Twitter to Begin Banning Cryptocurrency Ads

Reports say that Twitter will follow in the footsteps of Facebook and Google by banning a wide range of cryptocurrency ads.

It appears that the digital world of cyberspace is continuing to shrink for those seeking to publish cryptocurrency ads. Facebook was the first to lower the boom as the social media platform banned cryptocurrency ads. This was followed shortly thereafter by a similar purge by internet behemoth Google. Now reports are coming out, saying that Twitter is following suit by instituting a ban of their own.

No More Blue Check Marks

Sky News is reporting that Twitter is planning a new advertising policy that will be rolled out in a couple of weeks. The new policy will ban cryptocurrency ads for wallets, token sales, and ICOs. This new banning policy will, apparently, be on a global scale.

As for cryptocurrency exchanges,it appears that they might be banned as well from advertising on the social media platform. However, some limited exceptions might be made. One would assume that exchanges that are licensed to operate would fall under this exception mandate.

This ban is a little bit surprising as Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, is also the CEO of Square, which has recently added Bitcoin trading to its platform. Dorsey is a proponent of Bitcoin and has even invested in Lightning Labs, the group behind the Lightning Network.

Not Unexpected

Truth be told, this is not an unexpected development. It’s a given that Twitter was under enormous pressure due to the actions of Facebook and Google.

Plus, Twitter has been having problems with fake accounts that perpetuate cryptocurrency-related scams, such as fake accounts that spoof some of the major players in the crypto world. This was noted by an associate professor at Cornell University, Emin Gün Sirer, who said:

Crypto-spam reached untenable proportions recently. It was impossible to discuss any topic without having some spammer jump in, impersonate a crypto celebrity, and try to collect coins from people with promises of easy gains.

Some may argue that such banning campaigns fly in the face of the Wild West, decentralized nature of cryptocurrency. However, the reality is that the social media platforms and Google are pushing such campaigns in order to limit their liability when it comes to scams. There are a lot of great opportunities in the crypto sphere, but there are also a lot of scams going on as well. The likes of Google, Facebook, and Twitter don’t want to be on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit over some fraudulent ICO that they allowed to advertise on their platforms.

Do you think Twitter is doing the right thing, or are in the wrong, by banning cryptocurrency ads? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay, and Bitcoinist archives.