Facebook Revises Policy Over Cryptocurrency And Blockchain Related Materials

Social media giant, Facebook updates its crypto and blockchain related policy under which the Ads pertaining to blockchain tech, industry news, as well as events and educational materials for cryptocurrencies could now be displayed on Facebook without prior approval. The announcement was made on Facebook Business on May 8.

Last year, Facebook implemented a policy that necessitated crypto and blockchain promoters to get prior consent before they could run advertisements. Though the new policy now allows them to do so without prior permission, advertisers seeking to promote a particular cryptocurrency, and ads for initial coin offerings (ICOs) are still forbidden on the platform, as elaborated by the press release.

The express purpose of these restrictions as stated is to prevent Facebook users from falling prey to misleading advertisements. Which is why any advertiser who wishes to promote a specific product such as a particular cryptocurrency, a cryptocurrency exchange, or mining software and hardware have to undergo a rigorous background screening and the following:

“…licenses they have obtained, whether they are traded on a public stock exchange (or are a subsidiary of a public company) and other relevant public background on their business.”

Facebook announced a ban on cryptocurrency and ICO advertisements altogether in January of 2018. The decision met with criticism, calling it unnecessary and bad for technological development. Dejun Qian, Founder of FUSION, commented at the time:

“This policy will definitely protect people from the scams of predatory projects. However announcing an ‘intentionally broad’ policy is always the easiest way and not necessarily the best route for technology development. I don’t believe that banning e-commerce ads just because people face the risk of buying counterfeited products is a good idea.”

Facebook reportedly acquired rights to the “Libra” trademark for its secretive cryptocurrency project, earlier this week. As reported earlier,  the media giants are seeking $1 billion in investments for a native token which could purportedly be used on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Read more:Microsoft Releases New Azure Blockchain Development Kit For Ethereum Blockchain

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