Facebook Lifts Ban on Crypto Ads

The Facebook company, now renamed Meta, announced that it had pulled and made revisions to its policy on its ban on cryptocurrency ads. The social media giant made its decision to make changes to its rules after the company itself experienced stiff pushback from the government and money regulators worldwide, as Facebook itself also tried to launch its line of crypto products.

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Attempting to create their own crypto-money and distribute it globally, Facebook was meant to use their own platform as a vehicle to move crypto by using their newly-created version called Libra. Its name was then subsequently changed to Diem. In hindsight, however, one can only imagine how they could have taken over a humungous piece of the market in a short amount of time if only they had pushed through.

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Timeline:

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January 2018- Reasons for Facebook Ad Ban

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The ban on crypto ads from Facebook began after the ICO bubble burst that same year. It had regulators jostling for position, and retail investors left holding the bag. Uncertain of what was coming next, the company was concerned about its billion-strong users (or at least a portion of it) being scammed by startups since the company didn't want people running ads that could be deceptive or misleading.

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As a protective measure of sorts, before anyone can put up any kind of crypto ad on the social media platform, Facebook required advertisers to apply and provide information on any license they may have on trading in a public stock exchange. Or in any case, if they have other related public offerings.

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This requirement was stringent and limited to only three regulatory licenses, which practically became known as a ban. Well, at the least it was, for smaller companies who didn't have the necessary qualifications.

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May 2019- Facebook Slightly Eases Up Crypto Ad Ban

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Ramping up its own blockchain efforts, it then allowed ads that already had prior approval, or only if it was just some news blockchain, crypto-tech, and industry updates. Nevertheless, it wasn't much of a release for most startups that did not qualify.

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June 2019- Facebook Announced Its Own Crypto Brand

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Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, announced the company plans to launch Libra. By then, the comptrollers promptly shut it down, leaving the project in limbo. As a result, Libra, now Diem, was put on the back burner.

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November 2021- Facebook Exec for Crypto David Marcus Resigns/Novi Successfully Launched

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He announced his departure would be due in December of 2021. The currency that was meant for digital assets has then shifted to a US-dollar backed Stablecoin. Nevertheless, last October 2021, their digital wallet product "Novi" was successfully released, while "Diem" is still in the wings waiting to be approved.

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December 1, 2021- Meta (formerly Facebook) Announces Expansion on Eligibility Rules About Running Ads on Crypto.

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Facebook revises its rules by requiring the applicant to submit at least one of any of the 27 regulatory licenses instead of 3 in its previous policy. This move effectively broadens the approval base for applicants as it will allow small businesses to put up advertisements and use Facebook tools while scaling their businesses.

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Facebook, in a statement, said, "We are doing this because the cryptocurrency landscape has continued to mature and stabilize in recent years and has seen more government regulations that are setting clearer rules for their industry."

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Along with this development of Facebook's goal of adjusting their policy, they want to make it more "equitable and transparent" for more advertisers and other small businesses to grow their client base and reach more customers. Updating and expanding their eligibility criteria for licenses allowed from 3 to 27 is good news to startups.

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They will make the list of these eligible licenses publicly available on their policy page. Furthermore, Facebook assures previous advertisers who were approved in the past policy will not be affected by the revision. Additionally, the list of products and services that are prerequisites of the application process will also remain.

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List of Prerequisites Before Application:

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The applicant must have or operate any of the following:

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• Software apps, platforms, and or products identified as cryptocurrency exchange and trading platforms such as margin trading, spot trading, futures trading, and other trading tools that are related to crypto
• Software apps, platforms, and other products that are into the lending business
• Crypto wallets that let people buy & sell, swap, and invest their cryptocurrency tokens.
• Mining Hardware and Software dedicated to crypto mining.

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In light of this development, Meta/Facebook aims to continue to enforce its related policies and eradicate deceptive ads that do not follow the rules. They have added a "report ad" button at the upper right-hand corner for users who encounter content that violate their Advertising Policies. The company is looking to improve more of its services and gather viable user feedback from people relying on the platform for personal and business purposes.

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Facebook/Meta will also continue to refine these new rules as the industry evolves. They may add other eligible licenses as they see fit. Today Meta's new policies will allow more retail investors access to crypto products in ways that were not possible in the past.

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Crypto and the Metaverse

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Facebook's renaming to Meta is the company's way of embracing the metaverse. And metaverse is all about the internet and the evolution of virtual reality, which is considered to be the parallel of physical reality. People living in these meta spaces will eventually be making transactions using NFT's and cryptocurrency, all of which are supported by the blockchain system.

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This is how and why crypto has become significant in today's society and indeed into the near and far future of the digital world.

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Wrapping Up

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Historically speaking, crypto ads seem to be at their peak nowadays. Platforms in the social media sphere are becoming increasingly receptive to crypto events and news. They are also starting to become lenient in their policies about marketing crypto. Major exchanges are being made, and money is being invested for expansion.

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Looking for help with Facebook Ads for your project? Book a meeting with a Lunar Expert today.