They’ll all lie to you – Facebook, Instagram, Google, saying despite an account ban it will be turned on after they review. The reason for these lies is Meta outsources labor to unskilled workers, making it tough deciphering Facebook ad policy when Facebook’s bots work around the clock to ban and restrict ad accounts.
I’ve worked at Facebook in multiple departments – advertising to tech and today, I’m explaining how Facebook ad policy works. Stay tuned also for a full breakdown of a hacker’s message, impersonating Facebook. Want to just get a restricted FB ad account fixed? Schedule a discovery call here, free for a limited time.
Facebook policy for ads sounds simple but it’s pretty complex – it’s dangerous to think Facebook will take the time to understand you, your ads, or why the automations ban you. Would you like a clear explanation? Facebook won’t give you one, but today I’ll help make some things clear. And don’t forget to read my blog, Facebook account restricted from advertising – What to do
Overview
When Facebook was first established it was just for college kids, and soon it ballooned into a billion dollar empire. Similar to a city that grows too fast for its own infrastructure to support the traffic, city codes, building violations, and so on – Facebook has too much traffic to handle the ads from a human level. (don’t miss out on this ad account restriction guide)
So, they hired engineers I’ve worked with to design the automations to replace the humans reviewing your ads for Facebook ad policy compliance. And as a result, a lot of advertisers and businesses get banned without warning or explanation. Why is that?
Facebook ad policy
Facebook ad policy is designed to stop bad actors from scamming innocent Facebook users – and I’ve oversaw the outsourced workers who review your content, moderating it to ensure compliance, when I was in tech at Meta I had to review their work. They are so badly trained, they have no idea how to tell the difference between you and a bad actor.
Keep in mind, Facebook itself is under scrutiny, especially with Facebook’s new focus on AI. Don’t want AI suggestions all the time? Check this out:
How to Turn Off Meta AI on Facebook
If you’re browsing the web or using the Facebook app on your computer, you can turn off Meta AI in just a handful of steps.
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Select your Account profile picture in the top-right corner of the screen.
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In the drop-down menu, choose Settings & Privacy, and then pick Settings.
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On the left side, scroll down to Audience and visibility and select Posts.
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On the right, turn off the toggle for Allow comment summaries on your posts.
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Now, let’s talk about Meta’s advertising principles.
Meta advertising policy principles
The more eyes are on content, the more chance ads will be displayed to FB users, so high engagement is prioritized, even if sometimes that engagement isn’t positive.
The ad review process
Facebook rarely puts human eyes on ads, the decision to approve or reject a Facebook ad is done by machines 90% of the time. And typically they have, maximum, 24 hours to approve or reject a FB ad. If it goes longer than that “in review” you’ll want to reach out to Facebook ad support.
What to do if your ad is rejected or if your business asset is restricted
The first step is to stop taking actions on Facebook with Ads Manager, Facebook Business Manager, and your Page. Often the biggest fail comes from acting too quickly without examining your entire funnel and assessing the damage before acting.
Community standards
Typically, there’s no cross over from facebook ad policies that govern all ads you run on Facebook and the Community Standards which regulate the organic content. Facebook has workers in sweatshops overseas monitoring the organic content and removing porn, violence, drugs and more. You won’t see Community Standards violations in Ads Manager, they’ll be in the Support Inbox, visible from your Profile (not FB Business Page)’s privacy settings.
Anytime you report a fake profile on Facebook you’ll see the Support Inbox filled with automated messages, and sometimes you can reach a person – but this is for non-advertising issues.
Facebook Ad Policy Content
Unacceptable content
When you look at Facebook ad policy on unacceptable content, you’ll see things like, don’t sell illegal items, or exploit people but what this manifests as in your real, every day experience running ads for profit is the part where Meta talks about Misinformation.
If you cut out all the BS and fluff what Facebook is saying for Facebook ad policy here is TLDR: “Don’t look like spam or an MLM.”
Suffice to say, you are wandering in the dark searching for the sunken ships in the Bermuda Triangle trying to get Facebook to be clear and specific on what they ban and what they allow. Want to save yourself money and headaches and avoid bans? Schedule your complimentary discovery call with me here.
