Digital Marketing

What to Do If Your Facebook Ad Account Is Disabled

By Amber Turner On May 02, 2022 . 1 Comments

Uh oh. So you’ve attempted to log in to your ad account and up pops the red box of despair.

It states that your account has been disabled for violating Facebook’s terms of use or advertising guidelines. Your first reaction: sheer panic.

In this situation, it’s easy to assume that Facebook is out to get you. Just remember: It’s not a malevolent human sitting behind the screen maniacally laughing at your misery. 

Your account was shut down because something sent a red flag signal to the algorithm and it’s Facebook’s responsibility to mitigate threats at every moment.

Wondering how to appeal the decision and get your ads up and running again?

You don’t have to kiss the sweet traffic your Facebook Ads are generating goodbye.

We’ll tell you why Facebook may suspend your ads and show you how to activate a disabled Facebook ad account as fast as possible.

Why Are Accounts Disabled?

After you launch an ad, Facebook considers two things.

The first is the ad itself, including its contents, targeting settings, and positioning. The second is the landing page where the ad is displayed, the page’s functionality, and how well the page matches the promoted product or service.

Along with that, Facebook ads must comply with numerous advertising policies and community standards.

When things go wrong with your Facebook ads, it typically falls into two categories: disapproved ads or disabled accounts. If you’ve received an “ad disapproval”, it’s likely due to a violation, whereas a disabled account is due to repeated ad violations or highly negative feedback on your account.

Facebook Advertising Policies change all the time. 

Take the time and go through their advertising policies once again, preferably having your ad that’s the cause of this problem opened as well. Read the policies line by line, objectively thinking what policy you might have violated, even if by mistake.

There’s a chance your Facebook ad didn’t violate any of their policies, but Facebook’s automatic ad approval process flagged you by mistake.

Let’s say you posted a photo of candy, which Facebook mistakenly took for pills/drugs.

You didn’t violate their policy against advertising drugs, it was just a photo of candy, but the ad wasn’t reviewed by an actual person, it got flagged and the ad account banned.

Here are some common areas of confusion that can get your content flagged:

• Personal Attributes
• Sexually Suggestive Content
• Facebook’s Brands

If you’ve already read Facebook’s advertising policies, it makes sense to go through them once again, as you may be violating one of them.

The same goes for the Facebook Community Standards, where Facebook describes what’s allowed and what isn’t when advertising. 

Another reason for disabling your Facebook ad account may be users’ reports about your Business Page, ads, or any other type of content you’ve ever posted.

How to Restore a Disabled Facebook Advertising Account

Your fault or not, if you want to get access to your advertising account back, you’ll have to go through an appeals process.

You can appeal their decision directly from the notification you received from them, or by submitting this form.

Immediately submit the appeal. Facebook is saying that the wait times for review are longer than ever with COVID-19.

When you submit the appeal, choose the last option that allows you to input a note. In doing so, it should send your request over to an actual human being since they have to read the note.

You can also go to Facebook.com/support and hop on chat with someone. Be very patient, show that you are human, communicate how this hurts your practice.

Here’s how to get the best outcome

1. Thank them — Thank them for taking the time to review this for you.
2. Summary — Write a quick summary of what happened.
3. Be firm — Politely inform them how important it is for you to get your account reactivated. Tell them your business relies on Facebook Ads, make them feel important.
4. Be specific — Communicate what you’ve found out through your research. Let them know which policy specifically was violated, even if Facebook simply interpreted your ad in the wrong way.
5. Apologize — Let them know you’re sorry for violating their policies, even if you haven’t done that directly.
6. Solution — Tell them how you intend to fix this, and/or ask them what you would need to do to get your ad account reactivated.

If you don’t hear back from Facebook within 3 days, contact them again. You can track the status of your appeal at facebook.com/support.

Tips to Avoid Having Your Account Disabled

• Avoid using a credit card previously connected to a disabled ad account.
• For new ad campaigns, start with a small number of split test variations, and slowly increase the number of ads you create. Drastically changing your advertising habits can cause Facebook to flag your account.
• Make sure the name and address on your credit card match the name and billing information you provided to Facebook.
• Keep your credit card valid with available credit.
• Don’t promote any URLs that load very slowly or result in a 404.

A Facebook Disabled Account Is Not the Be-All and End-All

If your ad account was deactivated, hopefully,  you now feel equipped with the information you need to hit the ground running again. We know, deactivation is scary and upsetting but with the tools listed above, there’s a chance this nightmare is soon to be over. 

The important thing is not to panic, and to go through the steps to try and figure out what happened and then get your account back up and running.

Did these steps help you get your Facebook ad account reinstated? Let us know in the comments below.