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Ad Account Rescue

Your business portfolio is restricted from advertising

The notice
If restricted, your business portfolio isn't allowed to advertise.
On this page

A business portfolio restriction is a decision about the business, not about one ad or one ad account. Meta says: "If restricted, your business portfolio isn't allowed to advertise." It adds that a portfolio's status "impacts the ad accounts, shops and business assets they own", so fixing a single ad account won't move it. In Business Support Home, select the portfolio under Account status overview and work through the What you can do section: identity, business verification, security, then review. Fix the cause first, request one review, and don't open a new portfolio to keep advertising.

Curve Compliance helps you put the tracking behind your ads in order while you work through Meta's steps. Curve's team reviews what your website sends to Meta, Google and TikTok with you and shows what's likely triggering the flag, then rebuilds your conversion tracking so it's HIPAA-compliant and keeps campaigns optimizing. Curve signs a BAA on every plan, and its team does the setup for you. Book a call with Curve.

What a portfolio restriction stops

Meta can restrict a business portfolio, an ad account, a Page or a personal profile. The portfolio sits at the top: Meta calls it "the central location for your business assets, such as Facebook Pages, Instagram accounts, ad accounts and product catalogs." Check every level in Business Support Home before you act; the restricted account recovery plan covers scoping.

Not every portfolio restriction is a policy finding. For unusual activity, Meta may temporarily remove "the ability to add admins, partners or users" or "the ability to create new ad accounts" while it investigates. Those limits clear through the security and verification steps, not a policy review.

Why Meta restricts a whole portfolio

  • Repeated or severe ad violations. Meta says that if an advertiser "runs ad content that severely or repeatedly violates our policies, we may apply advertising restrictions on their business portfolio, ad account, Page or user account." In healthcare that usually means rejections for personal attributes, health claims or unacceptable business practices.
  • Prescription drug offers without authorization. Meta requires online pharmacies and telehealth providers "to be actively certified with LegitScript" and then to request Meta's authorization before promoting prescription drugs.
  • Links to restricted assets. Meta's Community Standards let it restrict business assets "Owned by the same person or entity as an account that has been disabled", or closely linked to a network of accounts that break its rules.
  • Security and payments. Meta also restricts advertising when it suspects assets "have been compromised or hacked", when users skip two-factor authentication, or when it sees "high rates of failed payments or disputed payments."

Business verification: make the details match

Verification helps Meta confirm your portfolio "belongs to a legitimate business or organization." Someone with full control completes it in Security Center in Meta Business Suite.

  • Check "that the details you enter exactly match the details of your legal business entity." If the clinic advertises under a brand name, show the legal entity on the website, for example in the footer.
  • Make sure the website "loads and is HTTPS compliant" and has no link that leads to an error message.
  • If no matching record is found, be ready to upload "official documents, such as a business license or articles of incorporation."
  • Allow up to 14 business days for a decision. Editing your business details later means verifying again.

Clean up people and assets before you ask

  • Under Settings, then People, remove anyone who no longer works with you and give the rest the access they need.
  • Check each person's own status. If one admin's personal profile is restricted, that is a separate problem with its own fix; see a profile restricted from advertising.
  • Turn on two-factor authentication for everyone in the portfolio.
  • Rewrite or remove every ad and landing page that matches the cited policy, in every ad account, including ads the notice doesn't list.

Request the review once

Reviews are limited: "There is a limited number of times you can request an advertising restriction review. Once the review is completed, the decision is final." If the review is denied, read what to do after Meta denies a review.

  1. In Business Support Home, select Account status overview, then the restricted portfolio.
  2. Complete each step in the What you can do section. You must be an admin.
  3. Select Request review and complete the on-screen steps. Meta says "Typically, our review is completed in 48 hours, although it may take longer in some cases."
  4. If Meta removes the restriction, turn your ads back on in Ads Manager. Ads running before the restriction "will not be automatically restarted."

What not to do

Talk to Curve

A portfolio restriction is the moment to put the tracking behind every ad account in order. Curve's team reviews what your website sends with you, rebuilds your conversion tracking so it's HIPAA-compliant and keeps campaigns optimizing, and detects PHI-like patterns before data reaches an ad platform. Setup is done for you and is typically live in about a week, so book a call with Curve.

How Curve helps

  • Curve's team reviews what your website sends to Meta, Google and TikTok with you and shows what's likely triggering the flag.
  • Rebuilds your conversion tracking so it's HIPAA-compliant and keeps campaigns optimizing, sending conversions server-side to Meta Conversions API, Google Ads, TikTok, Microsoft and LinkedIn.
  • Detects PHI-like patterns before data reaches an ad platform.
  • Signs a BAA on every plan.
  • Setup is done for you by Curve's team, typically live in about a week (varies case by case).

Frequently asked questions

Does a business portfolio restriction stop all of our ad accounts?

Meta says a restricted portfolio isn't allowed to advertise, and that a portfolio's status impacts the ad accounts and other assets it owns. Check each ad account in Business Support Home to see exactly what is affected.

Can we move our ad accounts to a new business portfolio?

Not to keep advertising while the restriction stands. Meta bars using business manager accounts to get around enforcement, and it can restrict assets owned by the same person or entity as a disabled account.

How long does business verification take?

Meta says a decision may take up to 14 business days. Get the legal name, address, phone number and website right the first time, because editing them later means verifying again.

Can our agency run our ads from its own portfolio in the meantime?

Not to route around the restriction. Meta treats a network of accounts running the same violating ads as an attempt to get around its review, and it can restrict those accounts too.

Sources

Last verified

Talk to Curve about the data side of your restriction

Book a call and Curve's team will look at what your site sends to Meta, Google and TikTok, and show you the compliant setup that keeps your campaigns optimizing.

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