There are a few potential reasons why you may be restricted from boosting a post on Facebook:
You don’t meet the eligibility requirements
In order to be able to boost posts on Facebook, your account and Page need to meet certain eligibility requirements. Here are some of the requirements that could potentially restrict you from boosting:
- Your personal Facebook profile or Page has been restricted for violating Facebook’s Community Standards or Terms of Service
- Your Page is not yet verified
- Your Page has not been live for at least 14 days
- Your personal profile is not linked to a business manager account
- Your ad account is not in good standing (e.g. due to unpaid bills or policy violations)
So if your account or Page does not meet one or more of these requirements, you’ll be prohibited from boosting posts until the issues are resolved.
Your post content goes against Facebook’s Advertising Policies
Facebook has strict policies about what types of content are allowed to be boosted or promoted through ads on their platform. Some types of disallowed content include:
- Excessive profanity
- Sensational content
- Misleading or false information
- Violence or threats
- Illegal or recreational drugs
- Discriminatory content
If the content in your post goes against any of Facebook’s Advertising Policies, you’ll be prohibited from boosting that specific post. You’ll need to modify the content to comply with policies before you can promote it.
Your ad account lacks payment information
In order to actually boost content on Facebook, you need to have valid payment information set up for your ad account. If your payment info is outdated or you haven’t added any payment details, you won’t be able to proceed with boosting a post.
Some potential payment issues that could restrict boosting include:
- No credit/debit card or PayPal account linked
- Expired or invalid payment details
- Insufficient funds in your linked payment account
To fix this, you’ll need to update your payment information in your Facebook ad account settings. Add a valid credit card, update your card details, or add funds to your PayPal account in order to boost posts.
You have an active ad account restriction
If your ad account has been restricted by Facebook, you’ll be unable to boost any posts or run any ads until the restriction ends. Some reasons your account could be restricted include:
- Too many policy violations
- Unresolved billing issues
- Account suspected of improper activity
- Outstanding account balance or failed payments
The length of the restriction depends on the severity of the issue. It may last just 1-7 days or could potentially extend for weeks or months. You will need to resolve any outstanding compliance or payment issues before the restriction can be lifted.
Your boosted post was disapproved
After you boost a post, it goes through an approval process where both the content and targeting are reviewed by Facebook’s automated systems and human reviewers. If anything is found to violate Facebook’s Advertising Policies during this review, your boosted post will be disapproved.
Some common reasons a boosted post may get disapproved include:
- Using banned content in ad creative (images, video, or text)
- Targeting restricted groups like minors or ethnic affinities
- Using unauthorized copyrighted content
- Directing to a destination that doesn’t comply with policies
If your boosted post gets disapproved, you’ll receive a notification explaining the policy violation. You can edit your ad creative or targeting to get it approved before trying to boost again.
Your account, Page or ad account has been hacked
If your Facebook account, Page, or ad account has been hacked or compromised, the hacker may change settings to restrict you from boosting. They may update payment information, upgrade ad account permissions, or place restrictions on your account to lock you out.
Indications your account may be hacked include:
- Unexpected changes to payment information
- Posts or ads you didn’t create
- Unfamiliar logged-in locations
- Being logged out suddenly
If you suspect you’ve been hacked, secure your account immediately by changing your password. Check security settings and ad account details for any unauthorized changes made by the hacker. Report hacked accounts to Facebook.
You have exceeded your daily or monthly spending limit
Facebook allows you to set custom daily and monthly spending limits per ad account. This restricts how much budget can be spent on ads and boosted posts in a given time period. If you try to boost a post that would exceed your spending limit, it will fail.
You’ll need to wait until your daily or monthly cycle resets before you can boost additional posts. Or, you can increase your spending limits in your ad account settings if needed.
Your boosted post campaign ended
When you boost a post on Facebook, you set a start and end date for the campaign period. Once the end date passes, the boosted post will expire and any leftover budget is returned to your account balance.
Because that specific campaign has ended, you’ll no longer be able to “re-boost” or extend the duration of that same post. But you can create a new boost campaign for the same or different post if desired.
You have an active campaign limit in effect
Facebook limits the number of active ad campaigns you can run simultaneously based on your ad account status:
| Ad Account Status | Active Campaign Limit |
| Standard | 1 |
| Verified | 5 |
| Premium | 100 |
If you already have the maximum number of active boost campaigns running, you’ll be restricted from starting new ones until your existing campaigns end or are paused.
You’re using a restricted ad account
Pages that represent politicians, political candidates, elections, or certain hot-button social issues are required to use specialized ad accounts with additional restrictions. These Special Ad Category (SAC) accounts cannot boost organic posts.
If your Page falls under one of these regulated categories, you will only be able to run ads directly – not boost existing posts. You’ll need to create the ad creatives directly in Ads Manager rather than boosting from your Page.
Your account is under a regional restriction
Facebook restricts ad accounts registered in certain sanctioned countries from running ads globally. If you are in a country with regional ad restrictions, you may be limited to only boosting posts to users in your approved country list.
For example, accounts in Russia, Ukraine, and other Eastern European nations have faced bans from running ads to users in Europe, North America, and other Western regions.
Ways to fix boosting restrictions
If you’ve determined the reason why you cannot boost posts on Facebook, here are some steps you can take to restore your boosting abilities:
- Resolve any active restrictions or violations on your account
- Update your Pages and ad accounts to comply with all eligibility requirements
- Change your post content to adhere to Facebook’s Advertising Policies
- Add valid payment information to your ad accounts
- Adjust your daily/monthly spending limits if needed
- Wait for any time-based restrictions to lift
- Secure any accounts that may have been compromised
Following Facebook’s requirements and guidelines closely will help minimize any types of restrictions on your ability to boost engaging content. Checking your account status and ad account settings regularly can also help you identify and troubleshoot any issues promptly.
Alternative paid promotion options
If you are unable to boost an important post for any reason, here are some alternative paid promotion tactics you could consider on Facebook:
- Run the post content as a standard ad instead of a boost
- Promote the post through Facebook’s Instant Articles
- Pay to promote the post through Facebook influencers
- Target followers using Facebook Custom Audiences
- Cross-promote the post in your other social media accounts
While you may not always be able to simply boost your existing posts, there are creative workarounds to still get your content in front of relevant audiences on Facebook.
Conclusion
Trouble boosting posts on Facebook is generally caused by an account restriction, policy violation, payment issue, or platform limitation of some kind. By understanding the different reasons your account may be restricted from boosting, you can pinpoint solutions to get your ability to promote posts reinstated. With some strategic adjustments and following proper protocols, you can get your Facebook posts boosted to engage your target audience.