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You are here: Home / Blog / Facebook Ads Rules 101: A Guide to Getting Your Ads Approved Quickly

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Facebook Ads Rules 101: A Guide to Getting Your Ads Approved Quickly

January 14, 2021 166 Comments Animalz

Trying to follow Facebook ads rules can feel like trying to hit a moving target in the dark. What can you advertise? How can you advertise it? Who are you allowed to advertise to? And once you’ve figured out those answers, how long does the mysterious Facebook ads review process take?

Even when you’ve finally figured out, Facebook changes another marketing policy, and your ads get rejected again. Or they sit in a “pending review” purgatory forever, never to be approved or denied.

We have reviewed all of Facebook’s current advertising rules, policies, and procedures and have organized them here for an easy summary.

cover illustration

  • Facebook Ads Review: How Does it Work and How Long Does it Take?
  • 5 Facebook Ads Rules to Follow to Get Your Ad Approved
  • Facebook Marketing Policy: What You Need to Know
  • How to Keep Your Campaign Running If Your Ad Is Denied

Together, we’ll increase your ad approval chances, keep you out of Facebook purgatory, and make sure you know what to do when an ad is rejected.

Facebook Ads Review: How Does it Work and How Long Does it Take?

Facebook has a posted procedure for the steps and the time they take to review your ads. But experience suggests their procedure is more a recommendation than a rule. Here’s what we’ve learned about the Facebook ads review process.

What are the steps of a Facebook ad review?

According to Facebook, ads review is a simple three-step process:

  1. You submit or edit an ad.
  2. Your ad is reviewed.
  3. Your ad is either approved or denied.
Screenshot of Facebook's ad review procedure image

Source

Whether your ad is approved or denied, Facebook will let you know by email and/or notification in your account. If your ad is approved, it’ll be published automatically, and you’ll start to see results in Ads Manager.

Behind the scenes, there seems to be a mix of people and machine-based reviews. Facebook says they rely mostly on automated ad reviews but use human reviewers “to improve and train our automated systems and, in some cases, to review specific ads.”

What triggers a Facebook ads review?

There are two scenarios that cause your ads to be reviewed by Facebook:

  1. You create a new Facebook ad.
  2. You make changes to an existing ad.

 

Changes that trigger a review include:

  • Changing creative like images, text, video, or link
  • Altering the audience you target
  • Choosing new optimization goals or billing events

Sometimes, your ad is approved quickly, only to be denied a day or two later. It’s hard to say for sure why that is. The timing suggests that the first approval is done via an automated process, and then a human manually reviews and denies the ad.

How can I speed up my ad review?

Facebook says that most ads are reviewed within 24 hours. In reality, some ads are approved in minutes, while some can take days.

There’s no official expedite function within the Facebook ads review policy; however, there are some things you can do that may help speed things along.

Publish between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Friday.
From our data, we see ads posted during these times often get a faster review.

Be consistent.
Domains and ad accounts with a long history of approved ads seem to be denied less often.

Don’t bend the rules.
If your ad is on the edge of breaking one of the Facebook ads rules, it’s more likely to get flagged for additional review. You may win an appeal if it’s denied, but you’ll lose a lot of time in the process.

Allow for extra time in Q4.
Businesses place more ads leading up to the holidays. You can see that play out in the fourth-quarter spikes of Facebook ad revenue.

Screenshot of graph showing Facebook ad revenue by quarter

Source

With all that ad traffic to review, it’s best to give yourself some extra leeway leading up to the Q4 crunch. Ideally, submit ads at least two weeks before you need them to publish.

What if my ad is stuck in review?

Sometimes, your ad gets lost in Facebook limbo, with no status update on approval or denial.

So, my facebook Ad is stuck in “In Review”

Can anyone help me understand what to do? How to solve it?

Please retweet.
Thanks.#Facebook #facebookmarketing

— Arun Kumar Verma (@arun11192) November 23, 2019

You have two options to unstick your ad if it hasn’t been dealt with in 24 hours: You can submit a form to force a review. Or you can chat with Facebook support through the Facebook Business Help Center. We recommend the first option and that you use chat only if the form fails.

What happens if my ad is denied?

If your ad is denied, Facebook will let you know what rule you’ve broken on your Facebook Account Quality page.

Typically, a few infractions won’t affect anything beyond having those ads denied. If you show a trend of breaking the Facebook ads rules over and over, or if your infraction is egregious, Facebook may take further action, such as disabling, restricting, or revoking your account.

But what do you do if your account is negatively affected?

Welp, my Facebook ads account was banned after a whole 8 hours of running our first ad ever. Is it worth submitting for review or is this a lost cause?

— Scott Robinson (@ScottWRobinson) January 7, 2021

If this happens to you, review this page from Facebook, and contact a representative through Business Center Help.

5 Facebook Ads Rules to Follow to Get Your Ad Approved

Avoiding ad rejection is an important part of Facebook marketing. It starts with understanding what products and content Facebook reviewers will and won’t allow.

1. Don’t advertise prohibited products.

Before you create a single ad or even commit to advertising on Facebook, make sure your products aren’t subject to an automatic Facebook ad ban. Here’s what’s currently not allowed:

Illegal products or services
You can’t advertise any product that would get you arrested or fined for selling. This includes offering age-restricted products to minors.

Tobacco and related products
No cigarettes, cigars, vapes, or any product that simulates smoking. Antismoking ads are OK, as are ads that lead to tobacco-enthusiast groups, like a cigar club — as long as the ads don’t lead to the sale of a related product.

Drugs and related products
This means both illegal and prescription drugs, as well as paraphernalia and images that imply drug use.

Unsafe supplements
Think steroids, ephedra, or human growth hormones. Facebook’s policy on this is clear: They get to decide which products are included in the category, so it’s going to be subjective.

Weapons, ammo, or explosives
Handguns, rifles, and shotguns are obvious exclusions here. But this category also includes pepper spray, tasers, and things like batons and non-culinary knives. You can advertise accessories like holsters, scopes, and gun safes if you set your audience targeting to 18 years or older. Toy guns and gun-safety classes are also allowed.

Adult products or services
You can advertise contraceptive products, but you have to focus the messaging on their contraceptive features, and audience targeting needs to be 18 years or older.

Payday loans or bail bonds
Basically, any loan with a term of less than 90 days designed to cover expenses until the borrower’s next payday is a banned ad product.

Multilevel marketing
This restriction also bans advertising any opportunity to make a quick buck with little investment. You have to be very clear on what your business model and associated products are if you want to promote moneymaking opportunities on Facebook.

Penny auctions
They’re also called “bidding fee auctions,” and you can’t advertise them on Facebook.

Prohibitive financial products
Some financial products are synonymous with misleading claims. Binary options and initial coin offerings are examples, and Facebook blocks ads that promote them.

Body parts
We hope this is self-explanatory.

2. Do be careful when advertising restricted products.

Additional considerations are required before some products can be advertised on Facebook. If you’re in one of these industries, make sure you know the extra steps it takes to get your ad approved.

Alcohol
Most of the restrictions on alcohol ad placements revolve around age targeting and local laws. For example, in the United States, you can’t target ads for alcohol to an audience under the age of 21. In Canada, the age threshold for alcohol ad targeting is 19.

Dating
Dating services, online or otherwise, are subject to lots of ad restrictions. First and foremost, you have to fill out a form to request permission before you can place a single ad. Then, there are additional Facebook ads rules around imagery, language, and the types of services that can be offered (e.g., no mail-order brides).

Online gambling and social casino games
Any game where you have to make a purchase for a chance to win something with monetary value falls into this category, according to Facebook. If that’s your niche, you’ll need to get permission to run your ad, and you’ll need to use proper age targeting and adherence to local laws. Exceptions are brick-and-mortar casinos and government-led lotteries.

Ads for casino games, where no money changes hands, are allowed without preauthorization as long as you restrict audience targeting to people over 18 years of age.

Online pharmacies
While you can’t advertise for pharmaceuticals at all, you can post an ad for an online pharmacy with advanced written permission.

Over-the-counter drugs
To sell aspirin, cough syrup, or any over-the-counter drug through Facebook, you’ll need to set age targeting and follow laws and guidelines per your geographic location.

