet disclosed, but speculations point to the overall direction of additional scrutiny towards the crypto space.
In as much as the cryptocurrency craze peaked in 2017, new ICO scams have also surfaced and got the attention of regulators. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently been scrutinizing potentially misleading angles of cryptocurrency projects and is even sending subpoenas to fraudulent new ICOs especially unregistered ones.
This being said, it seems natural for two of the biggest names on the internet – Google and Facebook – to play safe and take the same side with that of the government. To add to this, Google has also identified more than 3 billion ads in violation of its policies within the last year alone.
Google’s Director of Sustainable Ads, Scott Spencer, reinforced this stand when he commented:
"We don't have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution."
The move follows a similar ban by Facebook earlier this year.
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