Google is banning all cryptocurrency-related advertisements.
The company’s new restricted financial products policy, which will go into effect this June 2018, restricts the advertisement of binary options, cryptocurrency and related content (including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice).
“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,” Scott Spencer, Google’s director of sustainable ads, told CNBC.
The tech giant’s decision comes following a similar ban on crypto-related ads by Facebook earlier this year.
“This policy is part of an ongoing effort to improve the integrity and security of our ads, and to make it harder for scammers to profit from a presence on Facebook,” said Rob Leathern, Facebook’s Product Management Director, at the time.
After last year’s surge in the market cap of cryptocurrencies there has been an increase in the number of deceptive ads and online scams being used to lure in investors.
Although there are legitimate companies involved in crypto that may be advertising their products responsibly, the sheer number of deceptive ads has made the sector off-putting for advertising platforms.
Spencer recently revealed that Google removed 3.2 billion ads last year that were in violation of the company’s advertising policies.