Financial and insurance products
You can advertise credit card applications, mortgage loans, and other financial products, but you have some rules to follow. You have to be clear about loan fees, interest rates, and your physical location. You can’t directly ask for personal financial information. And you have to target your ads to people over the age of 18.

Branded content
Once you get paid by a company to publish a post, that post becomes an ad (even if you don’t actually pay Facebook to promote that post). A common example is an influencer who publishes a post that features them wearing a brand’s shirt, and they get paid to do so. That’s called branded content. In these cases, the person publishing the post needs to use the branded content tool, which makes it clear to viewers that the post is an ad.

Social issues, elections, politics
Mostly this restriction is about following local regulations for political ads, but it also requires prior Facebook approval. Here are more guidelines and best practices for these types of ads.

Cryptocurrency
Ads for cryptocurrency and related items (e.g., equipment for mining bitcoin) also require prior Facebook approval. You can also run ads for cryptocurrency tax services, events, and trading platforms with this preauthorization.

Drug and alcohol treatment
Here’s the application to run ads for drug and alcohol treatment products and services. You’ll also need to be approved by LegitScript.

Cosmetic and weight-loss procedures
Facebook allows ads for elective surgeries like rhinoplasty, dermabrasion, and weight-loss/cosmetic procedures, but you’ll need to get permission first.

3. Do use high-quality, relevant, truthful creative.

Even if you promote an approved and unrestricted product, the Facebook ads review process denies ads if your creative doesn’t adhere to the following guidelines. Creative includes text, images, video, and URLs.

Graphic or adult content
Your ads cannot include images that are sexually explicit, are sexually suggestive, or include nudity. You’ll also need to steer clear of adding shocking, graphic images that depict things like medical procedures, car accidents, or weapons pointed at the viewer.

Controversial content
You may be able to post about a controversial political topic in your organic feed, but you can’t exploit that topic commercially in an ad, says Facebook.

Grammar and profanity
Very poor grammar in an ad gets it flagged for review and/or denial, as does profanity.

Nonexistent functionality
Placing a fake “video play” button in your image may get more people to click on your ad, but it’s deceitful, and Facebook won’t allow your ad to run.

Before and after photos
You can’t use images comparing the effects of a product on someone’s appearance. Weight loss and hair restoration are common examples here.

Misleading claims
Unproven financial gain, purposely confusing return policies, and cures for incurable diseases are all examples of misleading claims that Facebook doesn’t allow in ads. If you can’t prove it, don’t use it in your ad.

Click-bait content
You’ll never believe what Facebook doesn’t allow in ads! Hint: It’s hiding information or using sensational language. Also, don’t try to run up engagements with irrelevant either/or polls (e.g., Hit “like” for hamburgers or “love” for pizza).

If you’re unsure of your ad’s quality, Facebook helps you test it using their relevance diagnostics.

Automatic animation
This means no flashing strobes or jarring sounds that play without a person’s interaction with your ad.

The updated 20% text on image rule
It used to be that Facebook denied ads that had text covering more than 20% of their image. That rule was removed recently, but it’s still suggested you keep text confined to a small area of your photos. Ads with too much text won’t perform well simply because they are not very nice to look at.

4. Don’t link to an irrelevant, poorly designed landing page or URL.

The Facebook ads review process doesn’t just look at your ad. It also scrutinizes the website your ad links to.

 

Screenshot of Facebook's landing page review graphic

Source

Here are some landing page or URL characteristics that could get your ad blocked by Facebook.

Disruptive content
No one likes hitting the “next” button a hundred times to read one short article. Facebook hates it too. So if your ad leads to that kind of content, be ready for denial.

Nonfunctioning or non-matching landing page
Using a call-to-action of “click here and lose unwanted weight” to drive traffic to a divorce attorney’s website might be funny, but Facebook will notice the bait and switch. Your ad will not likely be approved.

Misleading URLs
Likewise, if the URL included in your ad looks like it leads to one type of landing page, but it’s redirected to something unrelated, your ad won’t run. So don’t use a URL like “www.stopsmokinginstantly.com” to link to a website for chewing tobacco.

5. Don’t misuse Facebook or Instagram brand assets.

Facebook is really picky about how advertisers use their logos and reference their products. Given the seemingly ubiquitous existence of things like the Facebook “thumbs-up” symbol, this can be a tricky thing to avoid. Here’s how to make sure you’re not overstepping Facebook’s brand use guidelines:

Endorsement
You can’t say or imply that your product or service is endorsed by any Facebook company or platform, including Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and so on.

Brand usage
Officially, Facebook says to not make their logos or branding a prominent feature in your ads or on the landing pages they link to. We’ve heard stories about denials of ads that had images with a Facebook-branded box in the background.

Screenshots
If you use screenshots from any version of the Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger user interfaces, make sure it’s represented accurately. Don’t modify or crop the image.

Facebook Marketing Policy: What You Need to Know

Facebook maintains some policies that address broad categories like discrimination. Some are focused on marketing activities, and some also cover organic posts, messages, and comments. In either case, ads that cross these lines are rejected.

Discrimination policies

Several of the Facebook ads rules include language that prohibits or at least discourages discrimination. If your ads are denied, and you’re not sure why, take a second look to see if anything might be mistakenly interpreted as going against these policies.

Overt discrimination
Of course your ads can’t directly discriminate against or demean people based on attributes like race, religion, gender, ethnicity, and so on.

Targeting
With a little deductive reasoning, it’s possible to use audience characteristics— location, interests, etc.— to target ads in a way that unfairly discriminates against some groups of people. Doing so jeopardizes both your ad approvals and your account status with Facebook.

Asserting personal attributes
You can mention a characteristic like ethnicity or religious affiliation in an ad, but you can’t directly or indirectly assert that the viewer has that characteristic.

Here are a few examples from Facebook:

OK: “Meet black singles today!”
Not OK: “Meet other black singles near you!”

OK: “Depression counseling”
Not OK: “Depression getting you down? Get help now.”

Negative self-perceptions
Ads can’t contain copy or pictures that try to induce a negative self-image. For example, a weight-loss ad that focuses on body types rather than the product would likely be flagged and denied.

Community standards policy

Facebook has made its community standards public. They apply to all forms of communication on Facebook, not just ads. Many of these standards, like authenticity, duplicate other Facebook ads rules we’ve discussed. But two stand out as covering new ground:

Violence and criminal behavior
Your ads can’t incite, depict, or promote violence or criminal behavior. They also can’t support groups that openly encourage or engage in those behaviors.

Exploitation, harassment, and privacy
These standards cover a lot of ground, but they’re generally meant to say that you can’t use Facebook to bully or take advantage of other people. You also can’t expose anyone’s private information, including images, on the platform.

Personal data policies

As marketers, we love the ability to personalize ad experiences. Consumers are sometimes less enthused and often express privacy concerns. Facebook has policies in place to help ease those concerns.

Data collection
Facebook lead ads are ads with an embedded form that allows you to gather information about your customers. Before you can use them, though, you must create a privacy policy and link it to your lead form.

Data sharing
Any data you collect from your Facebook ads can only be shared internally or with “someone acting on your behalf,” like a service provider.

How to Keep Your Campaign Running If Your Ad Is Denied

If you advertise on Facebook for any length of time, odds are you will have an ad rejected eventually. It’s frustrating, but you do have some options to get your campaign back on track.

Edit your ad

You can simply review the part of your ad that Facebook says doesn’t comply, and then make a change. This is usually the fastest and easiest option with the highest chance of success.

Once you make the change, Facebook automatically re-reviews your ad.

Appeal the ruling

If you’ve reviewed your ad and can’t see anything that conflicts with the Facebook ads rules or policies, you have the option to appeal the decision.

If your ad is denied quickly, like in a few minutes, it probably means something triggered the automated process. Submitting an appeal will move the review to human hands.

Get started by filling out the form that’s linked in your rejection notice on the Facebook Account Quality page. Reference the rule that’s been “broken,” and explain how your ad actually complies with the rule.

Duplicate and resubmit your ad

Although you can’t submit the same ad over and over again for approval, you can create a duplicate ad that’s automatically reviewed.

