Facebook banned me from advertising

[vanillaice]

I don't understand what I did and FB won't tell me what's wrong. Whenever I ask them to look at it, they say the decision is final. I've advertised with them for years and didn't change anything. I only spent like $2/day but wanted to up it. My only guess is that I changed the banner recently which features a bunch of people in modest bathing suits, but I'd happily change it if they told me that is the problem.

Has anyone had this issue and is there any coming back from it?

[tangor]

Recent events, politics, and other things have twisted FB head over heels. An historical one day devaluation on the stock market is also in play.

Pretty sure you will not prevail in any attempt to reverse their decision. They have other fish to fry at the moment and I suspect you are collateral damage in that regard.

Sorry, wish I could say something positive ...

[keyplyr]

You can get away with a lot of borderline speech at FB, but images fall into strict enforcement.

I doubt your banner showing "people in modest bathing suits" was even viewed by a human editor. Likely their recognition software detected enough indicators to fail acceptance. There's likely no way around that.

What I find interesting is you reporting your advertising account "banned." This sounds more like the result of repeated infractions than a first time penalty.

[Dimitri]

features a bunch of people in modest bathing suits

Are the services/products/sites you are advertising related to people in bathing suits ?

Because clickbait and misleading advertising are no-no. Without counting that Facebook is strict about (partial) nudity, more than other more problematic subjects, but that's another thing ...

[vanillaice]

It's a fan page for a TV show and I took a group photo of them by the pool. The people from the banner do appear on the page in bathing suits but also fully clothed.

Regarding multiple infractions, this was literally the first one. I'm not trying to skirt the rules or play dumb. Then being in bathing suits (male and female) was literally the first group photo I could find. Had they told me that was the rule I broke, I'd have no problem changing it up.

I've been in marketing online for a decade+ (adwords, etc) and this feels like it was completely out of the blue. Me replying that they'd probably approve my account had the money come from Russia likely didn't help my appeal though 🤑

[RhinoFish]

Do you have the show's / people's / property owner / IP property owner permission?

[vanillaice]

No. They didn't ask to see it though. Can I get it and send to them?

[keyplyr]

You didn't say you were advertising a Fan Page in the OP.

Fan Pages fall into a strict propriety category for advertising. Using images, proper names or any other property owned by celebrities, or their representatives, can be a slippery slope for Facebook.

[vanillaice]

Ahh, I didn't think that was an issue because I've done it for so long but I guess it makes sense. Thanks

[tangor]

While this is a possibility, Fair Use allows items listed above to be used for scholarly report, review, news, and parody. MEANWHILE, if one goes beyond that allowed use to make money copyright and trademark will get involved. FB is taking a much harder stand these days and if the EU copyright proposals are ever enacted look for more difficulty in the future.