Facebook doesn’t play around when handing out ad bans. Is your Facebook account restricted from advertising? I’ve worked in ads at Facebook and will help you today make sense of the madness like I did in my last blog.

Table of Contents

Facebook account restricted from advertising: ad restrictions

About advertising restrictions

Is your Facebook account restricted from advertising and you don’t know what to do?
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What do you do with a Facebook account restricted from advertising? On top of that, Facebook ad support doesn’t seem to know what you’re saying and offers no answers. You began googling and now have found this blog. Welcome to the most trusted source for Facebook ad policy tips – I worked in ads at Facebook and want to help you not get the FB ban hammer so you don’t get stuck with a Facebook account restricted from advertising.

I’ve worked directly with the engineers at Meta, and if it’s one thing I know, it’s how the automations find content to flag in your marketing funnel. My goal is to give you some specifics for better compliance without shut downs. Something a little better than just guessing with google, if you get a Facebook account restricted from advertising.

If you’re like my client Jack Randall, President of Social Flight, you’re tired of beating your head against the wall trying to guess why Facebook has shut you down, and want answers faster.

“Trevor helped me successfully diagnose exactly why my ad account was disabled, and helped me frame out a plan to move forward.” 👍🏻

Click here, to schedule a discovery call.

Facebook ad account restricted – what does it mean?

When your Facebook account’s restricted from advertising you’re already on the radar and all of your assets are under the microscope.

This means your ad account history is being reviewed, the people who are on your Facebook Business Manager are being checked out – do they have ad bans elsewhere? If their other facebook account’s restricted it could effect you too.

And of course it means you are now on trial with the judges at Facebook who are robots for the most part.

Free eBook: Top 5 Reasons Agencies Fail at Facebook

Because it’s guilty until proven innocent – when it comes to getting a Facebook account restricted from advertising. But, if you act like you’re Al Pacino playing attorney at law Arthur Kirkland and prepare your counter strategy, then I promise you counsel will not have to approach the bench.

It’s frustrating getting hit with a Facebook account restricted from advertising. When you prepare before blindly appealing Facebook accounts restricted from advertising, then you have a much better chance of recovery. Want to skip the guessing since I worked there? Well, schedule a discovery call here.

Facebook account restricted from advertising: Policy
Advertising restrictions for policy violations

At its core, Facebook is a machine, scanning billions of ads every day. While many ad agencies disregard Facebook ad policy when determining their holiday ads, that one slip up can cost millions of dollars.

If your Facebook account is restricted from advertising, it may hurt your ability to earn money in the future, so you’ll want to make sure your overall track record is in the black not the red. That means more approved ads than rejected. If your facebook account’s restricted it was done by bots.

Given how automated Facebook’s policy bots are, to be successful not getting thrown in FB jail, you’ll want to understand how and why these policy automations flag to avoid being on their radar. There’s some nuance to this. And, Meta is constantly being dragged into court, leading to even more automations being created to make up for the laid off workers.

Meta tells court it won’t sue over Facebook feed-killing tool—yet

This week, Meta asked a US district court in California to toss a lawsuit filed by a professor, Ethan Zuckerman, who fears that Meta will sue him if he releases a tool that would give Facebook users an automated way to easily remove all content from their feeds.

Zuckerman has alleged that the imminent threat of a lawsuit from Meta has prevented him from releasing Unfollow Everything 2.0, suggesting that a cease-and-desist letter sent to the creator of the original Unfollow Everything substantiates his fears. Kind of funny a man with the last name “Zuckerman” is in court against Mark Zuckerberg.

It just underscores the point that now, Facebook is being pulled in a 100 different directions and the last thing they care about is your Facebook account restricted from advertising. That’s a road less traveled – an empathetic Facebook, willing to help you out if you were banned for some random log in, at a new location.

Facebook account restricted from advertising: Activity
Advertising restrictions for unusual activity

With a Facebook account restricted from advertising you may get the flag for unusual activity. Now, this can be frustratingly vague. Which activity was unusual? Why?

