Bing is now hopping on the cryptocurrency ban bandwagon, joining Facebook and Google in not allowing any advertising for crypto-related products, as well as unregulated binary options.
The search engine of Microsoft, Bing, will no longer be displaying ads for the cryptocurrency space. The banning includes cryptocurrencies, crypto-related products, and unregulated binary options. The decision comes as a change envisioned in the company’s policy regarding financial products and services, and it shall take partial effect in June followed by a fully-fledged ban at the end of June or beginning of July.
Following in the Footsteps of the Big Boys
Cryptocurrency advertising has undoubtedly seen better days than those in the first quarter of 2018. Earlier this year, Facebook announced that it will curb crypto ads because they are oftentimes related to “misleading or deceptive practices.”
Building on the Facebook ban, Google also moved to ban crypto-related advertising as well as ads for both unregulated and speculative financial products including binary options, foreign exchange markets, and contracts for difference (CFDs). In late March, Twitter publicly announced that they will begin banning crypto-related ads on a worldwide scale.
Now, a few months later, Bing hops on the crypto-ad ban train and does the same thing. To no one’s surprise, the reasons for the move are quite familiar:
Because cryptocurrency and related products are not regulated, we have found them to present a possible elevated risk to our users, with the potential for bad actors to participate in predatory behaviors, or otherwise scam consumers, […] To help protect our users from this risk, we have made the decision to disallow advertising.
What Will Be Banned Exactly?
If history is any indicator, it should be noted that those bans are harder to execute than one might think. We already saw quite a lot of companies finding easy ways to circumvent Facebook’s ban.
Now, looking at Microsoft’s ban list, cryptocurrency falls in line with other endeavors which present “legally questionable business opportunities.” These include Ponzi schemes, otherwise known as pyramid schemes.
It’s also worth noting that Bing’s ads policies have already prohibited displaying ads for cryptocurrencies which might be facilitating certain illegal purposes such as money laundering, promotion of fake currencies, tax evasion, and others of the kind.
The first question that pops to mind is whether this would have any substantial effect upon the cryptocurrency space. The answer is that it’s highly unlikely. If anything, it would put additional pressure on scam projects, making it easier for users to identify reliable and trustworthy initiatives.
Do you think Bing is making the right move to ban cryptocurrency-related advertising? Please let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Pixabay and Bitcoinist archives.
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