Facebook bans ads for Bitcoins, other cryptocurrency

Facebook in a blog post announced that it will ban any ads related to virtual currencies as misleading or deceptive ads have no place on the social networking site.

In the post, Rob Leathern, Product Management Director, Facebook said that the new advertising policy prohibits 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.”

The aim of the company is to provide genuine advertising on its platform and save people from falling to scams.

Facebook’s new advertising policy also applies on other networks such as Instagram and Audience Network. Over time, it will revisit the policy and its enforcement mechanisms as its signals improve.

The company has also appealed users to report content that violates its advertising policies. Besides, people can report any ad on Facebook by clicking on the upper right-hand corner of the ad.

“This policy is part of an ongoing effort to improve the integrity and security of our ads, and to make it harder for scammers to profit from a presence on Facebook,” wrote Leathern.

Cryptocurrency Inc shocked

The move gives a further jolt to the reputation of the digital currency, which has been marred by various institutions, countries and businesses.

Last year, Jamie Dimon, chairman, president and chief executive office of JP Morgan at a conference in New York said that digital currency is only fit for use by drug dealers, murderers and people living in places such as Venezuela, Ecuador and North Korea.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency trader South Korea last year banned its financial institutions in dealing with virtual currency such as bitcoin, litecoin, IOTA and others.

The country’s Financial Service Commission has also ordered a ban on ICOs and declared that currencies are neither money nor currency nor financial products.

Digital currency is facing flaks in India also, where government and the country’s biggest financial institution RBI have issued various warnings against the cryptocurrency trade.

Last month,  the Indian government asked consumers to be alert before investing in virtual currency like Bitcoin and compared it with notorious Ponzi schemes.