What I’ve seen working at Facebook is that this flag typically is triggered by:

○ A log in on a new device, not usually signed in to your Facebook account
○ Logging into Facebook business tools while traveling – especially in Cuba
○ Your bank is rejecting Facebook pre-auth charges or ad charges but not telling you

This is hard to recover from because Facebook essentially blacklists your devices, and each case is unique.

Facebook account restricted from advertising: Threat Level
How Serious is a Rejected Facebook Ad?

Facebook ads are what conservatives call Marijuana: a gateway drug. At least when it comes to bans – usually all bans are triggered at some point from a Facebook ad that led to a facebook account restricted.

Your Facebook ad gets rejected, you appeal or try to run it again, then your ad account gets disabled. You try to appeal this (probably incorrectly if you haven’t read my blog before) and then that appeal gets rejected and your Business Manager gets disabled.

It all starts with the Facebook ad and whether it follows ad policies or paints you as a bad actor to Facebook trying to circumvent systems in addition to Facebook accounts restricted from advertising.

If you’ve read How to Unrestrict My Ad Account you get how vital your appeal strategy is and has to be.

Facebook Restrictions: Facebook account restricted from advertising

One of the pain points of ad agencies is that Facebook is always changing their ad policies. Sometimes new ad policies punish old ads that WERE within policy WHEN THEY WERE PUBLISHED.

Facebook won’t take that into consideration when the bots descend like a swarm of locust on your ad account. And you don’t want a facebook account restricted. This means being aware of what may get banned and avoiding it is a full time job you can’t slack on.

It pays to be informed of what Facebook is doing as it effects industries at large, like Facebook’s recent NEW ad policies on selling CBD on Facebook. You need to stay current to avoid Facebook accounts restricted from advertising.

Facebook account restricted from advertising: Why?
Why Is My Facebook Advertising Account Restricted?

I’ve seen a thousand and one reasons why Facebook ad accounts get rejected. When Facebook accounts are restricted from advertising, what’s seldom talked about is the difference of ad policy enforcement per industry.

And now with the world obsessing with AI, do you think Meta is going to back down on automating their ban process? As Social Media Today reports, Meta’s determined to make use of its expanding AI capacity, and it’s going to make you experience it, whether you want to or not.

Meta’s latest effort on this front is new Meta AI summaries in post comment streams on Facebook, which sum up the general consensus of what people are saying about that post.

IDK about you, scratching your head, looking at the screen reading this right now, but AI summaries on Facebook seem idiotic. The point of Facebook is not reading summaries – that’s wikipedia – but to scroll and be social. Either way, it spells disaster as more AI reliance means more rando bans on people like yourself.

Given my history of working with thousands of ad agencies both while I was working AT Facebook and in my own practice, I have stats on which ad policies are triggered the most in specific niches. Like personal attributes flags being higher in weight loss niches.

Understanding how YOUR specific niche interacts with Facebook ad policy automations is KEY to staying out of Facebook jail and avoiding a facebook account restricted. By the way, here’s my quick guide on Personal Attributes:

Facebook Policy Personal Attributes Guide

Facebook account restricted from advertising: Rejected Ads
Your ad account was banned for too many rejected ads

Ever been to the DMV? Facebook has a similar bureaucratic approach to scanning and flagging ads and appealing them when Facebook accounts restricted from advertising.

Now, just like your auto insurance goes up for each new traffic violation, your ad account score on the back end is negatively effected by rejected ads.

This is ok until you cross a threshold of rejected ads. Those negative points start adding up BUT – unlike insurance companies or the DMV who you can call, Facebook is a faceless black hole without help to resolve a facebook account restricted.

If you’ve read my What to Do After Violating Facebook’s Ad Policies [Step-by-Step Guide] you found out the hidden clues in FB warnings – that you may need an expert to decode into everyday language.

Just like my client, a Norwegian travel company discovered, there are micro flags in ad copy and landing pages that have to be removed first before attempting to appeal or relaunch a brand with Facebook.

Want the same white glove treatment navigating Facebook shutdowns?

Click here, to schedule a discovery call to avoid getting a disabled Facebook ad account.

