Facebook users will no longer be bombarded by cryptocurrency, initial coin offering and Bitcoin adverts on the social media platform.
The company has instituted an all-out ban on cryptocurrency, ICO or Bitcoin adverts - citing “financial products and services frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices."
Unfortunately, legitimate financial service providers will also be painted with the same brush- which effectively rules out any advertising of cryptocurrencies or related products on Facebook.
Adverts failing to comply will be banned from Facebook, and its partner platform Instagram as well as its advertising platform Audience Network.
Facebook’s advertising tech director Rob Leathern said the ban was ‘intentionally broad’ in an effort to weed out ‘deceptive and misleading’ advertising.
Social media reacts
As per usual, a gander at social media timelines provides some interesting reading- with varying opinions on the latest development in the cryptocurrency space.
Facebook’s advertising move was met with varying degrees of skepticism on Twitter.
Twitter user Armin van Bitcoin took a subtle dig at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who recently made positive comments about Blockchain technology:
Another user simply used the hashtag #decentralized as he questioned why Facebook has made the move:
Another user pointed out the fact that many Facebook users had been duped by ICO scams advertised on Facebook:
Meanwhile, Brian Haggerty said Facebook’s move has nothing to do with Bitcoin- while the news has inevitably led to further fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Omar Bham speculated that the move could net the likes of Google higher advertising revenues with Facebook refusing to accept cryptocurrency advertising.
One user said the move presented yet another opportunity for people to buy Bitcoin as the market price reacted to the announcement.
The first Tweet is probably the most telling, as it highlights a degree of hypocrisy from Facebook founder Zuckerberg.
At the beginning of January, Zuckerberg said he was “interested in going deeper and studying the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services."
ICO scams advertised on Facebook may have lured gullible investors and it is right to put a stop to these kinds of practices. But an all-out ban might also punish legitimate businesses that are making pivotal strides in the development of different Blockchain applications.