Microsoft’s Search Engine Bans All Cryptocurrency Ads

The world’s second largest search engine recently announced to the general public that it has put a ban on all cryptocurrency advertisements. The search engine is referred to here is Microsoft’s Bing search engine. However it is not the first to take such action against cryptocurrency ads, it is following the footsteps of Google, Facebook, and Twitter who have already restricted or ban cryptocurrency ads.

Melissa Alsoszatai-Petheo, an Advertiser Policy Manager posted an update to Mircosoft’s Bing search engine ad policy. The title of the report notes “Bing Ads to Disallow Cryptocurrency Advertising.”

Mrs. Alsoszatai-Petheo started by stating “We are always evaluating our policies to ensure a safe and engaging experience for our Bing users and the digital advertising ecosystem.” She added, “Because cryptocurrency and related products are not regulated, we have found them to present a possible elevated risk to our users with the potential for bad actors to participate in predatory behaviors, or otherwise scam consumers.”

Bing has long been a runner-up when it comes to being the biggest search engine in the world. Google, which is the largest search engine that records up to 60 percent of the search traffic on the internet. At the beginning of the year, Google announced a far more specific series of cryptocurrency related prohibitions, down to defining a contract for difference (CFDs) products.

Not long after that, around the end of January, Facebook was next in line to cryptocurrency ads. It was reported that on January 30th, Facebook issued a new ruling. This new ruling states that ads must not promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings, or cryptocurrency. Another social media outlet called Twitter followed a couple of months later by releasing its new advertising policy, severely restricting initial coin offering (ICOs) and token sales.

The report from Bing also stated that “To help protect our users from this risk, we have made the decision to disallow advertising for the cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency related products, and un-regulated binary options. Bing Ads will implement this change to our financial products and services policy globally in June, with enforcement rolling out in late June to early July.”