It’s unfortunate to hear that some advertisers are getting their ads rejected or accounts banned. However, it’s important to note that Facebook has a responsibility to ensure that its platform is safe and trustworthy for its users. They have a team of reviewers who manually check ads to ensure that they comply with Facebook’s policies.
The question is whether it is easy to comply with Facebook’s advertising principles. Here is an overview of some – although not all – of the things you must and cannot do as an advertiser.
Note that while this is actually taken from Facebook’s Advertising Principles, it is somewhat sarcastic. In fact, some items on this list are repetitive. That’s because the principles are repetitive!
The main point here is that there are many rules to follow, and Facebook will ultimately decide what violates and does not violate the rules, and everything is not always clear. Here are list reasons why your Facebook ads may be rejected or your account may be banned…
General
1. Must comply with the Facebook Platform Policies
2. Contests and page posts must comply with Page Terms
3. No false, misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive claims or content
4. No management of more than one advertiser or client per ad account
5. Use of Custom Audiences must comply with Custom Audience Terms
Data and Privacy
6. No sharing of advertising data with outside sources
7. No use of ad data to build or augment profiles
8. You can use user data, but only with their consent and while following applicable laws
9. Don’t sell user data
Ad Creative and Positioning
10. Every part of an ad must be relevant to the product promoted
11. No audio or flash animation without a user’s interaction
12. Do not position in a sexually suggestive manner
13. Do not exploit political agendas for commercial use
14. Must include proper use of grammar
15. Must use symbols, numbers or letters per their actual meanings
16. Must be accurate and provide proper representation without deception
17. Cannot imply a user’s personal characteristics (race or ethnic origin, religion or philosophical belief, age, sexual orientation or sexual life, gender identity, disability or physical/mental health, financial status or information, membership in a trade union, criminal record, name)
18. Must lead to a functioning landing page that does not prevent the user from leaving
19. No more than 20% text in images
20. Targeting for alcohol must adhere to applicable laws
21. Targeting for dating must adhere to applicable laws
22. Targeting for adult products must adhere to applicable laws
Ad Content
23. Content must comply with all laws and regulations
24. All claims must be substantiated
25. Don’t be offensive
26. Content can’t be false, deceptive or misleading
27. No spam
28. Don’t promote illegal things
29. Don’t violate the rights of others
30. Video ads for health products can’t play automatically!
31. No promotion of adult products (ignore that point about targeting adult products in #22)
32. Contraception or family planning ads are okay — but sometimes
33. Promotion of alcohol is prohibited in 13 countries — and probably some other places, too
34. Sometimes you can promote alcohol, but only if you don’t break one of a whole bunch of rules
35. No dating sites with a sexual emphasis
36. Some dating sites are okay, but only if approved by Facebook
37. No promotion of illegal drugs
38. No promotion of tobacco
39. No promotion of drug or tobacco paraphernalia
40. Online gambling ads only allowed in certain countries and if approved by Facebook
41. Governmental run lotteries can be promoted, but only if targeting those in that jurisdiction
42. Offline gambling ads only allowed when no laws are broken and when properly targeted
43. No promotion of prescription drugs
44. Online pharmacies generally prohibited unless allowed by Facebook
45. Dietary or herbal supplements sometimes allowed unless involving a long list of stuff considered unsafe by Facebook
46. No links to spyware or malware
47. No unexpected, deceptive or unfair user experience, typically — but not always — involving software
48. No software that performs activities hidden to the user
49. No automatic downloads or surprise download dialog boxes
50. No software that infringes on rights of other software
51. If you’re going to run ads for subscription services, be sure to follow a whole lot of rules
52. Don’t promote business models like MLM or other stuff Facebook doesn’t like
53. Don’t promote weapons or stuff related to weapons
54. Ads cannot contain before-after images or images that describe unwanted results that are difficult to achieve.
There are no before and after photos, and you can’t even say “Want to lose weight?” because it can offend someone! We have audit results and Facebook does not accept them.
Ad Community Standards
55. If your ad gets a lot of negative feedback, Facebook might remove it
56. Your ad may be in violation of community standards if Facebook says it is
57. You can’t promote illegal stuff
58. You can’t harass, insult or bully others
59. You can’t impersonate others
60. No Hate Speech
61. No ads promoted to minors that may be considered inappropriate
62. No sex, nudity or provocative stuff
63. No shocking, sensational or excessively violent stuff
Facebook References
64. Don’t be stupid and imply an endorsement or partnership with Facebook
65. Very limited use of Facebook marks except as permitted by the Brand Usage Guidelines or if Facebook says it’s okay
Rights of Others
66. Don’t infringe on or violate the rights of others
67. Don’t break copyright laws
68. Don’t break trademark laws
69. Don’t mess with someone’s privacy
One More Thing…
Facebook reserves the right to reject, approve or remove any ad for any reason, in their sole discretion, including ads that negatively affect their relationship with users or that promote content, services, or activities, contrary to their competitive position, interests, or advertising philosophy. These guidelines are subject to change at any time.
In other words, don’t break any of the rules above, but… That doesn’t mean that if you don’t specifically break a rule above that you aren’t breaking a rule.
Learn About Rules for Landing Pages
What’s interesting is that the Facebook Advertising Guidelines say very little about landing pages, but Facebook actually has some very specific rules regarding them. Many advertisers are getting their ads rejected — and even accounts banned — as a result of breaking these rules.
Contact us now for the most practical advice!
Kannon Crane
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