If a human reviewer denied your ad the first time, it’s possible a new human reviewer may pass it. You can try this as an alternative to an appeal, but it could waste some time if it’s denied again.

Create multiple versions and A /B test

In advertising, A/B testing is the practice of creating multiple versions of an ad to see which best achieves some predetermined outcome.

In this case, A/B testing is done to see which ad passes review. This gives you a better shot at getting an ad out if one gets denied. If multiple ads pass on the first go, then you’ll get to see which performs best with customers.

Try organic posting instead

Facebook gives organic posts more leeway than ads in terms of the content they can contain. Of course, you still don’t want to discriminate or advocate violence. But you might be able to mention a dating service or use copy that would get flagged by ad reviews.

Organic posts usually see way less reach than paid ads, so it’s not an ideal option. But at least you can use the creative you’ve spent time making.

Note that boosted posts are reviewed like ads. So you can’t just create a post and boost it if it was already restricted.

Stay on top of Facebook Ads Rules and Marketing Policies

Facebook describes their standards as “a living set of guidelines.” Twice a month, they meet globally to review their current rule book and look for ways to improve it.

The good news is, Facebook publishes the notes from those meetings. You can read what the people responsible for Facebook’s community and ad policies are planning to change in just a few minutes each month. With that kind of heads-up, you’ll never have another ad rejected. Well, fewer ads rejected, anyway.

Now that you know all the Facebook ads rules, you’re ready to start brainstorming some creative. If you need some inspiration from those that do it really well, check out these examples of top performing Facebook ads.

You may also like reading:

  • Social Commerce 101: How to Make Money Selling on Social
  • 63 Instagram Caption Examples for 2023 (And How to Write Your Own)
  • 15 Fresh Facebook Ad Examples to Inspire Your Next Campaign [2022]
  • How to Create a Facebook Business Page (The Easy Way)

Comments

  1. Kevin says

    February 3, 2015 at 12:05 pm

    A high-quality very informative post. Thanks for posting and sharing valuable information on how best to abide by the best practices while advertising at Facebook platform.

    Gladly enjoyed and like your commitment to educating on how best to use Facebook advertising especially since am starting out.

    Highly appreciate the gold-nugget content.

    Reply
  2. John Wells says

    February 3, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    Massimo, thanks for the post, quick question, do you know if electronic cigarettes are allowed on Facebook?

    I’m planning the 2015 advertising campaign for a customer selling e-cigs and would like to add Facebook Ads to the mix.

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      February 3, 2015 at 8:17 pm

      Sorry John, I’m afraid Facebook considers eCigarettes as any other tobacco products.

      While it’s not clearly stated I know of many campaigns in the space that were immediately rejected, I’m afraid Facebook Ads won’t be part of your marketing mix 🙂

      Reply
      • Travis White says

        April 28, 2016 at 10:43 am

        What about an ad or an account from a tobacco company recruiting for people to work for their company?

        Reply
        • Massimo Chieruzzi says

          April 29, 2016 at 3:49 am

          Good point but honestly I’m not 100% sure about this. It could be challenging if you specifically talk about tobacco but I don’t have specific experience on this, sorry!

          Reply
          • oliver says

            July 7, 2016 at 5:29 pm

            hi thanks for the post. When I was building my audiences Facebook including a long list of possible tags including an endless amount of ecigarrett companies. I had believe that because they did this it would be possible to advertise to people who use ecigs with an ad about dry mouth problems…but it looks like all my ads are being rejected. Why oh why do they include ecig tags when all they do apparently is prevent an ad to be permitted…?

          • Massimo Chieruzzi says

            July 12, 2016 at 3:06 pm

            The problem should not be in the eCig by itself. There are a couple of options:

            – They are rejecting the ad because of the product you’re promoting. For example I don’t think you can promote eCig on Facebook.
            – You’re using the targeting in a way that Facebook consider spooky. For example you can say “But this gadget to release stress” but you cannot say “Buy this gadget because YOU ARE STRESSED”.

      • Claude says

        February 3, 2017 at 4:14 am

        Hi Massimo my name is CJ and my ads don’t get approved at all I don’t know why they say it’s my URL link. What do they mean that I’m trying to figure it out so I can start making money with my business.

        Reply
  3. Yaz says

    February 3, 2015 at 7:53 pm

    My ads get approved quickly and the status is active, but it’s not running. Even after 10 hours it’s still 0 reach! Why is this?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      February 3, 2015 at 8:04 pm

      Hey Yaz,
      this is likely not related to Facebook rules as your ad were approved. The cause must be somewhere else.
      Most likely:
      – Bid too low (try increasing the bid)
      – Reach too low (try to target a broader audience)

      Sometimes however, it’s simply a glitch in Facebook’s engine and simply copying the campaign and creating a new one will work and it’ll start delivering impressions.

      Reply
  4. Mark Bonner says

    February 3, 2015 at 7:56 pm

    The Facebook review process really sucks! Has it ever happened to you to have ads in pending review literally forever, more than 3 days?

    Will they ever be published? I had published a couple of campaigns before with no major issue, what’s going on?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      February 4, 2015 at 9:13 am

      Mark, 3 days is pretty long, the most I’ve seen was 2 days.

      This could be a glitch on Facebook side, you may want to republish your campaign from scratch and see what happens.

      Reply
      • Andrea says

        March 26, 2015 at 6:36 am

        Ive tried this several times!!! After 3 days waiting for an ad to be reviewed- i give up and redo only for the same thing to happen. Have been trying to post an ad for 2 weeks now. Thinking of deleting my ad account and starting again but dont know if that will make any difference whatsoever!

        Reply
        • Lynn says

          March 9, 2018 at 9:41 am

          I attempted to boost a Facebook Live Video dated February 28, 2018, eight times over period of one week and it the boosts remain ‘In review’ for more than 24 hours.
          I left 2 of the boosts ‘In review’ for 72 hours and they were not accepted or declined.
          I removed 6 of the boosts, modified the description (text) and now have 2 boosts to two different audiences sitting ‘In Review’.
          I have a new Facebook Live video dated March 7, 2018 that also has 2 boosts ‘In Review’ and I am waiting for a response from Facebook.
          I have boosted many of my Facebook Live Videos and not had this issue before.
          Thoughts?

          Reply
  5. Roula says

    February 5, 2015 at 5:19 am

    My ads usually get approved in 5 minutes, so I have no problem here, but what annoys me the most is the inconsistency of the 20% text rule! Sometimes an all text ad visual go through and other times ad with some text that doesn’t cover the entire space of the five squares get disapproved!

    Reply
  6. Michael Lux says

    February 5, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    Can you create a Facebook ad from a page post that is a photo album?

    If so how does the 20% text rule apply to this?

    Reply
  7. Aaron Zakowski says

    February 8, 2015 at 4:25 am

    @Massimo

    I agree that Facebook’s 20% text rule is a total pain.

    I just created this free downloadable template that will help advertisers check the text in their ads while they are still designing. It works in Photoshop, Canva, GIMP and more.

    http://aaronzakowski.com/facebook-ad-20-rule-template/

    Hope it helps!

    Aaron

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      February 8, 2015 at 1:22 pm

      Thanks Aaron! We’re Facebook PMD and they often reject our ads with the keyword “Facebook Ads” inside… Go Figure 🙂

      Reply
    • Joy West says

      November 29, 2018 at 12:52 pm

      Thanks, Aaron because FB has been a real pain lately. 🙁

      Reply
  8. Barry says

    February 12, 2015 at 9:46 am

    We advertise for local events in a certain health niche. We ran ads for months on FB with no problems and we were getting great results.

    But now we’re getting our ads rejected consistently. In order to get approved, we’ve been forced to water down the copy of the ad and the landing page so much that our conversions are really suffering.

    What’s worse, we have licensees of our program who are running the same ads, and now they’re getting poor results too 🙁

    Problem is, we don’t know what part of our ad is the real culprit and causing us to get rejected?

    – Is it the testimonials? Does FB not want testimonials on the landing page at all? We’ve removed all testimonials and I think that’s one of the biggest reasons conversions are suffering.

