Facebook Bans Bloom Ads: Confusion or Fear of Competition?

Facebook (NASDAQ: ) recently banned all ads from Bloom, a blockchain-oriented startup that develops identity management solutions, CNBC reports . The social media behemoth explained that its move was motivated given that Bloom was providing deceptive financial services options. However, Bloom says it doesn’t sell any financial products at all, even though users are free to use its platform to apply for loans, as its ID solution integrates credit scoring. Instead, the startup’s founder believes Facebook is afraid of Bloom’s competition for its own ID solution, Facebook Login.

Bloom co-founder Jesse Leimbruger told CNBC:

“They just banned it. This was a huge killer for us.”

The company, which is working on a technology that lets users have control over their data while signing into online applications and services, spent hundreds of thousands of USD on Facebook ads. The move was generating returns until the US tech giant decided to ban Bloom’s ads.

Facebook was probably confused by several terms Bloom often used on its website, such as and blockchain. However, it is quite natural for the startup to use these terms given that its solution is based on blockchain and leverages the Ethereum network.

In January of this year, we reported that Facebook banned all the advertising related to cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings (ICOs), and binary options, the latter being a form of financial trading service that promises fast returns.

While it is understandable...