Facebook Ad Policy: Deceptive Ads
Deceptive content
Let me decode this for you, as it isn’t clear from reading this section on Facebook ad policy what Facebook means when you break it down to nuts and bolts. Meta here is saying don’t make exaggerated claims that don’t sound realistic in their opinion for what an average person’s results may be using your product or service. So, tone down your ad copy from anything that sounds like a tabloid or over sensational.
Facebook Ad Policy Restricted Products
Restricted goods and services
You may be blissfully unaware of certain banned business models on Facebook and specific types of products you can’t sell on Facebook which include:
- Animals
- Crypto Currency
- Tobacco
One of the reasons why people who sell CBD have such a hard time ever getting it live on Facebook is because the bots will flag anything smoke-related as selling cigarettes. I have an article about selling CBD on Facebook you may find helpful here.
Facebook Ad Policy: Objection
Objectionable content
What Facebook means by “Objectionable content” for Facebook ad policy is:
- No nudity (seems obv)
- No cursing in ads (don’t try to be cute here)
- No Graphic Content
What that typically looks like in ads is if you try to go too extreme or shocking with kicking the pain points when writing ad copy. Want to stop reading an encyclopedia of Facebook ad policy and just ensure your ads get approved?
Or recover from a restricted ad account? Then you’re like my client Cubatica who ran ads for Tony Robbins that I prescreened for his Knowledge Broker Blueprint (KBB) launch. Schedule your Facebook ad policy discovery call today right here.Facebook ad policy discovery call today right here.
Facebook Ad Policy IP
Intellectual property infringement
It’s crazy how obvious this is – yet every year I still see many of my clients come to me with IP flags. You cannot borrow authority from a celebrity or name brand of an established company to sell your products, without paying your dues. If you attempt to use a major brand name – including Facebook’s – without a licensing agreement, Facebook will flag you for copyright infringement.
Facebook Ad Policy Political Ads
Social issue, electoral or political advertising
If Facebook’s bots perceive your ad as something political or addressing a social issue you’ll have to mark your ad as a special ad category ad – if you don’t Facebook will ban you.
Facebook Ad Policy: Drugs et al
Product and format-specific policies
This is a fancy way of saying even if your ad is a video ad not a static image ad you still have to obey Facebook ad policy and not have any:
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Drugs and alcohol use
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Adult content
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Profanity
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Violence and gore
Facebook Ad Policy: Cybersecurity
Advertising policies affecting business assets
Wow, another vague af Facebook ad policy title! What does it mean? It means don’t run ads that Facebook thinks sound real spammy, and don’t try to hack people. This also means don’t SOUND like you are. What do I mean by that? Well, if FB says don’t hack people, check your copy to make sure there are no phrases that could be misinterpreted that way.
POLICIES
What you should know by now is that Facebook doesn’t F around when it comes to enforcing Facebook ad policy because there are genuinely bad actors out there breaking all the rules to harm others, so they have a better safe than sorry approach. After the Big Tech Layoffs, now Facebook is even more short staffed and relying on automations to make most of their Facebook ad policy decisions. Keep that in mind – machines are reviewing your ads not people.
Want someone who speaks Facebook ad policy bot language? Schedule your discovery call with me today. Schedule your discovery call with me today.
Facebook Ad Policy Enforcing Policy
ENFORCEMENT
The way Facebook automations enforce Facebook ad policy is by building a profile of your actions on Facebook Business Manager, Ads Manager, Facebook Business Page and running ads. After a specific period of time (lets say 60-90 days or sooner) the Facebook ad policy automations may make a conclusion, after seeing a pattern, that you are deliberately breaking Facebook ad policy if you have repeat violations.
Here is the problem with Facebook relying on machine-learning to enforce ad policies – if you made a few mistakes in a row, Facebook’s automations see the pattern and assume you are deliberately violating another one of their ad policies, called Circumventing Systems. I created a quick and dirty guide for you on Circumventing Systems here:
Circumventing Systems Guide (1)
Wouldn’t you like to prevent Facebook from banning your ad account?
As Liana Lang, CEO of Power Up Strategy Inc. said, “Please meet Trevor, my ‘secret weapon’ for all things Facebook compliance. I highly recommend hiring him to help you out especially if you plan to be running ads.”
Want the same white glove treatment navigating Facebook shutdowns?
Click here, to schedule a discovery call.