Facebook account restricted from advertising: disabled accounts

What Disabled Facebook Ad Account Means

If you see that, “You are restricted from running ads” this means you missed the canary in the coal mine beforehand. SOMETHING in your ads was pissing off Facebook and there were warning signs – probably not obvious because Facebook isn’t that transparent.

Now, depending on what type of Business Manager you have you may be able to create a new ad account as long as the new ads have 0 flags in them that the old ads have.

When reading the Facebook ad policies on Facebook ad rejections you may feel frustrated, because they won’t talk about your specific situation in any detail, if at all.

And Facebook never provides reliable advice on how to solve a facebook account restricted.

“Full Stop,” as my friend Amanda Bond likes to say.

Is your Facebook ad account already disabled? Don’t get ripped off! Read How to Recover Facebook Ad Accounts now!

Just like my client Dr. Emi benefited from my funnel audits for compliance, you can too. It all starts with a free discovery call here. By the way, Dr. Emi was just featured on the Today Show on NBC. (In a rush? Skip the line with prepaid funnel audits with VIP Access).

Facebook account restricted from advertising: Business Manager

What is a Disabled Facebook Business Manager?

If you are restricted from running ads, when your Facebook Business Manager is disabled within the Facebook Business Suite as they (annoyingly) renamed it, then you may need to relaunch your brand depending on how severe this ban is.

Sometimes Business Manager bans if they are appealed fast enough with the right language can be overturned.

But out of lets say 100 disabled Facebook Business Managers I’ve seen, 1% gets recovered.

Facebook account restricted from advertising? KNOW THIS: What you want to keep in mind is the Facebook Business Pages – as they are your digital storefront for your brand name – and take them out before your Facebook Business Manager gets disabled!

That being said, when you have a disabled Facebook Business Manager that means every asset inside is jeopardized.

Ad Accounts
Facebook Business Pages
People connected to this BM

Here’s why:

When you have a disabled Facebook Business Manager, Facebook keeps track of who is in the Business Manager and the other BMs they are connected to.

So, everyone in a disabled Facebook Business Manager is at risk of having everything else they are working on getting shut down too. If you FORGOT a lurker in your BM who has a facebook account restricted it WILL come back to bite ya a$$ so BE AWARE.

A disabled Facebook Business Manager is the next to the worst ban you can get on Facebook.

When my client Happi Digital, an eCommerce Agency hired me to audit their Facebook ads, I uncovered flags that if left alone could have shut down their entire ad agency.

Need Facebook ad policy expert too? Schedule a call with me right now.

Facebook account restricted from advertising: Background
What Does it Mean When Your Facebook Page is Restricted?

We saw ALOT of this going on during 2020 – when the pandemic first hit America with e-comm businesses that had shipping delays in China due to covid-19 shut downs. These e-commerce businesses saw their customers giving them bad reviews that took their Page quality score beneath a 1.

Then, just by automation alone, their FB Business Pages got restricted. And they didn’t even have a facebook account restricted-just the Page got shut down.

This is challenging because if you try to relaunch a new Facebook Business Page with the same brand name you may get blocked by Facebook right away for circumventing systems. You’ll need a better strategy more finely tuned for relaunching.

For top tips on making a landing page compliant read this.

More About Facebook profile Restricted From Advertising

If your personal Profile on Facebook is restricted from advertising – that is the worst ban you can get. And facing this, the odds will be insurmountable for running ads again. At least without guidance from a FB policy expert.

Your personal Facebook Profile is the key to all the different doors. It is what creates your Facebook Business Page, it’s what creates your Facebook Business Manager, all the ad accounts and more.

Once that’s banned, welp! You’re up sh*t creek without a paddle. Don’t hold your breath on getting it restored. The chances are around .1% that you’ll ever get a permanently restricted profile restored.

But I do know a way to resolve this in addition to resolving a facebook account restricted. Now, let’s talk a little bit about why your Facebook ad account may have been restricted.

Why is my Facebook advertising account restricted?

Still asking what to do when seeing, “You are restricted from running ads”? If you want to get to the bottom of why your Facebook advertising account is restricted, you’ll want to audit your funnel. This is to identify what was the biggest risk that got you on the radar and eventually shut down.