    – Is it the sales video? We have a 60-second sales video with a celebrity endorser on the landing page. In the script, he makes some health claims that could be considered “unproven”.

    – If we were to change our landing page after it’s been approved, will they go back and check it? If they were to go back and check it, what would they do? Would they shut down the campaign mid-stream, or could they possibly shut down our advertising account?

    This has created a 2-week nightmare for us and we’re not quite sure where to turn for help 🙁 Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      February 13, 2015 at 12:31 pm

      Hey Barry,

      It’s tough to understand what may be the problem. For sure if you change the landing page, and resubmit the ads they should re-examine the page. Do you have anything that prevent users from exiting the landing? Like an alert asking them if they really want to leave? That’s one thing you’re not allowed to do. Exit intent popup inside the page are ok, but alert based ones that forces the user to click something to close it are forbidden.

      Testimonials should be fine unless they do claims that may seems unreasonable. You may try adding a disclaimer that not everyone may get the same results.

      Hope this helps!

      Reply
    • Ryan says

      August 3, 2015 at 7:54 am

      Barry we need to talk! I’m having this exact same issue and it causing us MASSIVE issues with clients.

      Did you ever manage to find a way around this or a fix?

      Any help or wisdom greatly appreciated!

      Reply
  9. Andrea says

    March 23, 2015 at 5:16 am

    I used to get my ads approved pretty quickly (less than 24 hours) but this last week Ive had none approved. They just sit their pending review! I did get one refused once so it has been seen. Tweaked it and then it sat there- 3 days plus. Gave up, deleted everything and started again with new ads. Same problem. Really really frustarting as cant get an answer from FB except the usual copy and pasted reply!!!

    Reply
  10. Norm says

    June 15, 2015 at 12:24 pm

    I finally boosted a post and after two days in review I scratched it and did another. Same deal. I’m pretty sure I found my answer right here. The word “apocalypse” is in there which has a religious connotation which might send it directly to the “scrutiny” pile. Dunno why this is a big deal, but your theory makes sense. So, many thanks Massimo! I was wondering if it was just me.

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      June 15, 2015 at 2:09 pm

      Glad it was useful Norm, Thanks for letting us know and sharing your experience!

      Reply
  11. John Diginee says

    July 2, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    Hello, My ads was approved few mins ago, and mu ads was running successfully and i had 7 clicks and 370 reach…but it just stop running after some mins and display “Not Approved”..please i need your help.

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      July 2, 2015 at 7:11 pm

      Hey John, unluckily this happen often, especially if the advertising account has some history, often ads seem to be pre-approved, and then reviewed later once they’re already running.

      You should have received an email from Facebook saying why the ads were not approved, what did they say ?

      Reply
  12. Nina says

    July 13, 2015 at 11:21 am

    Hi there!

    Im having a really great problem with facebook right now. All my ads (tons) suddenlt got deactivated – from active they become “not approved”. With the remarks saying they have violated the terms because i am selling sexual enhancing products when in fact i was only advertising skin care products (the usual soaps and lotions).

    All my ads say the exact same thing.

    I tried creating a new ad with a new photo and all, but it still gets the same remark. I badly need help for all my sales come from my fb ads 🙁

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      July 13, 2015 at 1:47 pm

      Hey Nina,

      Your website looks good from my point of view but of course I don’t know about the ads. I’d not create new ads until you’ve cleared the reasons why your ads were disapproved or you might risk a block of the account.

      The best way to proceed is to fill out the form asking for a review of the decision and clearly explaining that there’s nothing wrong with your ads and why.

      Reply
  13. Bob Hannaford says

    July 14, 2015 at 11:30 am

    My ads were approved for 2 years then every ad was not approved because they said they do not approve ads for “Dating sites”. We are not a dating site. We charter theme cruises for adults.

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      July 14, 2015 at 2:46 pm

      I’m afraid this is a borderline case where it’ll be very tough to explain the difference to Facebook. Good Luck 🙁

      Reply
  14. Zondre Watson says

    August 2, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    I had one ad rejected and then approved after review. But, then when I tried to advertise again they said that our company name doesn’t fit their profanity guidelines. I tried to have it reviewed several times and explained that it is a donkey, but they said their decision won’t change. And, they said in the future they hope that we create ads which do fit their guidelines. I don’t see any way that’s possible. Do you have any ideas?

    Reply
  15. M. Perry says

    September 3, 2015 at 2:24 pm

    I have been running a facebook ad account for about two months, and spent about $15,000. Have had only one ad disapproved for too much text. Never had any problems. Today I have changed a few ads that had already been running for a few days (just changed their pixel) and since then they are pending review already more than 24 hours. I’ve sent already two emails to Facebook.

    What could be the reason?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      September 4, 2015 at 10:09 am

      When you edit an ad it’ll always go through the review process again. Facebook actually does not allow editing the design of the ad. What happens in the background is that a new dark post is created and it replaces the old one so it goes through approval again (and you loose all the likes, shares, comments generated so far on the ad).

      As for the 24 hours delay, sometime it may happen, it’s pretty strange tho’. Likely it could be a bug on Facebook side. You may try to edit the ad again and see if it gets approved sooner.

      Reply
  16. rafa says

    September 12, 2015 at 4:03 pm

    Hi, my ads get approved but they just don’t seem to run, they get no impressions at all. My audience is good, I tried to increase the daily budget and tried creating a new ad but nothing. Any ideas of what could be the solution?

    Reply
  17. Tatelyn says

    September 24, 2015 at 6:51 am

    I’ve had a certain problem a handful of times. I post a campaign (usually boosted post) and have made some oversight (such as more than 20% text in my graphic). The ad will be disapproved, I will delete this campaign and post then start fresh.

    Though I apply the same exact budget and audience the new reach will be up 70% lower than my original reach for the same bid/targets and sending them to the same landing page.

    Do you have any insight on why this is, and what I can do to rectify it? Other than not making a mistake?

    Reply
  18. Drew says

    September 30, 2015 at 12:15 am

    Just got approved by Facebook to publish ads. Quick pending time if you ask me.

    Reply
  19. Rana Ata says

    October 28, 2015 at 4:51 pm

    I am tired of aids rejection my once my aid is approved and working after 2-weeks my aid disapproved cause too many text i delete all the text still delete that aid creating new aid with no text now using power editor still says too many text and there is not a single text in my current aids what I do now………

    Reply
  20. Mary says

    December 14, 2015 at 2:36 am

    Please help
    All my ads are being disapproved no matter the content..this had happened after I made a post about some breast product which I didn’t run any ad to it..when I found that these posts are not welcomed in FB I deleted it immediately. .but still all my ads are entitled approved..evenue no reply when I appealed on FB
    This is happening since 3 days

    Reply
  21. Aadil says

    December 15, 2015 at 4:55 am

    Hi, I’m getting error from facebook that My account flagged for policy violation my running ads are deactivated, I was selling replica of tag heuer watch, I wrote in picture Tag 17 75%Off Rs. 999 Free Delivery.
    Can you please tell me why I’m getting this? And The picture I used was from google is this the reason of getting rejected?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      December 15, 2015 at 11:46 am

      It could be that many users flagged your ads in a negative way or it was considered a violation of the Tag Heuer brand if you were directly referring at their brand 🙁

      Reply
  22. Pierre Charles says

    December 17, 2015 at 12:13 pm

    Thanks for sharing valuable facebook marketing tips!

    Reply
  23. Shabd says

    December 18, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    I have a small mailing list that has about 200 people on it. I’ve used that as a custom audience and it’s great–when it works. But it’s often denied–I think for being to small. Is there a way to use both a mailing list plus a targeted audience to make my reach big enough? The mailing list is full of people I really want to reach.

