Considering the recent decision by Google to ban advertisements for cryptocurrency, one has to wonder what the plan is over at Google. It seems that Google sees cryptocurrency as an online threat and wishes to protect its users from such threats.
As of this month, Google has updated its rules for ads with the following restrictions:
- Binary options and synonymous products
- Cryptocurrencies and related content (including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice)
The asserted reason for these new regulations concerning cryptocurrencies is that crypto has no regulatory body to ensure that it is not being used by criminals for the purposes of money laundering or trafficking of unlawful goods. It was reported by the Stasis Group that some 80% of initial coin offerings were somehow fraudulent, and this was the reasoning behind Google’s recent decision not to advertise any products resembling cryptocurrency.
However, this blanket policy has made some people angry, causing them to call the move unfair because it will lump the legitimate in with the fraudulent, and give all cryptocurrencies a bad name and reputation.
Ed Cooper, head of mobile at Revolut, wants “a more targeted approach”, and believes that Google’s ban is “heavy-handed” because one wouldn’t impose a ban on job postings just because some of them have been used by scammers to set up the unsuspecting.
Considering the fact that Google is investing a lot of its own money in blockchain technologies, some experts believe this move may not be about protecting Google’s users. Some believe that Google has other ideas, and that the ban is more about protecting its own interests. It has been reported that Google holds the number-two position among big investors in blockchain companies, having a total of 6 investments that span the services of private enterprises and merchants. In spite of the ban, it seems that Google hopes to profit from its investments in blockchain technology and this industry.
Phillip Nunn, the CEO of Blackmore Group, told Real Business that he suspects Google’s ban was enacted to facilitate the company’s potential plans of introducing its own cryptocurrency, and unfairly removing all other cryptocurrency advertisements, in order to give Google the upper hand. If this is true, then we have to ask whether Google can be trusted, and just what is their endgame?
David Coker, lecturer in accounting, finance and governance at Westminster Business School, claims we shouldn’t trust Google because it has been shown to profit from things like America’s opioid problems – so much, in fact, that it had to give up some $500 million dollars because of its dealings with Canadian online pharmacies selling drugs to Americans.
Coker went on to say that Google has been accused in court of making trademark infringement easy through its AdWords platform. And in its yearly “bad ads” report, it admitted to having taken money from people distributing fake news.
What does all this tell us, you ask? At the very least, it tells us that you should question everything, and don’t allow the business decisions of others to directly influence your own.
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