Facebook has started taking steps to ease its policy on cryptocurrency ads, decided in January this year, which banned financial products and services associated with cryptocurrency.
In a blog post, Rob Leathern, Product Management Director at Facebook, said the social media giant had “looked at the best way to refine this policy — to allow some ads while also working to ensure that they’re safe”.
In a broad policy announced in January this year, Facebook prohibited “ads that promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency”.
Aimed to better detect what Facebook called deceptive promotional practices by many companies that advertised binary options and cryptocurrencies without good faith, the policy also stopped legitimate businesses from buying advertisements.
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Starting June 26, however, Facebook would be updating its “policy to allow ads that promote cryptocurrency and related content from pre-approved advertisers”, Leathern posted.
However, he asserted, the company would continue to block any cryptocurrency ads promoting binary options and initial coin offerings.
Advertisers are required to submit an application to Facebook if they want to run ads for cryptocurrency products and services, so that Facebook can assess their eligibility, including any licenses they have obtained, whether they are traded on a public stock exchange, and other relevant public background on their business.
Under these restrictions, not everyone who wants to advertise will be able to do so, Facebook said.
“But we’ll listen to feedback, look at how well this policy works and continue to study this technology so that, if necessary, we can revise it over time,” Leathern wrote.
Last month, Facebook established a new experimental blockchain group dedicated to the technology that powers cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
(With agency inputs)