Twitter announced Monday that it will ban ads for cryptocurrencies. "Under this new policy, the advertisement of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and token sales will be prohibited globally," Twitter said in its email statement, TechCrunch reported.
Bitcoin, the most well-known cryptocurrency on the market, has not escaped this announcement unscathed. On Monday, it was down about 6 percent from its closing price Sunday, CNBC reported. However, the overall market for cryptocurrency may not be affected much; less than 1 percent of the web traffic that exchange sites receive is from paid advertisements, The Verge reported.
Even so, many social media platforms are attempting to distance themselves from cryptocurrencies after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission warned that various ICOs may be breaking securities regulations. Facebook instituted a ban in January, and Google recently announced a ban that will take effect in June, Bloomberg reported. Earlier this month, the SEC sent subpoenas to many cryptocompanies it suspected of breaking the law, prompting Twitter to announce that it was "implementing measures" to prevent scams.
These new restrictions may be an effort to shape up content policies in general, Quartz suggested. With the recent attention devoted to Facebook's data breach at the hands of Cambridge Analytica, platforms may be making the decision to play it safe.