Checklist for Political Ad Compliance on Meta

Advertising Strategies

Sep 15, 2025

Understand the essential compliance steps for running political ads on Meta, including verification, transparency, and targeting rules.

Running political ads on Meta is complex and requires strict adherence to platform policies. Here's what you need to know to stay compliant, avoid penalties, and ensure your ads are approved:

Verify Your Identity and Business: Complete Meta's verification process, including submitting government-issued ID, verifying your address, and setting up a "Paid for by" disclaimer.
Transparency Is Key: All political ads must include accurate disclaimers and funding details. Ads are stored in Meta's public Ad Library for accountability.
Follow Ad Rules: Ads must avoid misleading claims, disclose AI-generated content, and meet technical requirements. Special Ad Categories limit targeting options.
Prepare for Reviews: Meta uses automated and manual ad reviews. If an ad is rejected, you can appeal or revise it for approval.
Use AI Tools: AI tools like AdAmigo.ai can streamline compliance by flagging issues, automating checks, and reducing ad rejections.

Compliance ensures your campaign runs smoothly without interruptions or penalties. Start early, follow the rules, and use tools to simplify the process.

Social Issues, Elections, Political Facebook Ad Type Approval Process!

Meta's Political Ad Policies Explained

Meta has implemented specific policies for political ads to ensure greater transparency and accountability, particularly for voters. These policies cover a broader range of content than many advertisers might expect, making it essential to understand what qualifies under these rules to ensure compliance during campaigns. Here's a breakdown of the key categories and rules.

What Counts as a Political Ad

Meta categorizes "ads about social issues, elections, or politics" into four distinct groups [1][3]:

Candidate and Political Figure Content: This includes ads created by, for, or about political candidates, figures, parties, or PACs. It also covers ads advocating for or against election outcomes for public office [1][3].
Election-Related Content: This category applies to ads addressing elections, referendums, or ballot initiatives. It also includes campaigns aimed at encouraging voter participation or sharing general election information, even if specific candidates or parties aren't mentioned [1][3].
Social Issue Advertising: Ads under this category focus on social issues relevant to the region where the ad is displayed. Topics can range widely, including healthcare, education, environmental policies, and civil rights. This is one of the broadest categories [1][3].
Legally Regulated Content: Any ad regulated as political advertising under local laws falls into this category, even if it doesn't fit the other three classifications [1][3].

It's worth noting that ads primarily promoting products or services typically don't require political authorization unless they involve politicians, political parties, or legislation [3].

Main Compliance Rules

Meta's compliance framework is built around four key principles that all political advertisers must adhere to:

Advertiser Authorization: Advertisers must complete Meta's verification process before launching any ads [1].
Transparency: Every political ad must include a verified "Paid for by" disclaimer. Ads without this disclaimer will be disapproved [1].
Digital Media Disclosure: If an ad contains digitally created or altered realistic content, this must be clearly disclosed [1].
Public Accessibility: All political ads are stored in Meta's Ad Library, where they remain searchable for public review [1][4].

As regulations evolve globally, staying updated on changes is essential. For example, starting October 2025, Meta will prohibit social issue, electoral, or political ads in the EU due to the EU's TTPA regulation [3].

Political Ad Compliance Checklist

Running political ads on Meta requires careful attention to a set of compliance guidelines. This checklist breaks down the steps you need to follow to ensure your campaigns meet all platform requirements, helping you avoid rejections or account issues.

Advertiser Verification and Authorization

Before launching political ads, complete Meta’s verification process. This can take up to seven business days.

Identity Verification: Submit a government-issued photo ID that matches the name on your Meta account. Accepted documents include driver’s licenses, passports, and state-issued ID cards. Ensure the document is clear, unexpired, and includes your full legal name.
Business Verification: If you’re running ads for an organization, provide official documents like articles of incorporation or business licenses. The business name must match the "Paid for by" disclaimer exactly.
Address Confirmation: Meta may require you to verify your physical address by sending a postcard with a verification code. This address will be tied to your political ads and must be accurate.
Payment Method Setup: Link a valid payment method. The billing information must align with your verified identity and address.
"Paid for by" Disclaimer Configuration: Set up the disclaimer text that will appear on all political ads. This must accurately reflect the entity funding the ads and cannot be easily changed once configured.

After completing these steps, configure transparency settings to ensure clarity about your ad funding.

Transparency and Disclosure Requirements

Meta requires political advertisers to set up transparency elements before running ads.