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      December 21, 2015 at 11:57 pm

      You can simply go with two campaigns, one targeting your custom audience and the other one, broader to attract new traffic and hopefully increase the Custom Audience 🙂

      Reply
  24. Ansha says

    January 3, 2016 at 10:41 pm

    Hello my add is approved with in 10 minutes but after 10 hour people still not reach my website its status 0 kindly help me.. Amd guide me what can i do thanks

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      January 5, 2016 at 9:08 am

      Looks like the problem is elsewhere. The bid may be too low (under Christmas ads get very expensive) or the audience may bee too small (< 2000 users)

      Reply
  25. cong says

    January 5, 2016 at 10:50 pm

    I’m using click to website ads. My ads get approved and run well for a month.
    Then, my ads suddenly get disapproved with the reason: “Your ad wasn’t approved because it contains content that promotes the sale or use of adult products or services. We don’t allow images or videos that show nudity or cleavage, even if it’s portrayed for artistic or educational reasons.
    Keep in mind that ads for family planning and contraception are allowed if they follow our targeting requirements.
    You can learn more about our advertising guidelines in our policy site before you resubmit your ad.
    If you think your ad follows the rules and should have been approved, please let us know.”
    I send a request to Facebook for Appealing a Disapproved Ad but there’s no reply.
    So, I don’t know how to fix my ads to get approved again.
    Can you tell me what can I do to fix this issue?

    Reply
  26. Victor Hodecker says

    January 21, 2016 at 8:15 am

    Hi,
    I have an issue related to approval. Facebook approves my ads but changes the links.

    I want to advertise affiliate offers but once my ads have been through facebook approvals, the part of the ink used for tracking has disappeared.
    for instance

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xxx&referrer=a%3Daa1f9caaa34131d27508dda157de29d805-20160121-5168

    becomes https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=xxx

    And I can’t track conversions in the affiliate platform .
    Do you know why ?

    Best,
    Arthur

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      January 21, 2016 at 9:37 am

      Pretty weird. Have you tried using url shortener services like bit.ly for the url ?

      Reply
  27. Treyc says

    January 28, 2016 at 10:30 pm

    Hey I just read through all these comments and I think its great that you have been trying to help so many people,
    -Thanks.

    Reply
  28. Cary Capparelli says

    February 3, 2016 at 2:08 am

    Sir, my ad was rejected because of the 20%. So, I choose a new photo. How do I get Facebook to approve a new photo after the first photo was rejected. I hit the Fix Issues link and the only reaction I got was a rotating circle below Boost Page Post.

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      February 3, 2016 at 8:55 am

      The easiest way may be to just create another post and boost it again or you can edit the ad from PowerEditor!

      Reply
  29. Yoram says

    February 24, 2016 at 9:12 pm

    Facebook disapproves my ad for app install because I have the word “your acne” in the name of the ad.
    (upper sentence)
    They scrape the name from the iTunes store.
    I do not find a way to change it in teh settings . Can anyone help how I can change it ?
    Thanks, Yoram

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      February 24, 2016 at 10:18 pm

      Are you promoting the app through the app store link or do you have the app registered in Facebook with the SDK integration ?

      Reply
  30. Narmina says

    March 16, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    Hi,i want to advertise the before and after images of plastic surgery patients of my clinic.But they’re not approved because of the rules. Ok. But still i see so many pictures of another clinics is being advertised.How can it be? How do they do that?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      March 16, 2016 at 5:18 pm

      Hey Narmina,

      Yeah before/after on medical things are usually rejected by Facebook. One thing you may want to double check is if you’re targeting just users older than 21. That may help. Advertising this kind of things to 13yo could not be ok for Facebook

      Reply
      • Narmina says

        March 16, 2016 at 8:10 pm

        Always targeting from 18 y.o.İ’ll try from 21.Thanks a lot ?

        Reply
    • João Paulo says

      July 27, 2017 at 11:14 am

      Hey, Narmina! I know this is a long shot since your comment was left long time ago here. I’m doing Facebook Ads for cosmetic surgery. If you’re interested send me a email at joaopaulospaim@gmail.com I would be happy in helping you out!

      Reply
  31. Narmina says

    March 17, 2016 at 3:22 am

    Not helped ?

    Reply
  32. Chinmay says

    April 21, 2016 at 10:31 pm

    Hello Massimo,
    I work for a financial services start-up in Pune, India. My facebook “Click to Website” ads are repeatedly getting disapproved. The reason mentioned in all cases is use of abusive language, profanity, negative feedback etc. my Ads have no language that could be interpreted as profanity or as abusive content. Could you please help throw more light on this ?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      April 25, 2016 at 4:50 pm

      It’s tough to say without knowing the text of the Ad. What I can tell you is that the error message you received is the generic Facebook error and it’s often not really related to profanity. If you offer financial services it may be related to lack of legal informations or disclaimers for example.

      Reply
  33. Wagner says

    April 28, 2016 at 5:25 am

    Is it worth to ask for an ad reconsideration when you think there is no problem with the ad?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      April 29, 2016 at 3:49 am

      Yes, I often do it and won many times. In the worst case you may be able to better understand what caused the disapproval

      Reply
  34. Erica says

    May 11, 2016 at 7:56 am

    I am beyond frustrated. Ready to pull my hair out!! Once upon a time, I created ads, they were approved, and all was right with the world.

    Then, starting a month ago, EVERY ad I create is rejected. Right now, my ad is getting the red error triangle in the Power Editor before I even upload.

    I keep trying to change my copy. I try taking out brackets and other punctuation. And I still can’t get it to be OK. I honestly have no idea what I am doing wrong.

    I appealed the last ad that wasn’t approved, asking if they can point out the specific line of text that is deemed inappropriate because I read the guidelines and I thought I was following them, and I didn’t know how to improve my ad without knowing what was wrong.

    They finally responded by copying and pasting the generic guideline and didn’t answer any of my questions.

    I am unsure of how to move forward.

    My current ad is just going to a blog post: http://www.laboundguide.com/blog/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-move-to-la

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      May 12, 2016 at 12:30 am

      Sorry to hear that Erica 🙁

      Did they provide any explanation on why it was rejected ? What was the text of the ad ?

      Cheers,
      Max

      Reply
    • andrea says

      September 9, 2017 at 9:46 pm

      Hi Erica, I am suffering the same, have you fixed it yet? what can be the solution?

      we are 5star Store and suddenly all my ads are disabled, I opened all kinds of accounts and nothing left, I am selling watches (genuine), perfumes etc which was previously approved for many months.

      Reply
  35. Kristy says

    May 16, 2016 at 7:16 am

    Hi Massimo!
    Great article. I am currently running an Ad for my free weight loss ebook called “Top 3 REAL Reasons You Can’t Drop Stubborn Fat”.
    I has been approved with the ebook title in it, but after having a consultation with someone from Wordstream (who I am running my ad through), he suggested I change the main image (with was just of me with trees in the background) to a little more engaging photo – maybe of someone working out or something related to weight loss.
    I changed the photo to a picture I had of me lifting weights and then it was disapproved. I changed it to a “frustrated” looking woman and it was disapproved again.
    I’m not sure if it is the picture or if maybe now it’s something in the text.
    The title is the ebook name, the headline is “FREE ebook”, and the description is “Are you fed up with contradicting diet and exercise information? I’ll share with you the 3 HUGE things I learned that will help you safely reach your goals!”
    Any suggestions?

    Thanks!
    Kristy V

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      May 16, 2016 at 10:45 am

      Hey Kristy.

      Diet related products are always tough to get approved 🙂 First thing, I’d try that text with the old image that was originally approved just to be sure that the problem is the text and not the new cover (which I agree should be more engaging with some trees in the background).

      If it’s confirmed that the problem is the text you may try to remove the “fed up” (I got ads rejected because of an “Are you stressed”. If that doesn’t work even if it’s tough I’d try to remove the mention of diets 🙁

      Reply
  36. Tiffany Kelly says

    May 29, 2016 at 4:37 am

    My ad was approved, then went to “not approved” the next day… don’t understand what happened, never seen this before.

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      May 30, 2016 at 4:53 am

      It happens very often Tiffany. As you increase your spend and your account has a good reputation, Facebook is more likely to pre-approve very quickly your ads and then double check them once they’re live.

      Reply
  37. Lindsey says

    May 30, 2016 at 4:43 pm

    Does FB actually reject ads based on how much text is in the “text” portion of the ad? Not the 20% on the image rule – just the text under the headline?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      May 30, 2016 at 11:05 pm

      No, they only consider the text inside the image. Pure text is subject to other kind of controls, more related to the content of the ad.

