Have a look at these charts.
In the 7 days after Facebook announced a complete ban on all Crypto related advertising on 30 Jan 2018 crypto markets dropped by 53%.
In the 8 Days after Facebook announced a substantial relaxation of this ad ban policy on 8 May 2019 Crypto markets have risen by 41%.
ICOs were on fire when Facebook announced its Crypto ad ban on 30 Jan 2018.
You can see how the amounts raised dropped by almost two thirds in the following 3 months with Google's 15 March 2018 Ad ban announcement turning the screws.
But because Google's implementation of the ban was delayed until June, there was some success of last ditch efforts of ICOs to raise using Google adwords before Crypto projects were shut out of it too in June 2018. After that the ICO market completely died as all feasible methods of advertising had been cut off.
Now while these charts show a strong correlation between Facebook & Google's actions and the early 2018 crash and current recovery of the Crypto markets as well as the collapse of the ICO market, it is true that correlation is no causation.
But the causation argument is strong and simple.
Facebook & Google combined control over 66% of the online advertising market. Facebook alone controls 84% of the social media advertising market, which was the main place Crypto projects advertised for users and investors before the ban.
The entire purpose of advertising is to stimulate demand and the entire multi-trillion dollar advertising industry is built on the fact that advertising does indeed dramatically affect demand for a product.
Thus when Facebook banned Crypto ads it had a devastating impact on demand for cryptocurrencies and the ability of Crypto projects to attract new users and investors.
ICOs started failing and then dried up.
The price of any currency is determined simply by supply and demand. Cut demand while keeping supply constant and price drops. It is Economics 101!
Thus both empirical evidence of correlation and economic theory of causation match up.
The class action lawsuit against Facebook & Google which JPB Liberty is organising for the Crypto industry is based on the strong legal claim that Facebook & Google's Crypto Ad Ban was illegal under Australian law and the strong evidence that the losses caused by this illegal action include:
- investor losses from the $300 Billion (Facebook) & $100 Billion (Google) drops in Crypto markets;
- tens of billions in crypto project losses and failures from the collapse of the ICO market;
- tens of billions of losses in cryptocurrency exchange revenues due to dramatically lower prices and volumes.
Everyone globally who held crypto in 2018 or was involved in a Crypto project can join the class action for free.
Steemians can sign up by simply sending an encrypted memo to @jpbliberty saying "Join Crypto Class Action. My [email/Telegram/Skype] is [xxx]."
More details here and on the JPB Liberty website