Funding Source: The "Paid for by" disclaimer must match the verified funding source. If you’re running ads for a client, the disclaimer should reflect the client’s organization, not your agency.
Accurate Advertiser Representation: The Facebook Page running the ads must represent the actual advertiser. Ads cannot be run from personal profiles or pages that misrepresent the advertiser’s identity.
Digital Content Labeling: If your ad includes digitally created or altered content of real people - such as AI-generated images, deepfakes, or heavily edited photos - you must use Meta’s digital content disclosure feature.
Contact Information Accuracy: Keep the contact information linked to your verified account up to date. Meta may need to contact you about compliance issues.
Ad Library Preparation: All political ads will appear in Meta’s public Ad Library within 24 hours of running. Ensure your content is ready for this level of public visibility.

Once your transparency settings are in place, adjust your targeting and placements to align with Meta’s rules.

Targeting and Placement Rules

Political ads fall under Meta’s Special Ad Categories (SAC), which include specific targeting restrictions aimed at promoting fairness.

Geographic Targeting Restrictions: You can target entire states but cannot use ZIP code-level targeting. Additionally, location exclusions are not allowed - you can’t exclude specific areas within a targeted region.
Washington State Prohibition: Political ads related to Washington state’s elected officials, elections, or legislation cannot run or be targeted to audiences in Washington state. This is a complete ban on such content.
Special Ad Category Selection: When creating political ads, always select "Social Issues, Elections or Politics" as the Special Ad Category. This ensures your ads are reviewed under the correct guidelines.
Audience Targeting Restrictions: Advanced targeting options, such as demographic, interest, or behavioral targeting, are not permitted for political ads. Focus on broad geographic and basic demographic targeting instead.
Placement Limitations: Not all ad placements on Meta support political advertising. Some formats and placements are automatically excluded, so review your options carefully during setup.

Creative and Copy Guidelines

Political ad content undergoes additional scrutiny during Meta’s review process.

Truthful Content: Avoid making false or misleading claims about candidates, policies, or election processes. While Meta doesn’t fact-check political speech, deceptive content may still be rejected.
AI-Generated Asset Disclosure: Clearly disclose any digitally altered or AI-generated content in your ads.
Landing Page Consistency: The destination URL in your ad must align with the ad’s content and clearly identify the advertiser shown in the "Paid for by" disclaimer.
Clear Call-to-Action: Make your ad’s purpose obvious, whether it’s promoting a candidate, encouraging voter registration, or advocating for a policy position.
Compliance with Local Laws: Beyond Meta’s policies, ensure your ads adhere to all relevant local, state, and federal political advertising laws. This includes required disclosures, spending limits, and content restrictions.
High-Quality Assets: Use images and videos that meet Meta’s technical specifications. Low-quality visuals may lead to delays in the approval process.

How to Handle Compliance Issues

Managing compliance issues goes beyond simply checking items off a list. Ensuring smooth review and appeal processes is key to keeping your campaigns running without interruptions. Even the most carefully crafted political ads can encounter compliance hurdles, so addressing these challenges quickly is essential to avoid delays.

Meta's Review Process

Meta's ad review process starts with automated screening. During this phase, ads are evaluated for compliance using keywords, images, and targeting criteria. Ads that mention candidates, voting, elections, or policy topics but are not correctly categorized under "Social Issues, Elections or Politics" may get flagged right away.

If the automated system cannot confidently classify an ad, it moves to manual review. At this stage, Meta's team examines the ad's context, ensures compliance with special ad category rules, and checks for required disclaimers. Keep in mind that during busy periods, manual reviews can take longer than usual.

You can track your ad's status in Ads Manager. If your ad stays under review longer than anticipated or gets paused after being approved, it might indicate a compliance issue that requires immediate attention. In cases where an ad is rejected after review, follow the appeal steps outlined below.

How to Appeal Rejected Ads

If your ad is rejected, you have two options: appeal the decision or adjust and resubmit the ad to address potential issues.

For ads you believe were flagged in error, you can initiate an appeal. Go to Ads Manager, locate your campaign and the rejected ad, and click "Request review." Follow the instructions to submit your appeal, including a justification for why the ad should be approved [6].

If you’re using a third-party platform like Feathr and feel the rejection was incorrect, you can use the "submit for review" option within that platform. Feathr will handle the review process with Meta on your behalf. Keep in mind that this review can only be requested once per ad [5].

Alternatively, you can identify the problematic elements in your ad, make necessary edits, and resubmit it. This approach is often faster than waiting for an appeal to be processed.

Although providing additional documentation isn’t mandatory, it can strengthen your appeal. Clearly explain why your content is not political, emphasizing any educational, business, or non-political aspects. However, be aware that Meta’s decisions regarding political ad categorization are usually final. Appeals tend to succeed only when the ad genuinely falls outside the political category.

Using AI Tools for Compliance

Navigating Meta's political ad compliance rules can be tricky. Thankfully, AI tools can take some of the weight off your shoulders by automating repetitive tasks and offering insights to help you meet these stringent guidelines.

