Facebook’s ad review process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the complexity of the ad, the reason for rejection, and how quickly the advertiser responds to requests for changes. Here is a breakdown of the typical ad review timeline:
Initial Review
When you first submit an ad on Facebook, it goes through an initial automated review that checks for compliance with Facebook’s advertising policies. This initial review typically takes less than 1 hour.
Possible Outcomes of Initial Review
- Approved – Your ad is compliant and will start running immediately
- Rejected – Your ad violates a policy and is rejected. You will need to edit the ad and resubmit.
- Sent for Manual Review – Facebook’s automated systems couldn’t determine compliance. The ad will be sent for human review by the policy team.
The vast majority of ads are approved at this initial review stage. But if your ad is rejected or sent for manual review, it will take longer before your ad can start running.
Manual Review
If your ad is flagged during the initial automated review, it will go through a manual review by Facebook’s policy team. A human will thoroughly review your ad’s images, text, targeting, and landing page to check for policy compliance.
How Long Does Manual Review Take?
The time for manual review can vary significantly:
- Simple policy issues: ~1 hour
- Complex policy issues: 1-2 days
- Very complex policy issues: 3-7 days
Most review decisions are made within 1 business day, but more complex violations can take longer as the reviewer may need to thoroughly investigate the landing page content or ad creative.
What Factors Determine Manual Review Time?
Here are some key factors that impact how long manual review takes:
- Complexity of violation – Simple policy violations are quicker, while complex or intentional violations take more time.
- Ad complexity – More text, images, targeting options means more for reviewers to evaluate.
- Landing page complexity – Reviewers may need to thoroughly vet landing page content.
- Back and forth communication – If the reviewer needs to clarify issues with the advertiser, it adds time.
- Ad volume – More ads in review means longer queue times.
- Reviewer resources – Facebook’s capacity to review ads can get constrained during peak periods.
Making Changes and Resubmitting
If your ad is rejected, the Facebook ad review team will notify you of the specific policy violation via email or in your Facebook Ad Manager. You’ll then need to edit your ad and resubmit for another review.
Here’s an overview of the resubmission process:
- Make necessary changes – For example, remove prohibited image content or fix targeting issues.
- Optional: Request human review if you believe the ad was rejected incorrectly.
- Resubmit revised ad in Ads Manager.
- Ad goes back through initial automated review, followed by another manual review if still flagged.
This resubmission process can add significant time, particularly if you need to go through multiple review rounds to get your ad fully compliant with Facebook’s policies.
Tips for Speeding Up Resubmission
- Make changes as soon as possible. Delaying increases total review time.
- Be thorough in making the required changes.
- If asked clarifying questions by a reviewer, provide clear and prompt responses.
- Double check that your revised ad is fully compliant before resubmitting.
- Consider pausing other ad variations in the ad set while making changes.
Examples of Different Review Timelines
To illustrate how much review times can vary, here are some examples of different hypothetical ad review scenarios and timelines:
Example 1: Simple Policy Violation
- Ad submitted on Monday at 9am
- Rejected within 1 hour for featuring a prohibited product (tobacco)
- Advertiser removes offending image and resubmits ad Monday at 11am
- Revised ad approved after 1 hour manual review
- Total time: 3 hours
Example 2: Complex Policy Violation
- Ad submitted on Monday at 9am
- Sent to manual review due to unclear compliance
- Rejected Tuesday afternoon for “misleading business practices” policy violation
- Advertiser investigates issue and clarifies landing page content
- Resubmits revised ad on Thursday morning
- Ad goes through manual review again
- Approved late Thursday afternoon
- Total time: Over 2 business days
Example 3: Multiple Resubmission Rounds
- Ad submitted Monday at 9am
- Rejected Monday evening for prohibited content (alcohol)
- Advertiser makes changes and resubmits Tuesday morning
- Rejected again Tuesday afternoon for still featuring alcohol
- Advertiser removes ALL prohibited content and resubmits Wednesday midday
- Revised ad finally approved after manual review Wednesday evening
- Total time: Over 3 business days and 3 rejections
As you can see from these examples, review time can snowball if an ad has to go through multiple rounds of rejection and resubmission. Thoroughly fixing policy violations up front is key to minimizing total review time.
How to Check Ad Review Status
You can check the status of ads in review and see any rejection reasons in your Facebook Ad Manager account:
- Go to the “Ads Manager” section
- Click on the Campaign, Ad Set, or individual Ad to view
- Check the “Delivery” column for status
- Rejected ads will have a red exclamation icon and rejection reason
- Ads still “In Review” will be noted
You will also get an email notification whenever an ad is rejected or approved after manual review.
Speeding Up the Ad Review Process
While Facebook’s ad review time can vary, there are a few strategies you can use to speed up the process:
- Carefully review Facebook’s ad policies before submitting your first ad
- Have clean, compliance-friendly creatives ready before launching ads
- Double check ad content before submitting to prevent obvious rejections
- Respond promptly if you receive any policy questions from reviewers
- Thoroughly fix any identified issues and resubmit quickly
- Request human reviews if you strongly disagree with automated rejections
Having patience is also key, as policy review aims to protect Facebook users from low quality ads. So focus on creating great ads that fully comply with Facebook’s policies from the start to minimize headaches!
Conclusion
To summarize response times for Facebook ad reviews:
- Initial automated review takes less than 1 hour for most ads
- Manual reviews typically take 1-2 business days
- Complex or non-compliant ads may require 3-7+ days total to be approved
- Multiple rejection/resubmission rounds can significantly increase total review time
- Monitoring your ads’ status in Ads Manager and responding promptly is key
- Careful compliance checks before submitting can prevent rejections and speed up review
With some preparation and diligence from advertisers during the process, most ads that fully comply with Facebook’s policies can get approved within 1-3 business days. However, advertisers should be prepared for a review process that could potentially take a week or longer depending on the complexity of the violations and how responsive you are in making changes.