Have your Facebook ads been blocked? Read this blog here.

Here are a few of the Facebook ad policies you may want to glance at:

Sexually Explicit Content. This one is a no-brainer: you can’t advertise anything sexual on Facebook. Given that Facebook’s approval is partly automated, health-based services (spas, etc.) can be flagged for body parts even if they’re not sexually suggestive it’ll get you a facebook account restricted.
Prohibited categories. Even though some items may not be illegal per se, Facebook does have restrictions about advertising the following: Drugs or tobacco, supplements, weapons, and financial products (auctions, loans, etc.).
Misinformation. False news on Facebook is a no-go.
Sensational content. No click-bait, sensationalist content either.
Bad grammar or punctuation. This is also a bad advertising practice in general.
Inflammatory content. This is any content that could be categorized as hate speech.
Unacceptable Business Practices. This generic term describes ads that “promote products, services, schemes or offers using deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to scam people out of money or personal information.” This can be things like fake celebrity-endorsed products, subscription-based services that do not have the appropriate requirements met, or making exaggerated claims about a product.
Low-quality or deceptive content. This includes ads that are cropped so that you need to click to see the full image, or anything sexually suggestive or shocking. It’s important to note that Facebook also looks at your ad destination to make sure the content is relevant to the ad itself.
Personal attributes. This one is a bit tricky, Essentially, you cannot make it known that you know (or assume to know) any specific detail about your audience. This can be things like medical conditions, demographics, or even sexual preference. This can be statements such as “Is your weight problem getting serious?”, or, “You’re a woman over 50.”

That’s just a summarized view of the Facebook ad policies to keep in mind if your Facebook account’s restricted from advertising.

In reality, there are 1000s more that you are policed on by the automations but never told about.

Want access to a funnel audit to ensure you are compliant? Click here for a discovery call.

Facebook account restricted from advertising: Fix
How do I fix my restricted Facebook account?

You want to fix your restricted Facebook ad account right? Doesn’t everyone?! No one wants to see: “You are restricted from running ads.”

If you googled disabled facebook ad account or Facebook ad rejections you’ll find a number of bullshit articles out there – even by major brands – that will just tell you to “Request Review.”

That’s not great advice. Full stop.

What you’re doing here is saying to the automations that shut you down: “Hey bud, I know you are machine, but can you decipher human empathy and context? Even better can you send this Appeal to ANOTHER robot? And put my fate in the next bot’s hands?”

Really the best chance you have is to appeal within 48 hours of getting shut down AFTER identifying the EXACT source of the Facebook automation flag.

Anything less than that, and you are thrown to the wolves.

Really the BEST way to handle a shut down, on any level but a profile restriction (which you don’t usually get appeals for), is to audit your funnel for violations, then remove them from your funnel and get on Facebook Ad Support Chat once you know 100% why you were shut down.

Then, ask for a manual appeal. Here’s the deal: the outsourced workers you’ll be chatting with have a goal of more chats per day than giving a damn about a real resolution rate.

They will try to shut you down every step of the way. I can help you navigate these hurdles, and get the best chances you can have for making an appeal if it is within less than 5 days of the shut down.

Beyond that window, the chances get slimmer. But you do have other options if your goal is to get Facebook ads live again and not just trying to recover old disabled ad accounts.

What if you had a guarantee that your ads were compliant before they went live on Facebook?

Keep reading for these answers and more:

Facebook Account Restriction Solution

After years of working at Facebook, I understand exactly what ad copy in your funnel is triggering the automations and how to get compliant.

Schedule a call with me and I can easily tell you why the automations flag you and how to become compliant. Don’t take my word for it, let my clients tell you what it was like working with me.

You’ll be swapping out walking in a minefield of ad flags, to have a sure path to having your Facebook ad accounts protected from being disabled.

My clients have included the social media marketing agencies of Tony Robbins, Harv Eker, and Dean Graziosi. How much is it costing you to not know why Facebook is shutting you down? 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 an expert-level Facebook consulting call from someone at Facebook. 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.