Facebook does manually review some ads before they are allowed to run on their platform. However, not all ads go through human review – Facebook primarily relies on automated systems to check ads for policy compliance.
When does Facebook manually review ads?
There are a few situations when Facebook will have a human manually review an ad before approving it:
- New ad accounts – Ads from new ad accounts usually go through initial human review to check legitimacy.
- Accounts lacking payment info – If an ad account doesn’t have valid payment info on file, ads will need manual review.
- Policy violations – If an ad account has had policy violations in the past, future ads may undergo extra scrutiny and review.
- High risk categories – Ads for certain regulated or risky products like alcohol, gambling, supplements are more likely to be manually checked.
- User-initiated reviews – Users can report ads they find objectionable, prompting human review by Facebook’s ads team.
So in general, new accounts, suspicious accounts, and ads for sensitive topics are more likely to get manual reviews. Most established advertisers running mainstream ads can expect little or no human oversight on individual ads.
What happens during a manual review?
When an ad is flagged for human review, it will go through the following process:
- The ad is checked against Facebook’s advertising policies for any violations.
- The ad’s landing page is inspected to verify accuracy and confirm it matches the promoted product/service.
- The ad’s images and copy are reviewed for prohibited content or misleading claims.
- The ad account itself is vetted to confirm valid payment info is on file.
- If issues are found, the ad account owner may be contacted for clarification or to request changes.
- Facebook will either approve the ad, ask for revisions, or reject the ad if serious violations are found.
The exact process can vary based on the ad’s content and risks. The goal is to ensure compliance with Facebook’s policies and prevent users from seeing misleading or inappropriate ads.
What percentage of ads are manually reviewed?
Facebook has not provided recent public statistics on what percentage of ads receive human review. However, based on past comments from Facebook executives, it’s likely a small minority:
- In 2017, Facebook said “a small percent” of ads were reviewed, without giving exact numbers.
- In 2018, Facebook estimated that around 1 in 10,000 ads (0.01%) were viewed by human moderators.
- Considering Facebook’s scale (billions of ads), manual review likely remains minimal compared to automated checks.
The vast majority of ads seem to be approved automatically by Facebook’s algorithms without human eyes viewing them first. But for new accounts or risky content, Facebook does devote human resources to screening a subset of ads.
Can you get ads approved faster?
For ads requiring manual reviews, most decisions take 1-2 business days after submission. However, there are a few things advertisers can do to potentially speed up the process:
- Provide complete, accurate ad account info – include business name, contact info, payment details, etc.
- Maintain a history of complying with Facebook’s policies.
- Respond promptly if asked for more details by reviewers.
- Avoid overly provocative or misleading content in ads.
- Work within Facebook’s delivery optimization guidelines.
Having an established presence on Facebook with a reputation for running compliant ads can help expedite review times. But ultimately Facebook controls the pace of reviews.
Can you bypass human review?
There is no way for advertisers to guarantee ads will avoid manual reviews. Facebook requires the ability to vet all ads submitted to their platform. Attempts to bypass reviews – such as using multiple accounts or trying to trick AI checks – will lead to enforcement action.
Examples of violations that may cause Facebook to reject ads or suspend accounts include:
- Using prohibited content like deceptive claims or inappropriate images.
- Making the landing page differ significantly from the promoted content.
- Setting up multiple ad accounts under different names to hide identity.
- Submitting ads programmatically without a valid business purpose.
Avoiding manual reviews is not advisable – the best approach is working cooperatively within Facebook’s guidelines and processes to get ads approved through proper channels.
Conclusion
Facebook relies mainly on automated, algorithmic systems to check ads at scale. But human reviewers do manually assess a subset of ads, especially for newer accounts and high-risk categories.
Passing human review requires closely following Facebook’s policies, providing accurate ad details, and responding promptly to any reviewer questions.
There’s no proven way to guarantee ads won’t need human eyes. Attempting to bypass reviews can backfire and cause penalties. While manual reviews add time for some advertisers, they help Facebook uphold standards and prevent abuse – benefitting users, advertisers, and the platform overall.