Facebook Ads Rejected? Why It Happened & How to Fix It

Haven't you?

Since you want your ad to go live as soon as possible, you must be left wondering what went wrong and how can I fix this immediately?

Do not worry, we are here to help. There are many reasons for a Facebook or Instagram ad to get rejected. We will cover those in detail here so you know how to fix them and next time create an ad keeping these guidelines in mind.

Top 3 reasons why your Facebook ads are rejected

Here are the 3 most common reasons for rejection of your Instagram & Facebook ad:

1. You're promoting something that is prohibited.

2. You're promoting something that is restricted.

3. You're not following the Facebook guidelines for creating ads, landing pages, or ad copies.

It's necessary to review all the above-mentioned criteria before submitting an ad for approval. Let's have a detailed look at each of the reasons.

Instagram & Facebook ad rejected due to prohibited content

Violating Community Standards

Ads must not violate the Community Standards and Instagram Community Guidelines

Discriminatory practices

Ads must not differentiate or encourage discrimination against people based on personal attributes such as ethnicity, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, gender identity, family status, disability, genetic, or medical condition.

Drugs and drug-related products

Ads must not promote the use or sale of illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs.

Unsafe supplements

Adverts must not promote the use or sale of unsafe supplements.

Adult products or services or content

Adverts must not promote the use or sale of adult products or services unless they promote family planning and contraception. Ads must not promote adult content.

Third-party infringement

Ads must not violate any existing copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other personal or proprietary rights.

Sensational content

Ads must not contain sensational, shocking, inflammatory, or excessively violent content.

Misinformation or Misleading claims

Facebook prohibits ads that include any kind of misleading information such as claims debunked by third-party fact-checkers or any content Facebook views as spam will be rejected.

Controversial content

Ads must not promote political or social issues for commercial purposes.

Non-functional landing page

Ads must not direct people to non-functional landing pages.

Cheating and deceitful practices

Ads must not promote products or services that encourage a user to engage in cheating or deceitful practices.

Grammar and profanity

Ads must not look like spam because of bad grammar or punctuation. Symbols, numbers, and letters must be used properly. Further, the ad must not contain profanity.

Personal health

Ads must not include "before-and-after" images or images that have unexpected results. Ad content must not imply or attempt to create negative self-perception to promote weight loss, diet, or other health-related products.

Payday loans, payslip advances, and bail bonds

Ads may not promote payday loans, payslip advances, or any other kind of high-interest short-term loan.

Multi-level marketing

Ads promoting income opportunities must completely describe the associated product or business model, and must not promote business models that offer quick compensation for little investment, including the pyramid-based earning models.

Personal attributes

Ads must not contain content that declares or implies personal attributes. This includes direct or indirect implications about a person's origin, race, ethnicity, religion, age, beliefs, sexual orientation or practices, gender identity, disability, medical condition.

Spyware or malware

Facebook ads must not contain a virus, spam, or any harmful software as well as links to harmful sites.

Automatic animation

Ads must not contain audio or flash animation that runs automatically without a personal interaction or expands within Facebook after someone clicks.

Unacceptable business practices

Ads must not promote products, schemes, services, or offers using misleading practices, including those scamming people out of money or personal information.

Prohibited financial products and services

Ads must not promote financial products associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices such as directly asking for people's credit card information.

Vaccine Discouragement

Ads must not discourage people from vaccination or advocate them against vaccines.

Alcohol

Ads that promote or reference alcohol must comply with all applicable local laws, guidelines, licenses, and approvals. Besides, it must include age and country targeting criteria consistent with Facebook's targeting requirements and local laws.

Dating

Ads promoting dating services are only allowed with prior written permission. These must adhere to the dating targeting requirements and Facebook's dating quality guidelines.

Online gambling and gaming

Ads that promote online gaming, and gambling where the money is involved (including cash or digital/virtual currencies, e.g. bitcoin) are required to play are only allowed with prior written permission.

