Why was my Facebook ad rejected?

Every ad on Facebook and Instagram goes through a review, mostly automated, and most ads are reviewed within a day. Meta looks at the text, the image, the video, the audience and the page where the click lands. If one of those clashes with the Advertising Standards, the ad is rejected. Usually nothing was deliberately wrong; a sentence or a setting reads differently to the rules than to you.

Causes we see most

A line about the reader

The rule on personal attributes surprises most advertisers. Meta forbids ads that assume something about the person reading them: their health, financial situation, religion, sexual orientation or criminal record. "Struggling with debt?" or "Tired of your back pain?" gets rejected. "Advice on your budget" or "Physiotherapy for back problems in Leeds" does not. The difference is the subject of the sentence: your offer, not the reader.

When the special category applies

Ads for jobs, homes and financial products must be marked as a special ad category in Europe, the UK included. You then choose no age or gender, your radius is at least 15 kilometres, and detailed targeting and lookalikes fall away. If you forget the category, Meta rejects or changes the ad. More in Special Ad Category; for jobs specifically see how to post a job on Facebook, and for homes Facebook ads for real estate.

When the page is the problem

Meta also checks where the click lands. A page that does not load, a page that sells something else than the ad promises, or a site that redirects visitors right away gets a rejection. Make sure the landing page loads on mobile and uses the same words as the ad. A job ad that leads to a page without an apply button loses more than it costs; recruitment advertising shows the page that works.

Fix and resubmit, or request a review

If the mistake is yours, edit the ad and submit it again. If you think Meta got it wrong, request another review in Account Quality. Do not delete the rejected ad, or you can no longer ask for a review. If many ads are rejected in a short time, Meta can restrict your ad account. So read why first, before you try ten variants. Google has its own rules, with its own advertiser verification.

Prevent instead of repair

Write about your offer, with your customer as reader and not as subject. Check how the ad looks in the feed with the Facebook ad preview, and prepare your links with the UTM builder so you see afterwards what worked. If your ad touches a social issue, read are political ads allowed in the EU. Which rules apply per sector is in how to advertise a business. If your pixel does not work as it should, see Meta pixel.