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My Facebook Ads account was disabled: possible reasons
My Facebook Ads account was disabled: possible reasons
Revealbot avatar
Written by Revealbot
Updated over a week ago

Well, this happens even to the greatest of us. But there is nothing to worry about. Get your Facebook advertising activity back on track with this simple guide.
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There are a lot of reasons why Facebook could disable your ad account, but all of them can be divided into 2 categories:

  1. You somehow violated Facebook Advertising Policies

  2. Your ad account has been flagged for unusual activity

So you're either submitting ads that don't comply with Facebook Advertising Guidelines, or there is some monkey business going on with your account, such as ads being created from multiple countries. 

To avoid getting your ad account disabled, follow Facebook Advertising Policies:

  1. Don't imply or assert any personal attribute, including religion, age, gender identity or financial status

  2. Don't use sexually suggestive content, which means don't use photos with fully or half-naked bodies or with people in sexually suggestive positions. Unless it's a picture of a statue or monument.

  3. Don't use Facebook or Instagram brand identity, i.e. its name, logos and other branded content. You “may make limited reference to "Facebook" or "Instagram" in ad text for the purpose of clarifying the destination of the ad”.

  4. Don't advertise illegal products

  5. Don't use sensational content, i.e. something that might be considered shocking, disrespectful or violent.

  6. Don't use non-functional landing pages or forwarding links (QR codes included)

  7. Don't advertise sale of body parts (duh doy, I already have Craigslist for that)

Here is a complete list of things you can't promote on Facebook and you should take a closer look at it if your account was disabled due to the violation of Facebook Advertising Guidelines.

Though most of the limitations are pretty easy to understand, you might want to see the "Restricted Content" section.

For example, there is a separate list of rules that apply to ads for subscription services. 

Another reason why your Facebook ad account could get disabled is “unusual activity”.

The term “unusual activity” is pretty broad, but Facebook has a point here, because there are a lot of ways someone’s activity might be considered unusual by Facebook. 

What can be considered unusual by Facebook protection mechanisms:

  • Creating ads from multiple IP addresses

  • Changing your payment methods too often

  • Payment method billing country doesn't match the location you're creating ads from

  • Drastic budget increase (from $100 a day to $3000 a day)

  • A horse-load of ads has been recently disapproved

This is not a complete list, because there is no way of telling what Facebook algorithms will consider unusual in your particular case.

Wrap Up

  • Read Facebook Advertising Guidelines and try not to violate them

  • Don't use VPN or proxies when using Facebook for business purposes

  • Set up 2-step verification to better protect your account

  • Don't use a payment method that's been used in a disabled ad account

  • Don’t change payment methods too often

  • Don’t try to activate invalid Facebook Ad Coupons too many times

Also...

Facebook works in mysterious ways and sometimes people have their personal accounts blocked permanently because their advertising activity has seriously (or not so seriously) violated some Facebook Ad Policies.

In order to avoid a problem like that, separate your personal Facebook activity and your advertising activity by creating a separate account to own all your ad accounts. Doing this will prevent your personal account from being mistakenly blocked.

Please also feel free to check out our blog post Essential Facebook ad policies to know for more insight on what you can advertise on Facebook.

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