Why Meta rejects ads: the official policies behind the most common refusals for online sellers

A rejected ad is rarely a mystery once you read the rule. Meta publishes its Advertising Standards and a help page on rejections, and most refusals that hit online sellers come from a short list of policies. This article summarises what Meta’s own pages say, read on 29 October 2026, with the habits that avoid the most common ones. It is not a guarantee: Meta decides, and says its review “may not detect all policy violations”.

How the review works

According to Meta’s introduction to its Advertising Standards:

• Each ad is checked against the policies when you place the order. The system relies primarily on automated tools.
• The review starts automatically before the ad runs and is typically done within 24 hours, sometimes longer. During this time the status is “In review”.
• It can look at the image, video, text, targeting and the landing page, not only the ad itself.
• Ads stay subject to re-review at any time, which is why an ad can be approved, then rejected later.
• Meta also reviews the business account and its assets (ad account, Page, user account). Severe or repeated violations can lead to restrictions that stop you from advertising.

What to do when an ad is rejected

Meta’s help page says you get an email with a link to Business Support Home, where you see the reason. Then you can:

1. Edit the ad to comply. It is re-submitted automatically for review.
2. Create a new ad that complies.
3. Request another review if you think it was wrongly rejected. Meta says it aims to decide within 48 hours, relies more on human reviewers for this, and that a request does not hurt your standing. If the re-review also rejects the ad, you cannot submit another request for that same ad.

Two warnings from the same page: deleting a rejected ad may remove your ability to ask for a review, and editing or deleting does not erase the violation from your account. Ask for a review first if you think the refusal is a mistake.

The policies that catch online sellers

1. Personal attributes

Meta does not allow ads that assert or imply personal attributes of the person seeing them, or that suggest you know them. The list on the page includes age, religion, physical or mental health (including medical conditions), vulnerable financial status and criminal record. The page says to focus on the benefits of the product, and that “you” is acceptable when it is not tied to a personal attribute. The pattern to avoid is a headline that tells the viewer they are in debt or overweight; describing the product and what it does is fine.

2. Health, weight and cosmetic products

Ads for supplements, weight loss or gain products and cosmetic products or procedures must target people 18 or older. The page also forbids claims to cure listed incurable diseases, clickbait promising specific results in a set time without disclaimers, and weight-loss images that pinch body fat. It was updated on 22 July 2026, so re-read it before each campaign in this area.

3. Prohibited commercial practices

This is the policy that matters most to cash-on-delivery sellers. Meta lists as problems: misleading or unreasonable pricing, non-delivery, product misrepresentation (a product that materially differs from the ad), unauthorized charges, not honoring your stated return or refund policy, deceptive subscriptions, celebrity or brand bait, guaranteed investment returns and get-rich-quick schemes. Meta also says it considers patterns of negative user feedback. A shop that sends something different from the photo is not only risking returns: it is risking its ad account. See cutting COD returns.

4. Intellectual property

Ads cannot contain content that violates a third party’s copyright or trademark, which includes counterfeit goods and products that copy another company’s logo or distinctive features. If your ad uses music, you need the licences for the recording and the composition. Protect your own brand too: see registering a trademark with INAPI, and the UGC brief and contract for music and image rights when a creator makes your ad.

5. Nudity and sexually suggestive content

Ads cannot depict nudity or near nudity, nor sexually suggestive positions or activities. The policy is stricter for ads than for ordinary posts, because ads reach people who did not choose to see them.

6. Local law

Ads must not be unlawful, and Meta may remove ads reported by a government, a court, NGOs or the public as violating local law. In Algeria, check what you can legally sell online first: law 18-05 bans some products from online sale.

7. Financial services

If you advertise credit, loans or insurance, ads must target people 18 or older, and Meta may ask you to verify your identity and show regulatory authorisation. This is rarely relevant to a store, but it is a common rejection for finance offers.

A pre-flight checklist (ours, built from the policies above)

• The ad says what the product is and does, with no sentence aimed at someone’s age, health, money or religion.
• No health promise, no “results in 7 days”, no disease claim.
• The product shown is the product sent, at the price shown, and you honour your return policy.
• No logo, brand name or music that is not yours or licensed.
• The landing page matches the ad (price, offer, delivery terms) and shows who you are.
• Nothing is sexually suggestive.
• If the ad is rejected, read the reason, edit, and only then ask for a review. Do not delete it.

More on running ads from Algeria: Meta Ads for Algerian e-commerce, paying Meta and TikTok ads, and researching competitors in the Ad Library.

What we could not confirm

• Some policy pages hide details in collapsed sections that we could not read in full.
• Meta’s page on ads approved and later rejected, and Meta’s rules on account-level restrictions, were not read in detail.
• We found no rule specific to Algeria on these pages. That does not mean there is none.

Meta changes these pages often. The ones we cite were read on 29 October 2026: use the links in the sources section to check the current text.