Social media is a useful tool to reach and engage with a wider audience. The information that Facebook contains about each user is vast. Having that data at your fingertips allows you to focus your advertising dollars on a narrow group of potential customers. When a business relies on Facebook ads to sell products or find leads, it can be detrimental if your ad account gets suspended.

Why Facebook Ads Suspensions Happen

Facebook has ad rules and policies in place to help filter any harmful, sensitive, or discriminatory content. When an ad is passed through the review process, your content is screened for terms and images that violate guidelines. Most of the time, if an ad is rejected it is not because of malicious intent, but because of unintentional Facebook ad mistakes. Here are a few examples of Facebook ad policies so you don’t fall subject to these common mistakes.

Personal Attributes

“Ads must not contain content that asserts or implies personal attributes. This includes direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, age, sexual orientation or practices, gender identity, disability, medical condition (including physical or mental health), financial status, voting status, membership in a trade union, criminal record, or name.”

This is one common policy that trips up marketers. Facebook doesn’t allow for ads to refer to anyone by their personal characteristics. Phrases that imply any type of personal trait will likely be flagged and rejected.

Restricted Topics

Certain Facebook ad topics and keywords are restricted by Facebook. Categories such as housing, employment, sensitive issues, politics, illegal activities, tobacco related products, personal health, social issues, and more are monitored by Facebook. Facebook looks for flagged terms to ensure this content is not approved. An ad that does not break any policies may still be rejected if the ad contains a triggering keyword. Terms like, “mortgages,” “income,” or “weight loss” are flagged because they are usually associated with Facebook’s restricted content.

Personal Health

Advertising with content that promotes losing weight, focuses on a specific body part, or could imply any negative self-perception goes against Facebook’s personal health guidelines. Content with zoomed in body parts, before and after images of physical attributes, or anything that expresses negativity to physical appearances would be considered noncompliant.

Why this is Important

Understanding Facebook’s advertising policies is important. If content is repeatedly rejected, Facebook can suspend or permanently lock your ad account. This usually happens without warning and can be difficult to appeal.