Now, you may have noticed Facebook changes their ad policies A LOT!
Who are the Facebook changes really for?
I’m sure we’ve all seen the awkward testimonial from Mark Zuckerberg when he faced Congress. Anytime there is a PR fire – like Cambridge Analytica (I was working at Facebook when this happened), Facebook has to get out and do damage control.
Facebook’s policy is to change Facebook’s policy to show they are doing something about an issue. Even if those changes wreak havoc on advertisers just like you.
Facebook creates new ad automations to police Facebook ads more to please their stakeholders, and show the board they are doing something. What they don’t do is look at the big picture for how these new automations integrate with the existing Facebook bots.
Free eBook: Top 5 Reasons Agencies Fail at Facebook
What are Facebook ad policies?
Advertising Standards
In 2023 if you googled new facebook ad policies 2023 this is what you’d see:
You can see beginning in February 2023, advertisers will only be able to use age and location to reach teens. Facebook is removing gender as a targeting option – thats another update to the Facebook advertising guidelines. That’s my blog as the first result (Facebook had to advertise to rank above me under the Sponsored post btw).
Already completely banned?
If you are running ads and spending $100K a year or more on ads, I can help with that.
Also check out: Top Reasons Why Facebook Disables Ad Accounts
Facebook Policy Related articles
Check out the ad-guides I’ve created for ad agencies, you’ll find some great tips to help when Facebook isn’t being transparent.
Unmasking Hackers: How They Impersonate Facebook Accounts and Trick Users
Like no time in history the world is under attack by phishing messages, impersonated IG accounts, and hacked Facebook business managers, hacked Facebook Business Pages, and compromised ad accounts.
Flood gates of hell have opened and it’s like Brad Pitt fighting zombies at the top of the wall in World War Z, no joke:
All that being said, when dealing with Facebook policy, how do you discern between real Facebook staff messages and a hacker impersonating Facebook? For this, take a look as I break down a hacker’s faked Facebook message to me:
The Anatomy of a Hacker’s Fake Facebook Message
Alightchall so here’s a hacker’s message to me for my biohacking facebook page. His name was “York Alfredo” TF was that supposed to be, a noodle dish living in New York? Here is his message, pretending to be Facebook:
For a full breakdown, read the most comprehensive article on protecting yourself from getting hacked here. You’ll learn things you never knew about how your account can be compromised and what to do about it.
So why do some accounts get banned while others are not? Simply said, it depends on a few things, for instance your track record for ad rejections or Facebook ad policy violations, within a specific amount of time. If you have had a lot of near misses, you are more likely to be shut down for a smaller flag in the future.
And, you may hate to hear this, but there are some agency accounts who have simply not made changes to their previously approved ads for years, and get into a holding pattern where the automations don’t rescan them. So, they’ve gotten away with noncompliant ads for years.
Eventually, the bots will catch up to them, and they’ll be calling me, to help them get Facebook ads live again after a ban or ad account restriction. But, just because you see noncompliant ads live on Facebook doesn’t mean it’s safe for you to do so.
Even if you spent a week reading Facebook’s Ad Policies you’d still be at risk of a shut down for Personal Attributes simply because there are ways Facebook’s bots flag you that Facebook isn’t open about. But that’s what I help businesses and ad agencies with: actual transparency for how Facebook ad policy automations flag and what to do to avoid Facebook jail.
Learn more
Don’t miss out on an opportunity to never have to get flagged again:
Facebook Ad Policy Violations New Solution
Ad agencies: tired of getting the silent treatment from Facebook when all you want to do is get your Facebook ads live and revenue in the door?
I’m a Facebook ad policy specialist who worked at Facebook and I’m trusted by high level brands that take accuracy and results seriously.
I can show you how to resolve FB bans even if Facebook ad support is useless to resolve ad account restrictions.
Don’t lose any more money from Facebook bans and schedule your call with me now.
Don’t take my word for it, let my clients tell you what it was like working with me:
It shouldn’t be a mystery on what to do to recover from a ban. I strive for customer satisfaction, being a business owner myself.
My clients have included the social media marketing agencies of Tony Robbins, Harv Eker, and Dean Graziosi. How much is it costing you to have a disabled Facebook ad account? Talk today.
I’m featured on the Queen of Facebook Mari Smith’s Marketing Essentials Course.
If you want to skip the line before this offer ends, immediately secure expert-level Facebook consulting. Book a call with me now!
If you’re ok with waiting a bit longer, and entering the waitlist to see if you’re eligible – Schedule a call or contact me via email.
Free eBook: Top 5 Reasons Agencies Fail at Facebook
Ad Account Restricted Facebook FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How to fix ad account disabled on facebook
Your first step should always be to stop active ads running with the same copy as the rejected ad, then audit your funnel for flags, and appeal using the strategy outlined in the appeal section of the FAQs
2. How to enable my disabled facebook ad account
If you have a spare ad account in your Facebook Business Manager that you can run ads from, feel free to. BUT, identify the micro and major flags FIRST, so as not to repeat the same mistake.
Ready to Finally Make the Money You Need in the Hours That Work for You & Your Family? Don’t miss out,Learn More here.
3. How to appeal a disabled facebook ad account
As far as how to appeal a disabled Facebook ad account, you’ll get 48 hours to make your appeal. The best strategy is to communicate to Meta | Facebook that:
A. You understand WHY you were banned.
B. You are committed to following the policies from here on out.
C. You have identified and REMOVED the offending content from your funnel.
You can also get some top tips on facebook ad policy in this complimentary eBook: Top 5 Reasons Agencies Fail at Facebook
4. how to get disabled ad account up and running
Depending on how long your ad account was disabled, sometimes, if your appeal is written correctly, the appeal itself CAN potentially get you reactivated, if you understand to communicate with Facebook ad support correctly.
5. How Many Policy Violations Before Account is Shut Down?
Typically, it’s a 1 to 10 ratio. For every single rejected ad that you get, you’ll want 10 Facebook ads that are approved. After a pattern of behavior is established by machine learning, from Meta’s automations, you may spiral rapidly into Facebook jail if your ratios aren’t correct. 3 consecutive ads getting rejected risks your ad account getting disabled. But, it also depends on how severe the ban is.
And, if this still all seems too confusing, your clients are yelling at you to get ads live to bring in money, simply schedule a complimentary Facebook discovery call here
6. How to remove restriction on facebook ad account
As far as removing a restriction on a Facebook ad account, if we’re talking about a disabled ad account, well, you can rehabilitate your funnel and then appeal, possibly getting it reactivated if you do this SMART (I have methods that work if you’re in the appeal window). But as far as removing a restriction from Facebook ads, see the previous FAQ answer: you need to get in a positive approval-cycle ratio.
7. how long does facebook take to review restricted ad account
Now, ask yourself, is it an election year? Have there been over 20,000 Meta employees laid off? Did you word your appeal using specific language Facebook ad support can and will respond better to? These are the factors in play. Typically, you get an answer within a week. If you have a more severe ban or are in the special ad categories, you may get an answer faster but it won’t be one you like. Severe bans end up as permanent restrictions and they deliver that ban hammer faster than other lighter Facebook ad policy restrictions.
8. how to fix your access can’t be reinstated because too much time has passed since we restricted your account
In a situation like this, your recovery options depend on what is banned:
a) Facebook Ad Account
b) Facebook Business Page
c) Facebook Business Manager
d) Facebook profile
So, each one may have a different recovery option, depending on your situation, and type of ban it is, as well as your particular niche or business’s vertical, and the health of the accounts before the ban. Want to get a pathway to get Facebook ads live? Schedule your complimentary discovery call here.
9. How To Get Your Disabled Facebook Ad Account Back
First, let me also address the elephant in the room: personal and emotional attachments to disabled ad accounts. I’ve worked with tons of Fortune 500 level companies, and the amount of hair pulling and FML-ing over ONE ad account being disabled, is incredible. Sometimes, it’s faster, and cheaper, to just start a new ad account, and relaunch, rather than recover a tainted asset.
That being said, the same answer applies here to the instructions above, for appeals
10. How to unblock your Facebook ad account
Now, unblocking an ad account, may be possible if you get in fast enough with the right kind of messaging to Facebook ad support. While they are the gatekeepers, and don’t have any real power, they CAN talk to the right folks who, if you word your appeal right, can unblock your Facebook ad account. And of course, if you need next-level assistance, I’m always available to chat and see if it’s a good fit here.
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