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On January 10th, the Decenter company announced that Google has blacklisted keywords that mention Ethereum (ETH) on its advertising platform, Google Ads.
Google Ads: We can not confirm that Ethereum is eligible to generate advertisements, see our policy
In particular, the start tweeted that have seen "a hard stop" on Google Ads containing the keyword "Ethereum" starting from January 9th. Decenter also tagged the official account of the advertising platform in the tweet, asking if they had introduced new policy changes.
The Google Ads account then responded by stating that cryptocurrency exchanges targeting the US and Japan can be advertised on the platform, while targeting for other countries could be the reason for the rejection of the announcement. While Decenter is based in Belgrade, Serbia, it does not provide services like an encrypted exchange.
In addition, when the startup explained that it is a group of developers who perform intelligent checks on the security of the contract and who were displaying an error message when trying to use "development services ethereum" and "security checks ethereum "As keywords, the official Google Ads account said they could not confirm in advance that the keyword" Ethereum "was suitable for generating advertisements.
"We recommend that you refer to the" Cryptocurrencies "section of our financial products and services policy."
In the reference section of their policy, Google Ads states that "due to the complex and evolving nature of cryptocurrency regulations and related products and services", the company only allows advertising of services related to mining activities and trade in criptovalute. This is only approved for promotion in Japan and the United States, however.
The Google Ads Guide explicitly mentions that ads for initial coin offerings (ICOs) and similar services, along with "ad destinations that aggregate or compare cryptocurrency issuers or related products," such as encryption signals, are prohibited .
The general ban followed by relaxation: a brief introduction to the relationship between Google and Crypto
In 2018, after a long period without regulation, Google's policy regarding cryptocurrencies became significantly more stringent. Specifically, on 14 March, the search engine giant updated its financial services policy, announcing that it would ban all cryptocurrency advertising of all types in June.
To justify its ban on advertising, Google said it was protecting its customers from fraudulent offers, including, but not limited to, "initial money offerings, exchanges of cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency portfolios and cryptocurrency trading tips". The company's executive, Scott Spender, told CNBC at the time:
"We do not have a crystal ball to know where the future will go with cryptocurrencies, but we have seen damage or potential damage to consumers that is an area we want to tackle with extreme caution."
The move was later described as "unjust" and "worrying" by industry insiders. Interestingly, the news of an encryption ban came a few days after cryptic advertisers using Google Adwords noticed a drastic drop in the number of views of their advertisements. However, as by Magnate Finance, Google Ads had, at that time, denied any change in their financial services regulations that would have blocked the cryptocurrency or ICO advertising.
Furthermore, on September 25, the US technology giant partly backed off its absolute ban on advertising. Google announced its intention to update its advertising policy in October, allowing some encrypted companies to advertise on its platform.
According to the official statement, starting in October, Google would allow registered cryptographic exchanges to advertise on its Google Adwords platform, addressing the United States and the Japanese public:
"Advertisers will need to be certified with Google for the specific country where their ads will appear. Advertisers will be able to request certification once the policy is launched in October."
The cryptocurrency section of the Google Ads policy has subsequently been updated, but the exact quantity and nature of the cryptographic activities that have been authorized to publicize it remain unknown.
Decenter: the "Ethereum" keywords do not work for other companies as well, Google Ads provides a definitive explanation within 48 hours
After communicating with Google Ads on Twitter, Decenter turned to Reddit to ask the users of r / Ethereum subreddit for the alleged policy changes. In the post, the team specified that they had tested the keywords for "smart ethereum contract audit" and "eos smart contract audit" and found that only the keyword with EOS showed ads.
The community reacted largely by criticizing Google's position as a neutral third party. The main comment reads:
"Google has various political and economic programs, and they are quite willing to use their various services to promote their preferences, and AdSense and YouTube are known for this, but there have also been some incidents involving the Play Store."
Other users have mainly mentioned the previous general ban and the abundance of scam projects as potential reasons why Google Ads prohibited such advertisements. Some users have reported problems with other keywords related to cryptography in addition to "Ethereum". "I was not able to use the" bitcoin "(or even the" blockchain ") even in my google ads," read one of the comments.
When joined by Cointelegraph, Decenter's CEO, Andrej Cvoro, said that there are other startups who have started to encounter difficulties with the keyword "Ethereum" this month:
"We are aware of at least five different competitors who have shown Google ads for search phrases such as" Ethereum smart contract audit ", which has stopped showing simultaneously."
When asked to clarify the names of companies presumably dealing with the same problem, Cvoro replied that he was not able to answer "with certainty":
"All we know is that there are other companies that used their ads for search phrases like" Ethereum smart contract audit ", which is no longer the case because of the complexity of Google's keyword setting mechanism Ads, this does not necessarily mean that these companies have explicitly included "Ethereum" as one of their keywords, although there is a good chance that this is the case. "
Therefore, according to Cvoro, advertisements continue to be displayed for other cryptographic tags, but "Ethereum" does not seem to work – neither for those companies, nor for Decenter itself. This, adds the CEO of the startup, suggests that Ethereum was actually added to the blacklist:
"For example, the sentence & # 39; X smart contract review will show different ads for any X, except when X = & # 39; Ethereum. & # 39; Also, we are not currently able to find a single search phrase involving the term "Ethereum" which shows any ads on Google, which strongly implies that "Ethereum" as a keyword has been inserted into the blacklist (intentionally or otherwise). "
In fact, a search on Google for "intelligent verification of the EOS contract" seems to make some ads appear, including Decenter and similar start-ups, while the search engine does not show any announcement when it is consulted "Ethereum smart contract audit".
However, Cvoro does not link the blacklist to Google's previous restrictions on cryptographic ads, as his company would not have to deal with issues with the keyword "Ethereum" even during the period when the ban was fully active:
"We do not think this is directly related to Google's general prohibition on cryptocurrencies in the last year.This is something we have been aware of since the start of our Google ad campaign, but none of our ads were directly (and often not even indirectly) related to cryptocurrencies, so they were examining manual reviews even when they were initially put on hold by the algorithm.Therefore, what is happening now is different, meaning that the keywords that contain "Ethereum" no more manual reviews pass, which does not seem to be the case for other terms or phrases related to the blockchain. "
On January 15, Decenter received an e-mail from the Google Ads team, the company told Cointelegraph. The answer was originally written in Croatian, but the launch shared the English translation of the short statement:
"Thank you for submitting a request for information on the status of your Google ads with key phrases that contain the term" Ethereum "as one of the keywords.
"Because of how sensitive it is to advertise products and / or services related in any way to cryptocurrencies, I contacted the responsible department directly with a request for a detailed explanation of why your ads are not displayed for the keywords mentioned.
Please be patient and I will answer you with a final solution within 48 hours ".
Cointelegraph will continue to report on developments in this story further when more information is available. Cointelegraph also contacted Google for further comments, but the company did not respond at the time of the press.
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