Google Bans Cryptocurrency Advertising

Written by: Cai Huiling Created: 23 March 2018

Bitcoin Adverts Will Be Banned As Part Of Google's Crackdown On Cryptocurrency Scams

From June onwards, the world’s biggest online advertising platform will be changing their advertising policy. Google will be banning all advertisement for cyrptocurrencies, ICOs, wallets and exchanges in a bid to “tackle emerging threats” and “improve the ads experience online”.

Google’s director of sustainable ads, Scott Spencer, said in a recent blogpost: “We updated several policies to address ads in unregulated or speculative financial products like binary options, cryptocurrency, foreign exchange markets and contracts for difference (or CFDs).” 

Included in this move, are plans to also begin blocking some gambling ads, such as those for services using virtual items worth real-world money, known as skins betting.

The restrictions will apply to Google’s search platform, YouTube as well as all third-party websites where Google sells advertising space through AdSense.

This follows similar bans by advertising rival Facebook that rolled out ad bans on all cryptocurrency and ICO adverts earlier in January after uncovering numerous investment scams.

Due to the lack of regulation around cryptocurrency trading, numerous scams have proliferated on the web with ICOs being used to generate millions of dollars then simply disappear without a trace along with their operators, leaving investors in the lurch. 

Will all the intrusive ads, malware and spam scourging the web today, Google and Facebook’s move to clean up the Internet seems like a step in the right direction, setting the precedent for other companies to follow suit.

Written by: Cai Huiling

Huiling covers a diverse range of topics at Billionaire, fuelled by her passion for environmental sustainability and humanitarian advocacy. In her downtime, she enjoys getting lost in a good book and tending to her urban garden.