Google to ban cryptocurrency and ICO ads from June

Search engine giant Google will change its financial product strategy in June this year, including banning cryptocurrency-related ads.

In a post published on Tuesday, the company said it would revise its existing restricted list of financial products in June to blacklist advertising content “ including but not limited to ICOs, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice.”

This restriction will apply to both Google's direct and affiliated advertising platforms.

A month ago, social media giant Facebook also announced that it would implement a new policy starting June 30, banning advertisements involving Bitcoin and ICO information, in an effort to prevent cryptocurrency-related promotions from deceiving investors.

While Google did not explain the specific reasons for its ban on such ads, the move comes at a time when the U.S. government is stepping up its scrutiny of certain cryptocurrency projects, with projects that tout their investment opportunities and promote them over the internet being targets of regulators.

The moves by Google and Facebook, the world’s two largest internet and advertising platforms, are in line with a goal by U.S. regulators to crack down on suspicious ICOs at the state and federal levels.

It is reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued warnings many times, saying that the ICO fundraising process constitutes an unregistered securities issuance activity.