      Reply
  38. yamini says

    June 16, 2016 at 10:07 pm

    Hi,
    My facebook lead generation ad keeps on getting rejected.
    Checked with the fb policy is not violating any policy.
    Not able to figure out why the ad is getting rejected.

    Created same ad but changed the objected to website conversion,it got approved

    Reply
    • Tim Chard says

      June 17, 2016 at 12:22 pm

      Hi Yamini! Without knowing a bit more, it’s hard to say why that shift happened. The ONLY thing that changed was the objective of the campaign?

      Reply
  39. Asad says

    June 21, 2016 at 10:31 am

    hello all
    basically facebook block my advert account after sometime when i run the ads i sell replica handbags n sunglasses n other replica products and when they block the advert account they also block my bank internet card so to run the ad on same page i have to make another id n a new internet card its like a debit card which i use to run ad on facebook , so can any one can please tell me that how to get rid of this thing should i change the page n run ad on new page or should i chnge my internet connection or anyother way to run my ads which are about replica products selling handbags n other stuff

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      June 22, 2016 at 1:09 pm

      I think they don’t like replica products advertising (maybe they infringe brands’ copyrights ?)
      If that’s the case there’s no way around, you’ll always get banned sooner or later.

      Reply
  40. Chris D says

    July 22, 2016 at 3:24 pm

    Helpful post. I’m having an issue that I can’t seem to solve. I have a client who is launching FB ads and constantly having them rejected for violating the smoking policies. There are no references to smoking or accessories anywhere on his site, his ads or on his FB page. (https://www.facebook.com/MidtownLoftAndTerrace/).

    We’ve been trying for weeks and gotten no results. Appeals and emails to FB have not helped at all.

    The only thing that gets ads approved is linking the ads to another FB in my account. The ads then start running almost immediately. When I associate the FB page (above) with the ad, it’s again rejected.

    I’ve deleted all kinds of posts and images from the FB page with no result.

    What’s left to do?

    Thanks,
    Chris

    Reply
    • Jess J. says

      June 16, 2017 at 2:37 pm

      HI Chris,

      Did you ever figure this out? One of my clients is having the same issue and I’m trying to figure out how to resolve.

      Thanks for your help. – Jess

      Reply
  41. BoredWon says

    July 24, 2016 at 12:00 pm

    Great article. There’s one question that I haven’t been able to find an answer to anywhere. Perhaps you can answer it.

    When using Facebook ads, is the landing page allowed to have in-banner ads on it?

    Reply
  42. Thomas says

    August 2, 2016 at 10:19 pm

    Hello,

    My ad is always refused. It is an ad for a new dating application on iPhone and I target only Paris in France for the moment.
    I target only wowen, who have a relationship status “single” or “undefined” and interested in “dating”.
    So I respect all rules mentioned here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/143949649021372.
    Except the “Interested in” filter because it is not alvailable for France country.
    For the image, I even chose an image proposed by Facebook in their bank of free images…

    Why does my ad is always refused after 30 seconds of review?

    I asked for more details directly to Facebook but they never answered.

    Thank you for any help!

    Reply
  43. Purple says

    September 22, 2016 at 2:41 pm

    I am currently in outside of the States, I have been using my credit card. Then I made the extra cards for my staffs who never been to US. So, when they start to run their first ads with their cards, issued by me – USA cards, then Facebook rejected all of them. They said those are fraudulent cases. I explained them and tried to reach many emails by attaching my IDs and Credit cards. They just replied with cookie paste texts.

    My questions is if Facebook rejected 5 ads accounts , will it affect my Facebook page – negative – down trust score? I am worried that they will shut down my page. Is that possible and happened before?

    I don’t know how to reach them, why they don’t call the banks and clarify and just easily shut down the ads accounts ?

    Please – kindly reply my questions. I am now so worried – Can I still boost with my active ads accounts? Very depressed!

    Reply
  44. A P says

    September 26, 2016 at 3:28 am

    Hi There,
    I am putting legal lines on TV commercials that are to be shown on Facebook. Do we have to comply with the same rules as we do for TV? Does the text have to be on screen for a certain length of time depending on how many words are displayed?
    Thanks,
    A P

    Reply
  45. Ben Wilson says

    December 1, 2016 at 3:52 pm

    I have ads that are approved and I use them again, and they’re declined. What’s up with that? Also, specific feedback on why it’s declined would be nice. Like which picture or word. And why can’t the reviewer message you to give immediate feedback?

    Reply
  46. Ogundairo Samuel says

    December 3, 2016 at 9:25 pm

    Good day to you all!
    Can anyone tell me why my ads was stopped all of a sudden?
    I discovered that my ads was stopped all of a sudden. Actually, I wanted to draw funds from my account through an ATM not knowing fully well that I drew funds from the card which I am using to run my ads, After discovering this mistake, I had to quickly transfer funds into the account I am using to run ads as I thought maybe it was due to insufficient funds but I haven’t still be approved and kept telling me “An ad in this campaign wasn’t approved because it didn’t meet our ad guidelines”.
    It’s so painful. Can someone tell me if that could affect my campaign being approved. How can I get it fixed? I have appealed and told them exactly what happened but still waiting to hear from facebook.

    Reply
  47. Kristen says

    December 5, 2016 at 5:28 pm

    Our ads used to be fine and now they are regularly rejected and no one at Facebook will explain why. They send the generic “Your ad wasn’t approved because it doesn’t follow our Advertising Policies, which apply to an ad’s content, its audience and the destination it links to. We don’t allow ads that use profanity, or refer to the viewer’s attributes (ex: race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, name) or harass viewers.” There is literally nothing that could possibly be considered inappropriate. The products are toys for children with special needs – I am careful never to call out anything about special needs. I appeal – they re-reject with no additional explanation. This is driving me crazy.

    Reply
  48. Hermann says

    December 15, 2016 at 12:55 am

    Hello,
    I was running an ads on forever living products. The ads was approved and run for close to 11 days. i was checking my expenses when i realised that the ads has been disapproved. i have appealed but so far nothing. What could be the problem.

    Reply
    • Umesh Raj says

      December 21, 2016 at 4:49 am

      Hi Hermann,

      I believe the problem in your Ads is facing the rule of https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/prohibited_content/misleading_or_false_content

      Regards,
      Umesh

      Reply
  49. saddam aftab says

    December 15, 2016 at 1:49 am

    there is a problem i cant approved my ads please guide me

    Reply
    • Alice Smith says

      March 29, 2017 at 5:07 pm

      Yea they have to catch up sometimes .

      Reply
  50. Odira says

    January 29, 2017 at 2:24 pm

    For the first time since my in my Facebook advertising history, my ad is taking longer than usual to get approved. Though I still believe it will turn out well.

    Reply
  51. Lauren says

    February 9, 2017 at 10:35 am

    Great article! I’m having issues getting my online store up and running on Facebook as my products keep getting rejected. They are protein bars/protein powder for pre/post workout. I’ve seen quite a few other brands with online stores that sell those products. We also had 1/3 bars
    “approved” so it shows up on the store but the other 2 were rejected even tough their the same thing. I can’t get a response back from Facebook, either. Do you know if there are any ways around this?? Thank you!!

    Reply
  52. Vinicius Lima says

    March 17, 2017 at 11:17 am

    The 20% rule still apllies?

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      March 20, 2017 at 5:35 am

      Kinda. Facebook won’t block your ads nowadays if they don’t respect the 20% text rule but they’ll be heavily penalized in terms of delivery.

      Reply
  53. Miz Megs says

    April 6, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    I try to run ads for listings for music events with the musical acts listed since that is the draw for the event. They are listed in the form of logos or text and they always get rejected.

    What can I do in this case since people care about the artists performing and not the name of the event?

    Reply
  54. MHE says

    April 8, 2017 at 1:13 am

    HI Massimo,

    Thankyou for this wonderful Article,

    I am trying to boost my products (Sun Glasses which i sell online) , but the ad gets approved for 2 min max and its rejected saying you are not meeting facebook guidelines, i have tried changing the background, giving it a new look, tried every type of facebook ad but still its not working, what do you think i should do, should i create another page on facebook and use the same ad.

