Facebook Ad Policy Why Ad Accounts Get Restricted

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.

You may not know this but there are a TON of bad actors out there skimming and scamming every DAY – in fact it’s gotten so bad I wrote an indepth guide on how to prevent getting hacked on Facebook and what to do if you HAVE been hacked while running ads on Facebook you can access it here. As much Keep in mind, Facebook itself is under scrutiny

We unleashed Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms on blank accounts. They served up sexism and misogyny

Result of Guardian Australia experiment aligns with research showing social media automatically delivers troubling content to young men, largely without oversight

As the Guardian reports, how do the algorithms of Facebook and Instagram affect what you see in your news feed? To find out, Guardian Australia unleashed them on a completely blank smartphone linked to a new, unused email address.

Three months later, without any input, they were riddled with sexist and misogynistic content.

Dr Stephanie Wescott, a lecturer in humanities and social sciences at Monash University, conducted research into the influence of Manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate on school-aged boys and told Guardian Australia our investigation results for Facebook were not surprising.

“Based on the research I’m doing and also what we know [from other research] this is what we know the algorithm will provide and serve up to young men, based on what it assumed will capture their interest,” she said.

“It’s kind of degrading for men for the algorithm to make this assumption about their interests … [that] you’re going to like these sort of misogynistic memes.”

Nicholas Carah, an associate professor in digital media at the University of Queensland, said the experiment showed how “baked into the model” serving up such content to young men is on Facebook.

“We have to think seriously about the informational environment young men are immersed in and the problem with platforms is they’ve made that information environment completely dark and ephemeral to anyone but those young men,” he said.

“There has to be some kind of public imperative here where platforms help civil society, journalists, researchers, regulators, whoever, observe what these informational flows look like so that we can have some kind of public understanding, public scrutiny, and public debate about them.”

Wescott said platforms need to answer questions on how the algorithms work because currently they are unaccountable.

“They’re beyond reproach and they don’t seem to be willing to put any sort of alterations or restrictions on their algorithm.”

As I’m writing this, in a coffee shop, I look up from my laptop and see a single mother with her 8 year old son, joking around with his brother who looks to be about 4 years old and I hope their mother hasn’t gotten them smartphones with the Facebook app on it because…jeez. Facebook’s algorithm is not only banning legitimate ad accounts, apparently it’s also training young boys to be incels.

Nevermind all that…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.”

Want to hear some crazy shit about Facebook? Personal Attributes Flag:

Excuse my french, but I just discovered one of the most alarming changes Facebook has made, that is hurting thousands of advertisers across America. Facebook’s new website makeover that has been going on for roughly 2 years after the name change from Facebook to Meta, now EXCLUDES images showing you exactly what IS allowed versus what is BANNABLE for various facebook ad policies.

To put this in context, in 2016, you could go onto Facebook’s help pages website about their ad policies, and see clear examples of ads they approve of, and ads they would ban you for running.

Now? Crazy af…Meta since the name change, took them all down!!! This is seriously F@#ed up folks. How are you going to know what Facebook allows and what they’ll ban you for? It grinds my gears, because this year Facebook or Meta, expects you to follow all their ad policies but has removed 99% of the visual aids to help advertisers and business owners have clear cut and dry examples of what kind of ad is prohibited and what is approved.

Of course, having worked at Facebook since 2016, I can share some of what they have taken down, here, but unless you knew the exact ad copy and creatives that old Facebook put up, even using the way back machine, you wouldn’t be able to find concrete examples of what Facebook allows and what they don’t for multiple major ad policies people get banned for ALL THE TIME.

I would know, as they call me to help escape from FB jail – I’ve worked with Amazon reality TV stars to Wu-Tang Clan’s marketing agency. Let me give you one specific example before we discuss Deceptive Ads.

The Personal Attributes flag, which a lot of folks in cosmetic surgery and weightloss get hit with, used to have it’s own page on Facebook where they showed you the type of ads that got you banned for this flag. Now? Look what Meta’s policy page shows:



Scroll to the bottom of that page, and Facebook doesn’t say ONCE anything about the highest risk markets for the Personal Attributes flags, fitness and diet, weightloss and cosmetic surgery or cosmetic beauty AND they show NO examples of what IS allowed and what NOT allows AND THEY USED TO SHOW THIS!!!

Not to worry, I have a few pictures in my archives I’ll share for what is allowed vs what is not for Personal Attributes, here is one I have from back in the day:



Want my guide on Personal Attributes and avoid getting the ban hammer? Google “Facebook Personal Attributes flag”



Suffice to say, you are wandering in the dark searching for the Deadsea Scrolls 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:

1. Drugs and alcohol use

2. Adult content

3. Profanity

4. 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.

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: