Twitter bans cryptocurrency advertising, follows Google and Facebook in crackdown to prevent frauds

Effective tomorrow, Twitter will start banning cryptocurrency ads. A Twitter spokesperson said in a statement on Monday that the new policy will block all the initial coin offerings (ICOs) ads that use crowdfunding in order to generate new coins, in addition to advertisements promoting token sales. With this announcement, Twitter is joining Facebook and Google in cracking down on ICO and token sales ads. Facebook issued a new policy back in January. Google issued similar policy early this month.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of the Twitter community. As such, we have added a new policy for Twitter Ads relating to cryptocurrency,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Under this new policy, the advertisement of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and token sales will be prohibited globally.”  Reuters first broke the news on the new Twitter policy.

Twitter also updated its Financial Services policy page, which reads:

What’s the policy?

Twitter permits the promotion of financial services and related content with restrictions. These restrictions are based on the specific product or service being promoted, as well as the country that a campaign is targeting. 

This policy covers, but is not limited to the following financial products and services: 

• Banking services and banking institutions
• Loan products and services
• Mobile and electronic payments
• Mortgages and related services, including debt relief or assistance services.
• Investment advice, investment opportunities, and offers to increase wealth
• Insurance products and services
• Securities
• Currency exchange, trading, and related services
• Cryptocurrency ICOs 
• Cryptocurrency token sales 

Any advertisement for financial products and services must:

• be compatible with all applicable law; provide necessary disclosures, balanced information of risks and benefits, and all information that must be provided to the investor
• be clearly identified as financial services
• indicate the nature and specific type of financial service

No one really knows how the ban will affect startups using ICO to raise funding.