By building on basic compliance measures, AI simplifies and speeds up the entire process.

How AI Helps with Compliance

AI tools can make compliance checks more efficient by automating tasks like verifying ad content for required disclaimers, ensuring targeting settings align with Meta's policies, and flagging potential issues before an ad goes live. One example is AdAmigo.ai, which offers several features to streamline compliance:

AI Chat Agent: This tool audits political ads in real time and answers questions like, "Does this ad meet Meta's disclosure requirements?" or "Are my targeting settings compliant?" By providing instant feedback, it helps avoid costly ad rejections.
AI Actions: This feature performs daily compliance checks across campaigns, automatically identifying ads that may need updates - whether it's tweaking disclaimer language, adjusting targeting settings, or modifying the creative. Each flagged issue comes with a clear explanation of the required fix.
Bulk Ad Launch: For large-scale campaigns with multiple ads running simultaneously, this feature ensures all ads meet compliance standards. It minimizes the risk of errors that can occur during manual reviews.
AI Ads Agent: This learning system continuously adapts based on real-world results. As Meta's political ad policies evolve, the AI refines its processes to keep compliance checks up to date.

These automated tools work hand-in-hand with manual strategies, which we'll explore next.

Manual vs. AI-Powered Compliance

Manual reviews require dedicated staff and can be prone to errors, especially with large campaigns. AI-powered solutions, on the other hand, handle high volumes of ads efficiently, automate policy updates, and reduce the likelihood of oversight. By combining the strengths of both approaches, advertisers can navigate compliance more effectively.

Conclusion: Stay Compliant and Get Better Results

Navigating political ad compliance on Meta doesn’t have to be complicated. By taking the right steps - completing advertiser verification, using accurate disclaimers, following targeting rules, and keeping up with policy updates - you can run impactful campaigns while steering clear of costly rejections or account issues.

Automation can be a game-changer when it comes to tackling compliance challenges. Manual processes are often slow and prone to mistakes, but tools like AdAmigo.ai make it easier to stay on track. For example, one agency using AdAmigo.ai’s automated creative generation and compliance checks saw a 40% drop in ad rejections and a 25% boost in campaign efficiency. Features like its AI Chat Agent and AI Actions help resolve compliance issues quickly and adapt to policy updates, freeing you up to focus on the bigger picture.

Compliance isn’t a one-and-done task - it’s an ongoing process. Meta’s policies and local regulations are always evolving, especially during critical times like elections. Falling behind can lead to ad rejections, account restrictions, or even legal trouble[2][7]. Using AI-powered tools that monitor and adjust to these changes can help you keep your campaigns running smoothly while safeguarding your brand’s reputation.

The benefits go well beyond avoiding penalties. Making compliance a priority and integrating smart automation allows you to scale campaigns faster, adapt to policy changes seamlessly, and improve overall performance. Staying compliant ensures uninterrupted access to Meta’s platform, which is essential for achieving your campaign goals.

Let AI handle the complexities of compliance so you can focus on crafting strategies that drive results.

FAQs

What should I do if my political ad on Meta gets rejected, and how can I appeal?

If Meta rejects your political ad, the first step is to review the rejection reason provided in their ad review system. This system primarily relies on automated tools to identify potential issues. Take a close look at your ad to confirm it aligns with Meta's political ad policies, including meeting their authorization and transparency standards.

You have a few options to move forward: revise the ad to resolve any flagged issues, create a new version, or request a manual review if you believe the rejection was an error. If your appeal is denied, focus on addressing the specific policy violations outlined before trying again. Make sure your ad fully complies with all requirements to minimize further delays.

How can AI tools like AdAmigo.ai help ensure Meta political ad compliance?

AI tools, such as AdAmigo.ai, make navigating Meta's political ad policies much easier by automating essential steps to meet transparency and disclosure standards. With its AI Actions feature, the tool offers daily recommendations to help advertisers avoid policy violations, minimizing the chances of ad suspensions or rejections.

Additionally, AdAmigo.ai ensures that AI-generated or digitally altered political ads are properly labeled, keeping advertisers in line with Meta’s transparency guidelines. By handling these compliance checks automatically, AdAmigo allows advertisers to concentrate on strategy without worrying about the finer details of staying compliant.

What targeting restrictions apply to political ads under Meta's Special Ad Categories?

Meta enforces strict rules for targeting political ads under its Special Ad Categories to maintain compliance and fairness. Advertisers are prohibited from targeting based on ZIP code, gender, or age groups under 18.

Additionally, advertisers must go through an authorization process to run political ads in the United States. These restrictions are designed to prevent discriminatory practices and ensure transparency, in line with Meta's policies and legal obligations.