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Meta blocked my custom events until I review them

The notice
If your Meta Business Tool has data restrictions, custom events are automatically blocked until you review and confirm them
On this page

Meta blocks every custom event automatically once your dataset has any data restriction, such as core setup or a restriction that comes with a health and wellness data source category. The block is not a finding against each event. It is a queue: no custom event can be used for ads until someone at your business reviews it in Events Manager and either confirms it or keeps it blocked. Standard events are not part of this review. Confirm only the events whose names and data carry no health information, keep the rest blocked, and do not rename anything to get it through.

Curve Compliance works on what leaves your site in the first place: conversions go server-side and only the fields you have explicitly mapped are sent, under a BAA signed on every plan. Curve does not confirm or unblock events for you. It does not lift restrictions, restore events Meta has restricted, fix creative or file appeals.

Why every custom event was blocked at once

Meta's help center says it directly: "If your Meta Business Tool has data restrictions, custom events are automatically blocked until you review and confirm them, or they may not be available to you (for example, if your Meta Business Tools have full restrictions)." The trigger is the restriction on the dataset, not a problem Meta found in a particular event, which is why a harmless newsletter signup gets blocked too.

The restriction tier decides what review can achieve. Under core setup or a restriction on certain standard events, a custom event can be used again once you confirm it. Under a full restriction it may not be available at all, and confirming it will not change that. Check the tier on the dataset's data source category settings first. What each tier restricts is covered separately.

What is blocked and what still works

  • Blocked: every custom event on the restricted dataset until it is confirmed. Meta says "You can't use blocked custom events with ads features", and lists those features as custom conversions, custom audiences, ad campaigns and lift studies.
  • Not in the review: standard events. Meta says "You don't need to review standard events in this process." They still follow the dataset's tier, so a restricted Purchase or Schedule event stays restricted.
  • Available again after confirmation: a confirmed custom event can be used with ads features, within whatever tier the dataset is in.

How to review them

  1. Open Events Manager and find the custom events waiting for review. Meta's prohibited information article gives the path: the Data sources tab, then the dataset, then the events table, then the event.
  2. For each event, read the name, every parameter it sends and the URLs of the pages it fires on. Ask one question: does any of it name, imply or depend on a condition, treatment, medication or test?
  3. Confirm an event only when all of Meta's criteria hold. Its data, "including the event name and parameters, follows the Meta Business Tools Terms and doesn't include prohibited information". You "recognize and intended to share" it. It is correctly formatted.
  4. Keep everything else blocked. An event you cannot vouch for is a liability, not lost signal. If an event is only useful because of the condition it points to, it should stay blocked.
  5. If you believe Meta blocked an event in error, Meta says "you may be able to request a review from Events Manager or Ads Manager." Check the name, parameters and URLs before you ask, because the review looks at the same data.

Can I rename the event and send it again?

Not to get restricted data through. Meta's rule covers names and what sits behind them: "the names you choose and criteria you establish for your events, conversions, and Custom Audiences must not reflect, imply, or be based on any prohibited information." If an event called "Event 1" fires on the same weight loss intake page with the same parameters, it is still based on the same thing. The new name changes nothing that matters to that rule.

It also breaks a second rule. Where Meta has already detected and removed data from a stream, its troubleshooting article says: "You must not attempt to send data that has previously been detected and removed." Relabelling an event to resend the same data is exactly that.

Advice to use numbered or obfuscated custom events is common in e-commerce forums. It is written for online stores and treats Meta's filter as the only obstacle. Meta's own position is the opposite: "Meta's systems are not a substitute for your own compliance mechanisms."

Stop the next batch from needing review

Every new custom event on a restricted dataset joins the same queue, so the lasting fix is upstream. Decide which pages send events at all. Keep condition-bearing URLs, query strings and form contents out of what is sent. Make sure a new custom event is not based on a condition in the first place, in its name or in the data behind it. Meta also says you "shouldn't send information about people from web pages where visitors may log in and provide potentially sensitive information, such as patient portals."

Related reading: what the prohibited information notice means, what still works under core setup and server-side tracking and Meta restrictions.

Talk to Curve

If you want help working out which events and fields your site sends today, and setting up a server-side flow that sends only what you choose, book a call with Curve. The review decisions in Events Manager stay yours.

Where Curve Compliance fits

What Curve does

  • Sends conversions server-side to the Meta Conversions API, so your business decides what leaves rather than a browser pixel.
  • Sends only the fields you have explicitly mapped, so page URLs, query strings and form contents are not sent to Meta unless you choose them.
  • Signs a BAA on every plan.
  • Curve's team does the setup with you.

What Curve doesn't do

  • Does not confirm, unblock or rename custom events in your Events Manager.
  • Does not lift data restrictions or change a data source category.
  • Does not restore events Meta has restricted.
  • Does not fix ad creative and does not file appeals or reviews.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to review standard events too?

No. Meta says you don't need to review standard events in this process, but they still follow the restriction tier on your dataset.

Why are custom events that have nothing to do with health blocked?

Because the block applies to every custom event on a dataset with data restrictions, not only to events Meta found a problem in. Confirm the ones you can vouch for.

What happens if I leave a custom event blocked?

Meta says blocked custom events can't be used with ads features, which covers custom conversions, custom audiences, ad campaigns and lift studies. Keeping an event blocked is the safe choice when you are not sure what it carries.

Can I rename a blocked event and send it again?

Not to get the same data through. Event names must not reflect, imply or be based on prohibited information, and Meta says you must not attempt to send data that has previously been detected and removed.

Sources

Last verified

Talk to Curve about the data side of your restriction

Curve Compliance fixes the data layer: conversions go server-side and only explicitly mapped fields leave. It does not lift a restriction or restore restricted events.

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