    Reply
  55. Dinesh Ramakrishnan says

    April 14, 2017 at 10:07 pm

    Hi,

    I tried the method you’ve mentioned and my Facebook ad has been successfully approved. Gained likes. Thanks for this post.

    Reply
  56. Narinder kumar says

    April 16, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    Thanks for sharing a great post

    Reply
  57. Katie says

    April 19, 2017 at 6:54 am

    Massimo,

    Our ad account recently got deactivated out of nowhere. All ads that were running were approved. There might have been one inactive ad where we had high negative feedback.

    We spend a lot on Facebook ads. I’m not sure why our account got deactivated and Facebook is impossible to get in contact with. Any suggestions?

    Reply
  58. Rasmita Sahoo says

    April 30, 2017 at 2:23 am

    Hi, We want to run an advertising for our online shopping site, but unable to start the advertising because the advert getting disapproved every time.

    Reply
  59. JERRY says

    May 7, 2017 at 5:43 am

    Good Day!
    Is Facebook against any ad submitted from mini web design(one page or static website) using the Microsoft Front Page?

    Reply
  60. Mercy says

    May 15, 2017 at 2:06 am

    thanks for the information, i dot find any prohibited content in any of my ads but they still get rejected, and i also cant edit them either. how do i know what the problem is.

    Reply
  61. book download says

    June 2, 2017 at 12:37 am

    This article is genuinely a good one it assists new the web viewers, whho are wishing in favvor off blogging.

    Reply
  62. Arslan says

    June 8, 2017 at 3:46 pm

    hi,
    i have a facebook page name as originals and i am selling footwear on it for some months . but for last month facebook block my Billing account and when i made a new debit card then now my post are not approve. I am using only Some pictures of new articles shoes and giving a small introduction like
    new collection now in stock
    Casual shoes
    Runners
    fleets

    limited stock
    cash on delivery
    High quality

    for more information kindly inbox us

    I boosted my ad for 5$ is this is a reason for disapproval??
    kindly guide me i’m in big trouble

    Reply
  63. millyvega says

    August 11, 2017 at 2:06 pm

    I’m trying to post my weight loss challenge group on some ” Private Sales Pages’ like Facebook craigslist but they are rejected… I try to contact Facebook, I already filled few different forms but nothing yet…..any advise please!!

    Reply
  64. paul says

    September 4, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    ihave tried all angles but my ads never seem to go through what might be the problem

    Reply
  65. ONG PEI TONG says

    September 14, 2017 at 4:31 am

    Thank you very much for your insight sharing. I have one question about the ads approval process.
    I experienced my ads is approved at the beginning and scheduled for the next day. However, my ads account is suddenly being flagged after approval and before the ads is start running.
    How could it be like that?

    Reply
    • GREGORY says

      October 3, 2017 at 8:20 pm

      I have been flagged so many times lately to a point I am thinking there is a bug in their algorithm or they are thinking everyone is a Russian trying to buy ads

      Reply
  66. Michael Maeger says

    October 5, 2017 at 7:37 pm

    The 20% rule is really a pain in the a**, I promote software so most of the time my ads have to have text that describes the software features. And just a bit more of describing text, I got rejected 🙁

    Reply
  67. JR says

    October 14, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    I ran a very simple ad, with just a picture, hand making a heart… my ad was rejected. I appealed, and they said my FB page promotes MLMs, which it does not… I appealed and got my ad running.

    I made a duplicate ad to run immediatly after the ad mentioned aboved expired (in advance), which also got rejected, for the same reason.

    I am appealing this again. But this time, they are taking longer, and continue to say my page promotes MLMs…

    What should I do?

    Reply
  68. Tairus says

    October 16, 2017 at 12:40 pm

    I have always followed Facebook Ads rules I sale shoes and all my ads were always approved suddenly something changed and Facebook disapprove my ads no matter any corrections I made to make it worse they hav gone back to disapprove evn older ads which were approved

    Reply
    • MANSOOR A SIDDIQUI says

      May 19, 2018 at 3:30 pm

      Same is happening with me. Any suggestion or guidance?

      Reply
  69. Ankitha Rajput says

    October 26, 2017 at 2:06 am

    Great information.

    Reply
  70. Rachel says

    January 31, 2018 at 7:01 am

    It’s almost been 24 hours since I’ve appealed a rejection, so hopefully they’ll approve it. If not, I’ll be back here to try to figure out another way to fix this. Thank you!

    Reply
  71. Rhinoplasty in Hyderabad says

    March 13, 2018 at 2:32 am

    Thanks for sharing. i really appreciate it that you shared with us such a informative post.

    Reply
  72. richard says

    March 30, 2018 at 11:37 pm

    I have been running this same Ads on men’s health but lately Facebook has been giving me disapproval. What can i do.

    Reply
  73. diana says

    April 20, 2018 at 11:19 am

    thx for the well explained answer but can u check mine?coz i dun see why its not aprroved:( thx so much https://www.facebook.com/events/142200086623685??ti=ia

    Reply
  74. Carol Dover says

    April 25, 2018 at 10:13 am

    I am trying to post an ad for an authentic Coach purse on Marketplace and several local Buy and Sell sites in Canada. My ad has been rejected and the form they have asked me to fill out cannot be filled out. There are more than a dozen almost identical ads on these sites that are approved. I just can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. Can anyone help? Thank you for any help/advice you can offer!

    Reply
  75. sojib says

    May 9, 2018 at 9:59 am

    very helpful post for us thanks sir i think you give us like this post forever me now become your fan and i will visit this site for update post

    Reply
  76. Ucharis says

    May 14, 2018 at 1:41 am

    Since we pay for the ads I don’t see why Facebook should reject. Well, off cause there are policies to be observed but they shouldn’t be that strict to the extent of limiting genuine ads — that’s my take

    Reply
  77. MANSOOR A SIDDIQUI says

    May 19, 2018 at 3:25 pm

    Thanks for such a nice article, is there any tool to evaluate our promotion? I am running an online fashion store but my all advertisement are being rejected.

    Reply
  78. Connie Brentford says

    May 29, 2018 at 7:08 am

    Brilliant article guys! Facebook Ad creation is not intuitive, even when you’re a long-time marketer. I almost never get ads rejected but this article helped me get an ad I was struggling with approved in 5 minutes. I can’t thank you enough.

    Reply
  79. sourabh kawade says

    June 14, 2018 at 9:08 am

    This is website is very useful. This article is really helpful. Thank you for sharing this great content

    Reply
  80. Ayomikun Soyode says

    June 19, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    Hi, thanks for the post. But I really don’t understand why my ads had been repeatedly disapproved, I have edited the same ads 7times but still not approved, the comment from Facebook is, i mean Facebook said ” you can’t promote money making opportunity without full disclosure of the terms and I don’t seem to understand this. Also, I like to know if ads can be disapproved if one doesn’t use a recommended image size.

    Reply
  81. kimhong says

    June 26, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    Hello AdEspresso team,
    I have a question. My facebook page was banned due to violation policy. I want to try with a new page, and share content from violation policy page and start to boost again in a new page, is it possible?

    Reply
  82. Shaon adnan says

    June 28, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    Hey, Nice post about Facebook ads, you have covered all rules for facebook marketing.
    thanks.

    Reply
  83. DANDAPANI MAHARANA says

    July 19, 2018 at 8:05 am

    NICE POSTING
    GREAT KNOWLEDGE

    Reply
  84. Mazino says

    September 9, 2018 at 8:14 am

    I have been running Facebook ads for quite some time now. My ads get approved instantly on real estate posts. I don’t send users out of Facebook.

    Now I’ve started a new blog on Make Money Online and Office.

    Do you think Facebook will approve such ads?

    Reply
  85. solomon says

    September 10, 2018 at 5:49 pm

    Hi, once my ad has been flagged for policy violation and i have appealed, the ad wont get activated and in the process i lose a lot, please advice on what to do

    Reply
  86. Colin W says

    September 12, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    Doesn’t look like anyone from Facebook has answered any questions here for over 2 years.

