UK Advertising Watchdog Takes Action Against “Misleading” Crypto Ads – Bitcoin News

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s advertising regulator, said it would crack down on misleading ads promoting cryptocurrency investments. The organization will include cryptocurrency campaigns as a “red warning” priority in the financial marketing department. The organization will, it claims, be more proactive about these ads, contact companies, and issue warnings in the future.

UK Advertising Watchdog increases vigilance on crypto campaigns

The UK advertising watchdog is not happy with how cryptocurrency campaigns are being carried out in the country. The Advertising Standards Authority said it would tighten its standards to tackle “misleading” cryptocurrency ads. As a result, any advertisement that does not comply with the standards issued by the regulator will be removed. Miles Lockwood, Director of Complaints and Investigations at ASA said:

We see this as an absolutely crucial and priority area for us. Wherever we find problems, we will crack down hard and fast.

The agency has put cryptocurrency marketing campaigns on a red alert and will step up oversight of all types of crypto-related ads. According to the rules, most of these advertisements do not meet the conditions required by the regulator. However, the ASA mainly relies on consumer complaints to take action against third parties. But now the regulator will play a more proactive role in overseeing these marketing activities on social media as well.

Louise Maroney, Financial Complaints Lead for the ASA, stated:

We are aware that there are some types of media that we have not yet been able to fully address.

Confusing rules

The ASA has now jumped into the public eye as cryptocurrencies have become more popular with potential retail investors. That’s why the agency took action when Luno, a cryptocurrency trading app, ran ads on public transport across London in May. At the time, the ASA urged the company to make sure that other advertisements “are not irresponsibly exploiting the lack of experience or gullibility of consumers by suggesting that Bitcoin investing is easy or accessible”.

The problem is that these rules are mostly not as simple as players in the crypto space would like them to be. According to Luno, this lack of clarity is causing problems for cryptocurrency companies running these campaigns. Luno’s CEO Marcus Swanepoel stated at the time:

In all fairness, we got the impression that these ads are fine.

The FCA released a research note in June stating that consumers who purchase cryptocurrencies because of advertisements are much more likely to regret the purchase.

What do you think of the UK advertising regulator’s actions on cryptocurrency ads? Let us know in the comments section below.

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