Facebook Partially Lifts Ban on Cryptocurrency Ads

After facing severe criticism from several quarters for its poorly-implemented, half-baked ban on cryptocurrency advertisements, Facebook has now reversed its decision, saying that it will allow some pre-approved advertisers to promote crypto-businesses and services on its platform.

The social media giant had banished all crypto ads from its platform earlier this year in an attempt to prevent the myriad crypto scams that were unfolding the world over following the boom in cryptocurrency prices.

Now, advertisers that are approved by Facebook through an application process can promote some cryptocurrency-related offerings on the site, although ads promoting binary options and initial coin offerings (ICOs) remain banned.

To keep scammers at bay, the company says that would-be advertisers ‘must submit’ a number of critical documents, including “licenses they have obtained, whether they are traded on a public stock exchange, and other relevant public background on their business”.

It is worth noting here that it wasn’t just Facebook that had imposed a ban on crypto ads on their platform. At the height of the bitcoin price surge earlier this year, Google, Twitter and other tech giants had also taken similar steps, although, Google’s ban only came into effect earlier this month. Facebook’s ban, however, was widely flouted by advertisers, raising serious questions about its efficacy.While the cryptocurrency phenomenon is more widely known today among mainstream consumers than ever before, the growing cases of scams and the shroud of anonymity surrounding digital assets has resulted in many governmentsaround the world starting to impose restrictions on the technology.The RBI in India has also barred financial institutions in the country from dealing in cryptocurrencies, although, a recent RTI inquiry revealed that the central bank might not have done any due diligence before issuing the controversial order.