My name is Kevin. I write for The Daily Bit, a newsletter that focuses on blockchain and digital currencies. Many others produce newsletters with a similar focus as mine. Like others, my content has a strict educational focus. Like others, I do not advertise, promote, shill, or pump any ICOs or cryptocurrency-related products. Like others, I use MailChimp to deliver our campaigns - at least for now.

MailChimp recently updated their Acceptable Use Policy to state “we cannot allow businesses involved in any aspect of the sale, transaction, exchange, storage, marketing or production of cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, and any digital assets related to an Initial Coin Offering, to use MailChimp to facilitate or support any of those activities.”

Mailchimp’s change in policy coincides with decisions made by Facebook, Google, Snapchat and Twitter to ban the display of advertisements related to cryptocurrency Initial Coin Offerings. Given the breadth of material on Initial Coin Offerings that does display false or misleading information, such bans are necessary to protect investors and uphold the integrity of the space.

However, these measures negatively impact businesses that do not provide false or misleading information. There are a number of blockchain and cryptocurrency blogs, newsletters and campaigns that educate the community without facilitating or supporting activities related to Initial Coin Offerings.

In fact, the need for a greater understanding of digital currencies and blockchain technology is explicitly listed in the conclusion of Chapter 9 in the 2018 Joint Economic Report, which recommends that “Policymakers and the public should become more familiar with digital currencies and other uses of blockchain technology, which have a wide range of applications in the future.”

Mailchimp’s new Acceptable Use Policy will restrict the flow of factual and trustworthy information in the space. One such newsletter called “Week In Ethereum” was created by Evan Van Ness who revealed that Mailchimp will terminate his account by 04/30 resulting from the update to their Acceptable Use Policy. As noted on Nass’ website, Week In Ethereum is funded by ConsenSys, a venture production studio creating solutions for the blockchain ecosystem.

There are many educational newsletters, each which caters to a unique consumer. Yet, as noted by Anthony Pompliano, there exists a grey area regarding the differentiation of “marketing” and “news” in campaigns. Publications that do provide legitimate value may be misconstrued as marketing items that breach Mailchimp’s Acceptable Use Policy.

Daniel Gorfine, Chief Innovation Officer at the CFTC, was recently interviewed by our publication. Commenting on advertising platforms that filter out false and misleading commercial speech, Gorfine stated that “it would be a reasonable decision to choose to reject such advertisements and their related advertising dollars.”.

Gorfine then continued, expecting that “as the ability to filter good actors from bad actors - or tailor restrictions narrowly - improves, I would imagine there would be many responsible advertising platforms willing to sell ad space regarding new products or services.”

As a private company, MailChimp retains the right to terminate accounts that do not comply with their legal framework. And as noted by Daniel Gorfine, any account terminations could be due to an inability to filter good actors from bad actors.

While the decision of what accounts to service ultimately rests with MailChimp, an indication of strong support for educational content could encourage Mailchimp to identify solutions to filter out false and misleading speech, allowing good actors to continue providing content on their platform.

Success will require a collaborative effort among readers of all blockchain technology and digital currency blogs, newsletters, and campaigns. Additionally, support from those that would like to learn about blockchain technology and digital currencies will be necessary.

Information wants to be free. Yet, not all information can be trusted, creating a danger to uninformed consumers. A means of filtering out bad actors must be sought out to ensure that platforms such as MailChimp do not unknowingly terminate trustworthy publications that provide the public with valued information.

Again - false and misleading content needs to go. But, if you have gained or recognize the value of educational distributions, help us exemplify the support for trustworthy content by signing the petition below.

Kevin, CEO at The Daily Bit