In review: The ad is in review to make sure it complies with Meta Advertising Standards. Following this review, your ad will become active and begin running as scheduled.

What this status means

• The ad is going through Meta’s review. According to Meta’s help center, every ad is checked against the Advertising Standards before it runs on Facebook or Instagram. The review starts on its own when you create or edit an ad. It is mostly automated, with human reviewers in some cases.
• Everything gets checked. Images, video and text, targeting, the ad’s destination (a Facebook Page or a website), special ad categories and advertiser permissions. At the end, the ad is either rejected or allowed to run.
• Nothing runs in the meantime. In the Delivery column, the pending icon means the ad is not running yet, because it is in review or scheduled for later.
• The status can differ between levels. Your campaign may look active while the ad set or the ad shows In review after a recent change. Check all three levels.

How long the review takes

• Usually less than 24 hours. That is what Meta’s help center says, adding that some ads take longer. An ad can also be reviewed again after it goes live.
• Longer during an incident. On November 29, 2023, advertisers on r/FacebookAds saw all their ads stuck in review for several hours, according to replies in that thread, because of a problem at Meta.
• Not the same as Processing. That status means Meta is applying your changes: usually a few minutes, up to 8 hours for some updates, according to Meta’s help on delivery statuses.

What to do while it is in review

1. Wait without editing the ad. Changing the targeting, the creative (images, text, links, videos), the optimization or the billing event triggers a new review. The bid amount, budget and ad set schedule can change without restarting it.
2. If you are aiming for a specific launch date, schedule the ad: it goes through review right away, then waits for its start date.
3. Check the status at all three levels (campaign, ad set, ad) in the Delivery column, and hover over it to see its tooltip.
4. If the review lasts more than 24 hours, check the Facebook Ads Manager line on Meta Status before you touch the ad.
5. If the ad ends up Rejected and you think that is a mistake, request another review from Business Support Home.

What worked for other advertisers

On r/FacebookAds, advertisers whose ads had all been stuck in review for hours share what helped:

1. Checking the Ads Manager section of Meta Status to see whether the incident is global: “There is an issue as you can see here” (3 confirmations, November 2023).
2. The same day, Meta support acknowledged an issue on its side to one advertiser, without giving a timeline: “they are saying some issue from their end” (1 confirmation, November 2023). In that case, waiting beats duplicating ads in bulk.

Contacting support during an incident does not speed anything up: in August 2024, one advertiser got the standard answer to wait 24 hours (thread).

These reports date from 2023 and 2024: Meta’s interface and support may have changed since.

How to avoid a long review next time

• Group your targeting, creative and optimization changes into a single edit: each one restarts the review.
• For a fixed launch date, publish the scheduled ad at least a day ahead: the review usually takes up to 24 hours.
• When you can, adjust the budget, bid or schedule instead: these can change without restarting the review.

The same message in other languages

Meta’s help center names this status as follows in its translations: