Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, takes a very broad approach to the type of ad topics that qualify as “social issues” or “politics.” Think of it this way: if a politician has talked about the topic, it could be flagged as “political.” This is one reason why it’s a good idea to get cleared to run political ads on Meta’s platforms – just in case!
The process to get approved for these ads can take some time, and it often changes. Here are some step-by-step instructions to help you get started.
Determine who has administrator privileges over the Facebook Page seeking ad approval. Only an administrator(s) of the Facebook Page in question may complete this approval process. The remaining steps are intended to apply to the page administrator’s personal Facebook account.
Navigate to your page’s settings.
Recently, Meta changed Facebook Page management. All pages are now run through Business Manager, regardless of whether the page is an actual business or not.
To access the page settings, navigate to business.facebook.com/PAGENAMEHERE. The name of the page for URL purposes may differ from the public-facing name used by the public to find your page.
The page’s settings can then be found in the left-side menu bar. You may have to scroll down to find the option.
Inside the general page settings menu, select the option labeled Issue, Electoral or Political Ads. This may again require you to scroll down the left-side menu.
Scroll to the “Where will you run ads?” section
Select the United States
Then select “Confirm your identity” which enables you to confirm your identity for your personal Facebook Account. If you have previously verified your identity through Meta, you can disregard the following instructions.
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your personal Facebook account. The setting is available in your security and login settings. You can use whichever two-factor method is most convenient for you.
Locate and make available a valid, U.S. government-issued identification. At this time, Meta only accepts a U.S. passport or state driver’s license/ID for the American verification process.
In the Your Primary Country Location, confirm your Primary Location as the United States.
Input your personal mailing address, not the mailing address of your page or organization.
Upload a scanned copy of your ID. We highly recommend a scanned copy, but if no scanner is available, a high-resolution photo of the ID clipped to only include the ID may work.
If Meta rejects your ID multiple times, remain calm. This is, unfortunately, common.
The only option if this occurs is to upload a notarized form provided by Meta. Facebook should make the form available after rejecting your ID, but if not, you can find the form at the Facebook ID portal.
Most UPS and FedEx stores offer notary services. Facebook will, unfortunately, not reimburse this cost.
If you have to use the notary process, you can safely close Facebook and open up the Facebook ID portal again to upload the signed and notarized form after you have a chance to go to a notary appointment.
After submitting your ID or notarized form, answer the questions provided by Facebook to confirm your identity. Then click Finish.
If Meta is processing your ID or notarized form or you are waiting on the letter to your address with your code, you can check the status of your identity confirmation at facebook.com/ID.
The Business Account will be required to upload a disclaimer for the ads stating who paid for the advertisement.
Other things to remember:
The social/political ad approval process is separate from and in addition to the generic ad approval process
The social/political approval process covers both Facebook and Instagram
You can run ads on Instagram without having an Instagram account as long as you have a Facebook account approved to run ads