The news of Facebook’s cryptocurrency ban removal hit the portals like a meteor as the already infamous banning, that took place in January was a kind of an upset.
Why Facebook banned cryptocurrency ads in the first place?
“There are important counter-trends to this, like encryption and cryptocurrency, that take power away from centralized systems to put it back into people’s hands. I’m interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services,” stated Mark Zuckerberg two weeks prior to the decision to ban crypto-related ads.
Everyone who would dedicate a day to do some research on cryptocurrencies and ICOs will find that there have been many misleading practices in the industry. Projects like Bitconnect had marketing campaigns that some new Apple products couldn’t compare with, followed by hordes of opportunists who passed referral codes everywhere they could.
Since Facebook is a centralized platform, it also has a centralized self-regulation system which takes action when something comes up before the government’s repression machine is forced to intervene.
Zuckerberg’s statement marked the beginning of the research. The research probably revealed many wrongdoings in the crypto-marketing sphere, so the company decided to prohibit advertising cryptocurrencies until they devise an effective strategy.
“Starting June 26, we’ll be updating our policy to allow ads that promote cryptocurrency and related content from pre-approved advertisers. But we’ll continue to prohibit ads that promote binary options and initial coin offerings,” read Facebook’s recent announcement.
While decentralized systems bring freedom and less space for manipulation, it is also hard to hold someone accountable for possible wrongdoings. Centralized systems, on the contrary, have a lot to answer for if their platform failed to self-regulate in case of obvious fraudulent activities marketing.
We are also witnessing the obviously uneducated mainstream media running commercials for upright scams which left many investors burned.
Therefore, Facebook took some precautions.
Even though the ban on ICOs remains, the reports read that the ones who want to advertise their cryptocurrency projects on Facebook, firstly have to apply and name the reasons for the application. Secondly, the applicant has to have a Facebook Ad Account ID, or apply for one.
Next step is to provide the website domain and business details. Licenses or regulatory certification the business holds are preferred, and if the business is a public company listed on a stock exchange, it should be noted.
Business information, along with the correct headquarters address needs to be provided, and, in the end, the applying company has to describe products or services or other crypto-related content they intend to promote.
The final part of the terms of use states that “You must verify your domain(s) associated with this application…we reserve the right to deny any application or withdraw eligibility at any time without notice. Eligibility may be subject to such conditions and restrictions as Facebook may decide.”
Facebook’s practice is praiseworthy, and, even though it took them five months to re-enable the advertising service, it is more than probable that it saved a lot of naive and uneducated investors’ money.