Bitcoin Forum

A senior investigator at the Manitoba Securities Commission in Canada has said that the country's regulators are "very pleased" with social media giant Facebook's decision to ban ads for bitcoin and initial coin offerings (ICOs),

Jason Roy, who is also the chairman of Canada's Binary Options Task Force, said that regulators have been in conversations with Google regarding their concern that "these types of ads are leading people to becoming victims."

He suggested that Google should take a similar course to Facebook, and restrict ad content for binary options, ICOs and cryptocurrencies.

"There's just been an explosion of different ICOs and new tokens and crazy offerings. You're seeing ICOs that are raising large amounts of money and there's nothing behind them in certain cases, but members of the public are so hyped that they're throwing money at them," Roy told The Times of Israel.

Facebook announced its ban on cryptocurrency-related ads in a Jan. 30. blog post. The company's product management director, Rob Leathern, wrote at the time:

"We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception. That said, there are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs and cryptocurrencies that are not currently operating in good faith."

Roy's comments to the Israeli news site coincide with with more general regulatory chatter from authorities who are increasingly seeking to reign in cryptocurrencies.

On Tuesday, the chairmen of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission testified that ICOs must be treated, and therefore regulated, more like securities than they are at present.

https://www.coindesk.com/canadian-official-wants-google-ban-ads-crypto-icos/

The point is well-taken but how can they regulate something they know they cannot totally control? What will happen is just a haphazard work for these government officials. I hope before they even think of regulating cryptocurrencies, they create mechanisms to submit these ICOs within their control. There has to be some level of control before you can EFFECTIVELY regulate ICOs. Otherwise, this presumptive regulation would just seem like a lip service while being used as a means for government officials into corrupt practices.

I do not know how further can the Canadian government go about this with Google, considering the latter is a business operating with private interests. But one thing is certain, when Google obliges, it would definitely do harm to the world of cryptocurrencies and its stakeholders.

Governments and companies are just looking for scapegoats to show people that they need their protection. When there are real malicious ads, like Russian propaganda that disrupts western politics, they don't do anything because they are just bought by Russia, but cryptocurrencies don't have any rich lobbyists, so they are cracking down on them. There are many examples of shady activity on social medias similar to ICO's and other scams - multi level marketing, ponzi schemes, etc, but no one bothers to fight them.