Twitter Inc will start banning cryptocurrency advertising effective Tuesday, Reuters reports March 26.
Twitter has confirmed rumors that the social media giant would follow Facebook and Google in clamping down on crypto-related advertising.
Twitter told Reuters that the ban will cover advertising for Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) and token sales. The policy will be introduced over the course of the next 30 days and will also include bans on cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet services, unless they are public companies and are listed on major stock exchanges. Twitter said it will limit advertisement for crypto exchanges in Japan to those under the purview of the national financial regulator.
Twitter cites safety for users as the primary motivator behind the ban. Twitter was already taking measures to prevent crypto-related accounts from “engaging with others in a deceptive manner”, but faced calls to enact futher measures following bans from Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc (Google).
Crypto markets, which were already experiencing a slip on Monday, fell even further following the announcement from Twitter.
Talking to Reuters, director Zennon Kapron of financial consultancy Kapronasia cited risks to Twitter itself as another motivator behind the ban:
“With the increasing number of ICOs coming to market, it is an impossible task for anyone, much less platforms like Twitter or Facebook, to keep on top of which ICOs and cryptocurrencies are genuine versus frauds… Although certainly ICO advertising must have been a significant source of revenue for Twitter, the repercussions of fraudulent activities just weren’t worth the risk.”
Facebook restricted crypto advertising in January of this year, while Google announced a ban earlier this month that will be enacted in June 2018.