Online pharmacies

Ads must not promote the sale of prescription pharmaceuticals. Ads for online and offline pharmacies are only allowed with prior written permission.

Branded content

All ads promoting branded content need to tag the product, brand, or business partner using their branded content tool.

Cryptocurrency products and services

• Ads promoting cryptocurrency products and services need to have prior written permission.
• Advertisers must adhere to the guidelines mentioned under cryptocurrency products and services ads policy.
• Advertisers must first receive confirmation for eligibility to run ads promoting cryptocurrency exchanges, investment advice, mining software and hardware.
• Ads promoting other products do not require prior written permission including cryptocurrency industry news, ancillary services, blockchain technology, events, education, payment methods, digital payment tools and merchandise. However, they must adhere to the Advertising Policies.

Cosmetic procedures and weight loss

• Ads that promote weight-loss products and services must be targeted to people aged 18 or older.
• Ads promoting cosmetic surgery procedures must be targeted to people aged 18 or older.

During the ad review process, Facebook checks the ad in its entirety that includes:

• Audience
• Video and Images
• Text
• Targeting
• Positioning
• Content on the ad's landing page

Perform the below mentioned common checks for Facebook & Instagram ads that include but are not limited to:

Get the specifications right:

First and foremost, let's get the specifications right for Image and Video Ads on Facebook and Instagram.

The updated 20% text on image rule

Earlier Facebook used to reject ads that had text covering more than 20% of their image. Recently, that rule was removed, but it's still recommended to keep text limited to a small area of your images. Ads having too much text may not perform well as they are not visually appealing.

Here are the specifications for:

• Ideal Facebook ads size & dimensions
• Ideal Instagram ads size & dimensions

Facebook:

Instagram:

Note: For Carousel Ads (Applicable for Both Facebook & Instagram)

• Minimum number of Images: 2
• Maximum number of Images: 10

For more details visit: Ideal ad size & dimensions for Facebook & Instagram

Personal attributes

As mentioned earlier in the article, we can't run an ad with content targeting someone's attributes. See the example here:

“Are you finding it tough to get slim? Check this out.”

Here your ad is suggesting you know about the person seeing the ad. The problem is that Facebook users who are indeed finding it tough to get slim can easily be concerned about how you came to know their personal information. Your ad should focus directly on the product or service you are offering.

See the right example below:

“Check out our tailored fitness services.”

Here, the ad is not guessing or judging someone's physical attributes. It is promoting the services the fitness centre offers, which is acceptable under Facebook's ad policies.

Brand Usage

Ads linking to Facebook or Instagram should not represent the Facebook brand in a way that makes it the most prominent feature of the creative. As per Facebook advertising guidelines, we cannot modify Facebook brand assets in any way, such as by changing the design or color of the logo.

For instance, always display the word "Facebook" in the same font size and style as the text surrounding it. To play safe, it is advisable to avoid using the Facebook brand name or logo in your ad.

Age-restricted Material

Advertising products such as alcohol in countries where it is allowed to do so must meet the guidelines which include age restriction.

So, these are some of the common checks we should perform before creating our ad on Facebook & Instagram, as they tend to be the most common reasons for ads getting disapproved.

Check out Instagram's Terms of Use page to find more about the Ad policies while creating Instagram Ads. Additionally, follow the Instagram Community Guidelines, Instagram Platform Policy, and Music Guidelines. You will find the information summarised for the above guidelines on Instagram's Terms of Use page.

How to appeal for a disapproved Facebook & Instagram ad?

When an ad is rejected, Facebook sends you an email stating the reason for the rejection. You can either:

1. Edit your ad based on the reason or create a new one that follows Facebook's ad policies.

2. In case you feel it is a mistake on the part of Facebook, you can request another review of your ad.

Useful links to note:

• To check your email address, follow this path: Go to your Ads manager > Business info section > Payment Settings.
• To edit your ad in the ads manager, click here.
• To request another review, go to Account Quality, select your account/catalogue, select your ad, and click Request review. Track the status of your appeal in Account Quality.

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