The UK Financial Conduct Authority has announced its readiness to interact with social platforms to combat advertising of cryptocurrencies and other “risky” financial products.
At the annual meeting, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it intends to suppress advertising related to dubious financial activities, to which the agency also included cryptocurrencies. FCA believes their social media ads make users even more vulnerable to the risk of being targeted by attackers or losing funds due to the volatility of cryptoassets.
FCA’s head of enforcement, Mark Steward, said the agency has already contacted social media platforms on the issue, demanding more stringent measures to combat financial fraud. The steward hopes that they will take an active part in protecting users. He praised the Google search engine for taking action against advertising risky financial instruments.
Since early August, Google has allowed US companies to advertise cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets, but subject to certain conditions – these firms must pre-register with the Financial Crime Combating Network (FinCEN). As for ICO and DeFi, their advertising is still banned.
At the same time, Steward criticized other platforms for not paying attention to this issue. For example, Twitter and Facebook have not yet made any changes regarding the publication of materials about cryptocurrencies, despite the calls from the FCA.
“Social media is becoming a gateway through which cryptocurrency scammers can easily gain access to a huge number of people. We expect Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms to make efforts to protect society as well, ”Steward said.
According to the FCA, between April 2020 and March 2021, the number of complaints about cryptocurrency scammers increased by 222%. Therefore, a few months ago, the British regulator launched a campaign worth about $ 15 million to educate young people about the risks of investing in digital assets.
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