Beginning in June 2018, Google will ban ads related to bitcoin, as well as other cryptocurrencies, as part of an initiative to monitor high-risk financial products. Google announced the change in policy in their annual “bad ads” report.
Google is not the first website to ban such ads, though. Facebook removed cryptocurrency related advertisement from their website in January. Facebook moved to rid of such ads after it’s users complained about “get rich quick” ads and financial scams showing up on their feed.
Scott Spencer, Google’s director of sustainable ads, believes that the ads could potentially be dangerous if not deleted: “We don’t have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we’ve seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it’s an area that we want to approach with extreme caution”.
