Breaking:TikTok Bans Crypto Currency ads and other Ponzi schemes on Social media.

 

 #OPINIONLEADER# The popular social media platform  TikTok has banned the running of Crypto currency ads, Ponzi schemes and other misleading financial investments advertisements on its platform.

The popular social media platform TikTok which has over 800 million active users worldwide has decisively banned the promotion of various financial service products such as: Crypto currencies, Ponzi schemes and other get Rich quick investment ads from advertising such through its platform subsequently.

According to the management of TikTok,  all branded content sharing including the promotion of all financial services and products not approved by the FCA is now globally prohibited within their platform.

Further, the management of the platform reiterated that this new prohibition  encompasses such deals as lending and management of money assets, cryptocurrency, foreign exchange, pyramid schemes, get Rich quick investment services, Ponzi schemes, etc.

This measure have been forcefully adopted by TikTok after the Financial Conduct Authority has raised serious concerns and need for censorship on different social media platforms which vividly seemed to be misleading the young generation towards jumping-in to take financial advice from what they read on Social media especially regarding Crypto Currency, get Rich quick schemes and other bogus investment platforms.

Notably, the FCA has previously asserted that various social media platforms were considerably responsible for young investors taking on too much risk when investing and often believing what they read from social media to be genuine as to have warranted their approval by the platform.

According to a previous observation by the Financial regulators, "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."

Just last month on the 21st of June the management of  TikTok cautiously had to respond to age long appeal from concerned users and other bodies to roll out videos which consistently anchored on how to make informed financial decisions, getting the most out of a very little investment, Crypto currencies and other Ponzi schemes bombarded onto the platform.

This move from TikTok have been motivated by its recent determination to make users regain confidence on the platform as well as maintain sanity and ensure genuineness in the contents infiltrated into the platform as to avoid misleading unsuspecting users especially the young ones. This move equally was to sensitize all users to be at alert to possible financial misinformation and remain discretion in their involvement with all these misleading investment schemes.

However, this need for scrutinizing content sharing is not restricted to TikTok alone as other social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, emails, Google and other internet social service providers have come under increasing pressure to take action over scam advertisements appearing on their platforms, especially as Covid Pandemic and indoor restrictions have seen fraud levels widen up.

Recall that Google has made a similar move last month to clamp down on all financial frauds and bogus schemes appearing on its platforms which frequently mislead unsuspecting minds. To this end, They mandated all financial services advertisers to demonstrate they are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority before ever they get permitted to run such ads on Google.

Above all, this increasing rate of financial scams through the social media have forced government across the country to consider the creation of new bills to regulate content sharing through the media while some government have been so harsh as to ban some media platforms from operating in their country.

We hope that with this move, other social media platforms will develop a strict policy towards the regulation of bogus schemes and other financial scams design consistently made to look real and circulated through the various media outlets.