The Guardian and other media report (14 March) that Google will ban advertisements for cryptocurrencies, ICOs, wallets and exchanges will be blocked from June to prevent scams, following Facebook’s move in January this year.

The Guardian’s report reads: ‘Google said it will also begin blocking some gambling ads.

”Google will ban all adverts for cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and initial coin offerings (ICOs), as it seeks to “tackle emerging threats”.

The ad ban will come into force from June as part of a clampdown on unregulated financial products. Google’s director of sustainable ads, Scott Spencer, said in a blogpost: “We updated several policies to address ads in unregulated or speculative financial products like binary options, cryptocurrency, foreign exchange markets and contracts for difference (or CFDs).”

‘Google said its ban includes cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets. The company will also begin blocking some gambling ads, such as those for services using virtual items worth real-world money, known as skins betting, as it seeks to “combat new threats and improve the ads experience online”.

”The move follows similar bans made by advertising rival Facebook, which banned all cryptocurrency and ICO adverts in January after finding that many were being used to scam potential investors.

‘“As consumer trends evolve, as our methods to protect the open web get better, so do online scams,” said Scott. “Improving the ads experience across the web, whether that’s removing harmful ads or intrusive ads, will continue to be a top priority for us.”