Business portfolio restricted from advertising: what to do

Short answer: when Meta restricts a business portfolio from advertising, the restriction sits on the portfolio, not on one ad account, so every ad account inside it stops delivering, including one you just created or verified. Meta's help page puts it in one line: "If restricted, your business portfolio isn't allowed to advertise." The way out runs through the portfolio's own entry in Business Support Home: do what its What you can do section asks, request a review once, and don't open a new portfolio to get around it.

I work on Everix. This month a seller showed me the account status page behind ad accounts that had all stopped spending. None had a rejected ad, payment was fine, and one had just passed verification. Nothing was wrong with the ads or the accounts. The block sat one level up, on the business portfolio, and every account under it inherited it.

What Meta's help pages say

• A restriction can sit on four things. Business portfolio: "If restricted, your business portfolio isn't allowed to advertise." Ad account: "your ad account, its ads and some of its advertising assets are disabled." Page: "your Page isn't allowed to advertise." Personal profile: that person "can't advertise or create new ads." (About advertising restrictions)
• Why it happens: not following the Community Standards, Advertising Standards or Commerce Policies; a portfolio Meta suspects was hacked; missing two-factor authentication; or "unusual payment or account activity, high rates of failed payments or disputed payments."
• Unusual activity can also bring temporary limits instead of a full stop: a lower daily spending limit, losing some payment features, not being able to add admins, partners or users, or not being able to create new ad accounts.
• On reviews: "Typically, our review is completed in 48 hours, although it may take longer in some cases." You have to be an admin on the restricted account, "there is a limited number of times you can request an advertising restriction review," and "once the review is completed, the decision is final." (Request a review if you are restricted from advertising)
• After a lift: "Any ads running before the restriction will not be automatically restarted. You'll need to turn them on in Meta Ads Manager."

Find which level is restricted

On a computer, open Meta Business Support Home and go to Account status overview. It lists the business portfolio and the ad accounts, Pages and people under it, each with its own status. Click the item that is restricted and read its What you can do section. That is where Meta asks you to confirm your identity, complete verification, secure the account or request a review.

• Only one ad account is restricted: the problem is that account. The other accounts in the portfolio are not blocked by it.
• The business portfolio is restricted: every ad account inside it stops, so a new or freshly verified account under the same portfolio won't run either. The ad accounts themselves can still show "no rejected ads," because nothing is wrong with them one by one.
• Your personal profile is restricted: you can't advertise from any account, but according to Meta, other members of the portfolio may still be able to. Ad accounts where you are the only user may be disabled as well.

Requesting the review

Request it from the restricted item itself, as an admin, after finishing anything else What you can do lists, such as identity confirmation or verification. Meta's typical turnaround is 48 hours. If it has been much longer, open the item again: check that the request was made from the portfolio's own entry, since that is where the restriction sits, and whether the page is now waiting on a step from you. Requests are limited and the outcome is final, so don't file a second one to hurry the first.

Don't open a new portfolio to get around it

Starting a fresh business portfolio with new ad accounts is the obvious workaround, and Meta's rules cover it. Its Community Standards on account integrity say Meta may restrict or disable business assets, Business Managers and ad accounts included, that are "created or repurposed to evade a previous account or entity removal" or "otherwise used to evade our enforcement actions or review processes," and assets that show "close linkage" with ones that evade its policies. A new portfolio set up by the same people for the same business fits that description. The likely result is a second restriction while the first is still open.

When it's lifted

Ads that were running before the restriction stay off until you turn them back on in Ads Manager. Switch them on at the campaign, ad set and ad level, then check the Delivery column shows Active rather than Off; a portfolio that has just come back can look fixed while every ad is still paused.

A business portfolio restriction stops every ad account inside it, new and verified ones too. Find the restricted level in Account status overview, do what What you can do asks, request one review, and don't route around it with a new portfolio.

If Black Friday is on your calendar, this is worth checking now rather than in November: it is the one reason for zero spend that no change to the ads will fix. For the more common causes, see why Facebook ads aren't spending and a disabled ad account after a failed payment.

How Everix handles it

Everix watches the account around the clock. When spend across the whole account drops to zero while ad sets are still switched on, it emails you to check the account's status and payment method in Meta, because the fix is there, not in the ads. It can't lift a restriction or file a review for you; that stays with an admin of the portfolio.