Crypto ads no longer allowed on TikTok

TikTok announced on Friday that certain types of ads would no longer be allowed on their platform. Crypto-based promotional content was included among the now-verboten topics, according to an article from FT Adviser on July 8. 

The new guidelines on the social video posting site will specifically inhibit users from posting promotional content about financial products, regardless of the poster’s geographic location. “According to TikTok’s branded content policy, the promotion of all financial services and products is now globally prohibited,” the FT Adviser article detailed.

TikTok was a hotbed for Dogecoin (DOGE) hype in 2020, when users shared related videos in an effort to get more folks to jump on the bandwagon. Other social media sites have also hosted notable financial markets discussion in recent months, with stock discussions on Reddit becoming prominent as well.

“My interpretation of this is [TikTok] are clamping down on directly or indirectly sponsored content which leads to an affiliate link, for example to sign up to a trading platform and get free stocks,” Informed Choice’s client education head, Martin Bamford, told FT Adviser, adding:

“We see a huge amount of this branded content on TikTok, usually from poorly informed commentators, who lure in followers with promises of riches, but in reality are making their money off people signing up via affiliate links."

It is unclear as to whether TikTok’s ban applies to all financial product discussions, or just those which are promotional in nature. Google banned crypto advertisements in 2018, although it did remove part of that ban this year for some entities, pending certain requirements.