Google bans cryptocurrency ads

As of June, Google will no longer allow cryptocurrency ads. According to the company, practices around cryptocurrencies have harmed consumers, which means that advertisements should be banned.

In its annual bad ads report, Google announces the addition of cryptocurrencies to its restricted financial products policy. That policy will go into effect in June and will ban advertising around ICOs, or initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets and trading advisory services. Speaking to CNBC, Google explained the move: “We’ve seen enough consumer harm or potential harm in an area that we want to approach with extreme caution.”

In 2017, Google removed a total of more than 3.2 billion ads that violated its policy. In 2016 there were still 1.7 billion. Last year, Google also made 28 changes to its advertiser policies and 20 changes to its publisher policies to address emerging advertising threats such as fake news.

Google is following Facebook in banning cryptocurrency ads, which took a similar step in January.