Part of managing successful ad campaigns involves knowing what types of ad content are prohibited and what is restricted across the search and social ad landscape. Most prohibited content (counterfeit goods, illegal products and services, etc.) and restricted content (political ads, alcohol, etc.) follow similar standards from one platform to the next, but each company has its own set of rules.
For marketers who are often tasked with getting ad campaigns up and running at a moment’s notice, knowing which ad content might be blocked by an automated system can be a lifesaver for the social media ad manager who spends their time in the trenches, uploading creative, setting ad filters, and waiting for approval.
Across all search and social ad platforms, the following are the standard rules for prohibited ads: No promotion of counterfeit goods, tobacco, illegal products or services. No promotions that include trademark or copyright infringement, or fraudulent and deceptive architects mailing list practices. Restricted ad content—ads that you can run, but with certain limitations—is a bit more varied from platform to platform. Some platforms make their rules easy to follow or avoid getting too detailed, while others are very specific. The following list provides marketers with a general idea of each platform’s prohibited and restricted ad guidelines, as well as calling out the more unique policies from site to site.
Facebook and Instagram
Facebook’s prohibited ad content across its family of apps includes the following standards: no ads that promote illegal goods or services, tobacco products, or firearms and ammunition. It also prohibits ads for surveillance equipment or any ad content that includes third-party infringement (no ads that violate copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other personal or proprietary rights).
But there are a few things worth noting. For example, the company doesn’t allow ads that lead to a landing page that doesn’t work: “This includes landing page content that interferes with a person’s ability to navigate away from the page.” You can’t advertise payday loans, payday advance services, or bail bonds. And here’s one that makes you wonder if there was a specific case that inspired the rule: Facebook doesn’t allow the sale of body parts.
For restricted content, advertisers who want to promote online dating services must receive permission from the platform before running ads, the same goes for political and issue-related ads and cryptocurrency products and services. Promotions for gambling, state lotteries, over-the-counter drugs, and online pharmacies also come with restrictions.
Drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs targeting the U.S. must first be certified via LegitScript before they can apply to run ads on Facebook’s platforms. And ads for weight loss products and plans must target users 18 or older.
Google and YouTube
Google has recently made an effort to simplify and standardize its content policies. In fact, it hasn’t changed or updated its rules regarding allowed and disallowed ads, but instead has reorganized how it presents content policies and restrictions across AdSense, AdMob, and Ad Manager.
“One consistent piece of feedback we hear from our publishers is that they want us to further simplify our policies, across products, so they’re easier to understand and follow,” Scott Spencer, Google’s director of sustainable ads, wrote on the Inside AdSense blog.
Google maintains its general prohibited and restricted ads, outlining a high-level overview of what is prohibited and what is restricted. Prohibited ad content includes:
Counterfeit products
Dangerous products or services
Ads that enable dishonest behavior
Inappropriate content
Google also separates prohibited advertising practices: abusing the ad network, misrepresentation, and data collection and use (“Our advertising partners must not misuse this information or collect it for unclear purposes or without appropriate security measures”).