What Does Facebook Ad in Review Mean?

Seeing your brand new Facebook ad campaign marked as "In Review" can be a little stressful, especially when you’re ready to start generating traffic and sales. While it might seem like your ad is stuck in limbo, this is a perfectly normal and necessary step in the launch process. This article walks you through what the review process entails, how long it should take, and what to do if your ad truly gets stuck.

What Happens During the Facebook Ad Review Process?

Every single ad you create or edit on Facebook (now Meta) has to go through a review before it can go live. This isn't personal, it’s a required process to ensure that all ads on the platform meet Meta's Advertising Policies. The goal is to protect users from spam, misleading claims, and harmful content while ensuring advertisers have a fair, competitive environment.

Submitting an ad triggers a multi-step check that primarily uses automated systems (AI) to scan every part of your ad. In some cases, an ad may be flagged for manual review by a human team member. Here’s a breakdown of what the system is looking at:

1. Ad Creative: Images and Videos

The visual a user sees is the first thing the system analyzes. It’s scanning for policy violations such as:

Prohibited Content: Visuals depicting weapons, violence, adult content, or other forbidden items are an instant red flag.
Text in Images: Though Facebook lifted the strict "20% text rule" years ago, ads with too much text overlay on the image can still suffer from reduced reach or get flagged for being low-quality.
Misleading Visuals: This includes unrealistic "before-and-after" photos (common in health and fitness niches), sensationalized images, or visuals that use fake buttons or UI elements to trick users into clicking.
Brand Assets: Unauthorized use of Facebook or Instagram's branding can also cause an ad to be rejected.

2. Ad Copy: The Text You Write

After your visuals, the automated system carefully reads your primary text, headline, and description. It's on high alert for:

Unsupported Claims: Phrases like "get rich in 30 days" or "lose 20 pounds a week" are major triggers. All claims, especially those related to health, wellness, and finance, must be realistic and compliant.
Personal Attributes: You can't directly address or imply you know a user's personal characteristics. For example, instead of saying, "Struggling with debt?" you should frame it as, "Learn helpful financial tips for taking control of your budget." It's a subtle but critical difference.
Discrimination: Any copy that discriminates based on race, gender, age, religion, or disability is strictly forbidden. This is especially true for ads in the housing, employment, and credit categories, which have their own special ad category requirements.

3. Landing Page Experience

The review doesn't stop at your ad creative. Facebook’s systems also crawl the landing page you’re sending traffic to. They're checking to ensure it’s functional and provides a positive user experience. Common landing page issues include:

Mismatching Content: Does the landing page deliver on the promise of the ad? Advertising boots and linking to a page selling sunglasses will get your ad rejected.
Broken Links or Functionality: If the links on your page are broken or the page doesn't load properly, the review will fail.
Disruptive Elements: Excessive pop-ups, auto-playing video/audio with no user interaction, or pages that prevent users from easily navigating away are considered poor form and will cause rejections.
Prohibited Products/Services: Even if your ad looks clean, if the landing page sells forbidden products (like tobacco paraphernalia), the ad will be disapproved.

4. Targeting Selections

Finally, Facebook reviews who you’re targeting. For most advertisers, this is a non-issue. However, if you’re using detailed targeting, the system ensures you're not trying to exclude protected groups or use sensitive interest categories in a discriminatory way. This is another reason why ads related to credit, housing, or employment are subject to more stringent reviews.

How Long Should the Facebook Ad Review Take?

According to Facebook's official guidance, most ads are reviewed within 24 hours. In practice, the majority of campaigns are often approved much faster, sometimes in as little as 15-30 minutes, especially if you have a healthy account with a good track record.

However, several factors can extend that review window:

Account History: New ad accounts or accounts with a history of ad rejections often undergo a more thorough review, which can take the full 24 hours or longer.
Sensitive Industries: If you're advertising in a restricted category - such as supplements, finance, politics, or dating - your ad will almost certainly be reviewed more closely, adding to the wait time.
Human Review Queues: If the AI system isn't sure about something, it flags the ad for a manual review by a human. This depends on workload and staffing, especially on weekends or holidays, putting you in a queue that can take longer to process.
Major Events or Holidays: During peak advertising seasons like Black Friday or around major global events, the sheer volume of ad submissions can clog the system and lead to delays.

