According to a Sept. 5 article from The Sydney Morning Herald that cites local media sources, Netflix has begun discussions with local advertisers in Australia. According to these sources, the streaming giant will ban several types of advertising, including cryptocurrency ads.
The report says that Netflix will also ban political ads, gambling ads, and ads aimed at children. It could also impose restrictions on pharmaceutical advertisements.
It is unclear whether the ban on cryptocurrency ads will only apply to Australia or all countries receiving the ad-supported service, such as the US, UK, Canada , France and Germany.
In August, Australia announced its intention to regulate crypto-assets and related advertisements in a way that customers are “properly informed and protected.“While these rules do not outright ban cryptocurrency ads, Netflix may not want to override local rules.
At the same time, today’s article does not state or imply that the cryptocurrency ban will be limited to Australia.
Netflix told The Sydney Morning Herald that its advertising policy is currently undecided. A spokesperson said the company is “still in the early days” the determination of its advertising model and that”no decision has been made.”
However, most sources report that Netflix plans to launch the service as early as November. Contrary to Netflix’s own claims, this suggests a launch is imminent.
If Netflix goes ahead with this ban, it will join a list of other tech giants that have taken a stand against cryptocurrency marketing. Google and Facebook (now Meta) banned crypto ads in 2018, although both companies relaxed their policies in June and December 2021 respectively.
Twitter, meanwhile, has banned crypto ads since 2018. It bans ads for most crypto services outside of centralized exchanges.