The cryptocurrency industry, which has been stricken of late by falling prices and lots of bad news, received more of the latter. It has been reported that Twitter will soon bank cryptocurrency ads on its platform.
According to The Verge, the tech giant will initiate the ban within the next 2 weeks, and they are doing so in response to pending government regulatory pressure in regards to digital currencies. The ban will include advertising for cryptocurrency wallets and token sales, as well as for initial coin offerings (ICOs). The company is also planning to ban most advertising of cryptocurrency exchanges, but they will likely allow some exceptions to this rule.
The news comes on the heels of similar advertising bans by some of the biggest names in technology. This past week, Google banned cryptocurrency ads on its network of sites, and in January Facebook imposed a similar ban. Reddit also banned the advertising of both token sales and cryptocurrencies in general.
The Facebook ban was part of a larger prohibition against the advertising of services and products that are commonly associated with what the company perceives as misleading or deceptive marketing practices. The company explained in a blog post that they intentionally imposed such a broad ban so as to stop what they called the “creeping back” of these ads on their platform in some other form.
All across the world, government regulatory bodies have been making moves to restrict cryptocurrencies. They have done this in response to the wild price swings of digital currencies, as well as because of some well known scams and flops. There have also been some worries that the currencies have been connected to various forms of criminal activity. Countries such as China and South Korea have completely banned ICOs, and China has also gone after cryptocurrency exchanges. While in Europe many government officials have signalled that cryptocurrency regulation is on its way.
In the United States, government officials are still unsure what to do about digital currencies, but pressure is growing on them to take some kind of regulatory action against the currencies. Many banks have already taken preemptive actions against cryptocurrencies, such as banning the purchases of them with credit cards.
Together, Facebook and Google control almost three quarters of all online advertising in the US. While Twitter’s share is far smaller, it is still more unwelcome news for the cryptocurrency industry.
Dil Bole Oberoi