It's best to plan ahead and submit your campaigns at least 48 hours before you need them to go live to build in a buffer for potential review delays.

My Facebook Ad is Stuck in Review! What Do I Do?

It can be frustrating when the 24-hour mark passes and your ad is still showing "In Review." Before you panic, follow these steps in order.

Step 1: Be Patient and Wait for at Least 24 Hours.

This is the hardest but most important step. In 90% of cases, the ad is not truly "stuck" - it's just taking longer than average. Refreshing Ads Manager every ten minutes won't speed it up. Give it a full day before taking any action.

Step 2: Resist the Urge to Edit the Ad

Messing with the ad while it's in review is one of the most common mistakes advertisers make. Every time you make an edit - even changing a single typo in the text - it pulls your ad out of its current spot in the review queue and puts it right back at the end. If you have a legitimate reason to make a change, it's often better to duplicate the ad, make your edits, and submit the new version as a separate ad, leaving the original one to run its course.

Step 3: Review Your Ad for Common Policy Violations

While you wait, take a step back and look at your ad with a critical eye. Pretend you're the ad reviewer. Read through your copy, look at your creative, and click through to your landing page. Are you making any hyped-up claims? Does your landing page have an annoying pop-up? Does your image feel a little like clickbait? Sometimes, you’ll spot an obvious issue that the AI has probably already flagged for rejection. If you find something, you can duplicate and fix the new version before the original even gets formally rejected.

Step 4: Check for Notifications from Facebook

Don't just stare at Ads Manager. Check your email (the one associated with your Facebook profile and Business Manager) and your Facebook support inbox. If a decision has been made, Facebook will usually send a notification explaining why an ad was rejected. Getting this information can empower you to fix the problem and resubmit quickly.

Step 5: Contact Facebook Support (Only After 48 Hours)

If a full 48 hours have passed and you've heard nothing, your ad may genuinely be stuck in a glitch. At this point, it’s reasonable to reach out for help. To do this:

Go to the Meta Business Help Center.
Find the "Contact advertising support" link. (Note: Access to live chat can depend on your account's ad spend and is not always visible to every advertiser.)
When you connect with a rep, be polite and concise. Open with a simple message like: "Hello, my ad (Ad ID: [insert your ad ID here]) has been stuck in review for over 48 hours. Could you please check on its status for me?"
Providing the Ad ID is crucial as it helps the support team find the exact ad immediately.

Often, a gentle nudge from a support agent is enough to get a stuck ad pushed through for a final decision.

Tips For Achieving Faster Ad Approvals

Dealing with a stuck ad is reactive. The better long-term strategy is to be proactive and set yourself up for quick approvals from the start.

Understand the Policies: This sounds boring, but honestly, spending 30 minutes reading through Meta’s Advertising Policies will save you countless hours of stress down the line. Focus on the sections most relevant to your industry.
Maintain a Healthy Account: Pay your ad bills on time, avoid getting too many ads rejected, and generally be a good actor on the platform. Accounts in good standing are often trusted more by the review system.
Build a High-Quality Landing Page: Ensure your website loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, has a clear privacy policy, and accurately reflects what you're advertising.
Keep Your Copy and Creative Clean: Avoid sensationalism, ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation, and any language that could be remotely misinterpreted as a violation. Simple, direct, and honest advertisements usually fly through review.
Launch Campaigns During Business Hours: Submit your ads on a weekday a couple of days before your desired start date. This ensures that if manual review is needed, staff are available to handle it without weekend delays.

Final Thoughts

The "in review" status is a standard part of advertising on Facebook, not a sign that something is broken. In most cases, all you need is a little patience. Understand that the system is trying to protect both users and advertisers, and use any review time to double-check that your creative, copy, and landing page are fully compliant for the best results.

Once your ads are approved, the real work of tracking performance begins. Instead of switching back and forth between Ads Manager, Google Analytics, and your sales platform, we built a tool to bring it all together. With Graphed, you can connect all your data sources and use plain English to build real-time dashboards in seconds, helping you see which ads drive revenue versus which ones are just wasting your budget and allowing you to make smarter decisions faster.