    Reply
    • Flavia Caroppo says

      September 13, 2018 at 9:14 am

      what do you mean Colin? 🙂

      Reply
  87. Johnson says

    October 5, 2018 at 2:39 am

    Mighty article

    Reply
  88. happy baba says

    October 15, 2018 at 4:13 am

    Hi
    I really enjoyed reading your blog.Nice article! Great information about. These tips are very helpful to me. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful article

    Reply
  89. ankita says

    October 29, 2018 at 7:16 pm

    Hi
    Your site has a lot of useful information for myself. I visit regularly. Hope to have more quality items.

    Reply
  90. helen says

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    Reply
  91. Justine says

    November 9, 2018 at 1:36 am

    What types of words should we avoid for Financial / Debt Services ads, to ensure we are playing nicely within Facebook’s Policies?

    Secondly, (probably a really dumb question).
    Can we use symbols such as “&” instead of “and” without any issues?

    Reply
  92. Johann says

    November 22, 2018 at 8:25 pm

    Hi, This is a wonderful blog it’s amazing and helpful, I want to see more blog to know more about other things like this because this blog gives me a lot of information, knowledge.

    Reply
  93. Ahmed Owais says

    November 28, 2018 at 12:54 am

    Hi i am boosting products like sliming suit for women and inner wear, most of the time my posts were approved directly, but since couple of weeks my posts are getting rejected even after appeal.
    Same post has been approved previously
    another problem is since my posts are rejected facebook is saying that your posts are having body parts, edit them and focun on your products, but my products are inner wear that can not be defined well without appropriate images (not nude) same kind of posts are being published by other companies
    i have copied post link and waiting for help if someone can tell me that where i am making a mistake
    Thanks in advance

    Post Link
    https://www.facebook.com/Royalbrand.Pk8/posts/2001275646587629

    Reply
  94. astro says

    December 12, 2018 at 2:30 am

    Thank you so much for sharing this.I really like the way you explained things to us

    Reply
  95. sangita says

    December 12, 2018 at 2:32 am

    Really enjoyed the way you wrote and thanks for sharing this valuable information here.
    This really helped

    Reply
  96. sweta says

    December 12, 2018 at 2:33 am

    Hi
    great services, that is very useful. I like the whole idea of this post.you have an implausible knowledge of it and it’s your gratefulness for giving out and imparting your knowledge with many of us.

    Reply
  97. pooja says

    December 12, 2018 at 2:34 am

    Hi
    I really enjoyed reading your blog. Especially the part that how we can put emotions in our lifeless writings to make it more lively.

    Reply
  98. Abasifreke Etop says

    December 25, 2018 at 7:58 am

    This article really makes sense

    Reply
  99. abass says

    December 30, 2018 at 2:02 am

    I’m really excited in your guide

    Reply
  100. Harry says

    January 10, 2019 at 10:19 pm

    It’s informative… thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  101. saira says

    January 11, 2019 at 9:42 am

    hi ,
    i really want to know that does Facebook have different advertising , boosting n review policy for different regions like is there any difference in policies in Europe n middle east.
    thank you

    Reply
  102. Ohana says

    January 20, 2019 at 5:04 am

    This article is genuinely a good one it assists new the web viewers, who are wishing in favor of blogging.

    Reply
  103. Binta says

    January 26, 2019 at 9:26 am

    Good evening
    Please what does it means when it say 166 people reached but 1 engagement

    Reply
  104. Ankita Raghuwanshi says

    February 5, 2019 at 8:54 pm

    My Fackebook ad is in “review” from the past 3 days . It has not been declared as rejected nor even approved. What is the reason behind that??

    Reply
  105. Sudhakar .M says

    March 3, 2019 at 6:31 am

    Hi,

    My ads aren’t published from 3 days what can be done. Have tried several times creating new ads but ads are going for review and i am confused to take the next step. Kindly help me out.

    If you know the way to connect with Facebook support via call or messenger please do share the link or guide me.

    Reply
  106. Subhash says

    March 27, 2019 at 3:17 am

    Extra-Ordinary Post. Saved.

    Reply
  107. Maria Zenteno says

    April 6, 2019 at 11:43 am

    I can’t seem to get an ad approved. It’s real estate. We buy houses. Can someone help me understand

    Reply
  108. Michael Smith says

    April 7, 2019 at 11:22 pm

    Mine are same, my wife posts same ad and it’s fine, ALL of mine get reviewed 3 to 5 days, causing hard times trying to sell fast. Its always put back on as I never violate terms. Discrimination??

    Reply
  109. Akinloluwa Adeola says

    April 12, 2019 at 10:31 am

    That was amazing! My thumbs’re up for you sir.

    Reply
  110. acha says

    April 12, 2019 at 10:54 am

    My ads usually get approved in 5 minutes, so I have no problem here, but what annoys me the most is the inconsistency of the 20% text rule! Sometimes an all text ad visual go through and other times ad with some text that doesn’t cover the entire space of the five squares get disapproved!

    Reply
  111. Arjun says

    April 24, 2019 at 6:17 pm

    My ads are getting continuously disapproved. The following is the reasons (Ad Can’t Run: Update Website URL). Please advice.

    Reply
    • Massimo Chieruzzi says

      April 26, 2019 at 1:51 am

      Are you using redirects in the middle? That’s a strange error unless it means that they banned the url you are promoting and it cannot be promoted. But usually the error message is different in this case!

      Reply
  112. Digital Santhosh says

    April 30, 2019 at 10:11 pm

    I think we must always understand the facebook advertising policies properly before setting up the advertising campaigns. because sometimes violation of the policies will lead to bigger actions like account restriction and so on.

    Reply
  113. Alexis Tussey says

    May 2, 2019 at 1:28 pm

    Thank you for these tips! I’ll try to put this in practice.

    Reply
  114. Komal Diwedi says

    May 9, 2019 at 4:27 am

    I have submitted an ad four hours ago but its no approved till now. Many times I have submitted ad but they generally took 30 minutes and got approved

    Reply
  115. Dave says

    May 10, 2019 at 2:23 am

    My Facebook Ads only run in the USA but not other countries. They are approved and no money is spent. I have tried to force Facebook by putting a minimum about of money to spend on a Post Engagement to U.K of $50 but nothing happened.

    Where is the problem ?

    Reply
  116. Samuel Afolayan says

    May 10, 2019 at 4:51 pm

    Thank you so much for this post, very insightful! Quick question though, please can you explain the 20% rule a little more? Also, does long texts delay Facebook ad approval?

    Reply
  117. Zeena says

    May 29, 2019 at 7:33 am

    Hello Everyone,

    All of a sudden Fb says they cannot run my ad because ”This Website URL doesn’t comply with our Advertising Policies.”

    Could someone help please ?

    Reply
  118. Shout Me Crunch says

    June 23, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    Nice and Details. Exactly the Information I was looking for. But Facebook does not say clearly exactly what the issue. Recently I have faced a similar problem with Facebook ads.

    Reply
  119. Donna says

    July 19, 2019 at 8:13 pm

    Hello. Hoping you can help. I have a dating service in Colorado and after finally getting approved by FB to advertise all my boost get denied. The reason they give are “EU” restrictions about singling people out based on sexual preference. Their suggestion is to go to my targeting and under “interests” remove anything that references gender preference, but I have nothing checked under “interests,” nothing at all. The only ad I managed to get approved was targeted to women (wouldn’t work w men and women), 18-65+, living in a 50 mile radius of Colo Springs. I also designated relationship status as single or unspecified (this is a requirement for dating sites). Who would it 1) subject me to rules for dating services in the EU and 2) tell me to adjust what I have checked under “interests” whne I have nothing? I try to appeal the decision but get a cut and paste answer that is the same every time. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  120. anis mohamed benlembarek says

    May 31, 2020 at 3:01 pm

    hi, i am promoting a weight loss program but facebook keep rejecting it for promoting tobacco!
    what is up with that? i don’t have anything related with tobacco in my page

    Reply
  121. KevinChristiansenn says

    January 18, 2021 at 3:16 am

    Hey, Author.
    You have covered all the important Facebook Ads Rules that Facebook Marketers or Advertisers should have to aware of to get ads approved quickly.
    Thanks, for sharing this informative article with us.

    Reply

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