What awaits Facebook advertisers after the changes?

In January, Facebook published a list of content that the company considers harmful to its users. The statement said that “ads should not be associated with financial products and services that are often associated with fraudulent activities - binary options, cryptocurrencies, ICOs.”

The ban on such advertising also applied to other web services owned by Facebook: Instagram and Network Audience. This ban was supposed to help protect users of the platform from scammers who conduct false initial coin offerings in order to defraud users and make money. Rob Leathern, Facebook's director of product management, said: "We are currently working to better and more quickly identify ads that attempt to mislead users. Similar efforts will be undertaken across all of our platforms as soon as they are reviewed and analyzed."

While this news is being seen in many media outlets as a "change of perspective" from platform management, in reality these changes will only provide cryptocurrency advertisers with a brief respite. For example, the ban on ICO advertising is still in effect.

At the same time, other cryptocurrency advertisements will be placed on the platform.

 To do this, advertisers will need to “submit an application.” They will be required to publish full information about their product and provide all necessary licenses, a brief written explanation of how the business operates, and the legal name and physical location of the company. The updated rules went into effect on the same day.

What impact will these changes have?

While these changes can be seen as a clear step forward, it is likely that many advertisers will simply not be able to comply with the requirements of the platform. The rules will continue to be updated, Leathern said. 

“Given all these restrictions, not everyone will be able to advertise their product on our website. However, we will listen to user feedback, look at how well these rules work, and if necessary, we will have the opportunity to change them in the future.”

After the mass ban of cryptocurrency ads on the platform, community members expressed different thoughts about the consequences of these changes. Many agree that these measures will help protect new traders who are easily lured by promises of high interest rates... This ban was introduced at the height of the popularity of ICOs, when many realized that this was a fairly quick and easy method of making money. While the new rules have made the platform more secure, it raises questions about what impact they have had on the cryptocurrency market as a whole.

After the January ban, scammers had to work much harder to achieve their goal as they were cut off from access to Facebook's huge user base. However, they quickly realized that they could create pages for their projects not only on Facebook, but also on Telegram, Slack, Discord and Reddit. Additionally, there are many examples of crypto projects that have demonstrated growth without the use of Facebook advertising. Many of the leading digital currencies have interacted with their community through established communication channels. 

The opinion that cryptocurrency projects do not depend on Facebook is widespread in the community. Chaintrade CEO Vincent Jacques recently stated: "While fewer ads certainly have an impact on the bottom line, I don't think any of the leading cryptocurrencies owe their success to this platform. To succeed in this business, you first need to take care of creating a viable, innovative product. If done correctly, the project will gain a much larger following than any advertising platform, even Facebook, can provide.".