Google has announced an expansion of its rules around ads relating to financial products and services, in order to provide additional protection from fraud and scams for consumers in more regions.
Google launched the first stage of its new financial services policy roll out in September last year, with providers in the UK required to provide documentation confirming that they’re authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority before they can run Google ads.
Now, the same regulations will be expanded to Australia, Singapore and Taiwan, in partnership with their respective local authorities.
As explained by Google:
“As part of the verification process, financial services advertisers in these markets will need to demonstrate that they are authorized by their relevant financial services regulator, and have completed Google’s advertiser verification program in order to begin promoting their products and services. Advertisers will be able to apply for verification at the end of June, and the policy will go into effect on August 30, 2022. Advertisers that have not completed the new verification process by this date will no longer be allowed to promote financial services.”
Which could be interesting for crypto brands and investment opportunities related to crypto speculation. NFT projects, for example, are ostensibly about ‘the art’, but really, most are about financial opportunities, with respect to flipping NFT pictures for more money on the open market.
Do they come under Google’s new financial services regulations?
Well, NFTs, not directly, but Google does have restrictions on crypto ads, with crypto exchanges only allowed to advertise in certain countries (and only if they meet local authorization requirements), while ads for initial coin offerings, DeFi trading protocols, or those ‘promoting the purchase, sale, or trade of cryptocurrencies’ are not allowed at all.
The rising interest in crypto is not the direct purpose of these new regulations, but Google is trying to move its systems more into line with local laws on such, in order to ensure that its platforms are not being used to facilitate illicit activities.
And according to Google, its additional measures are working:
“Since we launched this policy in the UK, we’ve seen a pronounced decline in reports of ads promoting financial scams […] In 2021 alone, we blocked or removed more than 58.9 million ads for violating our financial services policies. And in 2020, we launched our advertiser verification program that will require Google advertisers to verify and disclose information about their businesses, such as where they operate and what they’re selling or promoting. This transparency feature is now live in more than 180 countries and helps people learn more about the company and services behind a specific ad.”
It’s a good move for Google to shift its systems more into line with local rules, which will also help the platform avoid future government confrontations over its promotional policies, and the amplification of scams.
Which have become a bigger issue in the emerging crypto space. Every other day there’s another platform exploit or rug pull that robs people of millions – and you can bet that, eventually, more governments will look to step in to offer more protections for their citizens.
That could spell the end of crypto entirely, at least in any truly functional sense. But regardless of what happens on a broader scale, it makes sense for Google to move into line with such before it becomes a more significant concern.
