# Meta Ad Library: how to search it and what it shows

Canonical: https://postmesh.app/blog/meta-ads-library

By PostMesh team. Published 2026-10-31; updated 2026-10-31.

The Meta Ad Library is a public search of every ad currently running across Meta's apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Threads and the Audience Network, at facebook.com/ads/library. Anyone can use it without an account: pick a country and an ad category, then search a keyword or advertiser. Regular ads show while they're active; ads about social issues, elections or politics stay for 7 years, and ads that reached the EU or UK stay for a year after their last impression.

Marketers use the Ad Library to see what competitors are running, journalists use it to follow political spending, and ordinary users use it to check who is behind an ad they saw. It shows a lot, but not everything, and what it shows depends on the kind of ad and where it ran. Everything below comes from Meta's own help pages and the Ad Library itself, read on October 31, 2026.

## The short answer

Go to [facebook.com/ads/library](https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/), choose a country, choose an ad category such as All ads, and type a keyword or an advertiser's name. You'll see every matching ad that's active now, with its start date, the platforms it runs on and the ad itself. For political and issue ads you also see spend, reach and who paid, and for ads that reached the EU or UK you see targeting choices and reach.

| Kind of ad | What the Ad Library shows | How long it stays |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Any active ad | The ad content, when it started, who's running it, the platforms it runs on, and details from the advertiser's Page | While it's active |
| Ads about social issues, elections or politics | Also spend and impression ranges, age, gender and location of viewers, estimated audience size and the Paid for by disclaimer | 7 years, active or inactive |
| Ads that delivered to the EU or associated territories | Also the dates it ran, targeting choices, total reach and reach by location, age and gender, plus advertiser and payer information | 1 year after its last impression |
| Ads that delivered to the UK | The same as the EU, without the advertiser and payer information | 1 year after its last impression, for ads that ran after July 1, 2025 |
| Branded content with a paid partnership label | The creator, brand partner, date, post type and a link | Searchable from August 17, 2023, while public and active |

**What are you trying to find?**
- A competitor's current ads → Choose All ads and your country, search their Page name, then filter by platform or media type.
- Who paid for a political ad, and how much → Choose Issues, elections or politics, search the advertiser, and open See ad details for spend and reach ranges.
- An ad you saw weeks ago that has stopped → Only political ads and ads that reached the EU or UK stay after they stop. Other inactive ads aren't shown.
- Creator posts paid for by a brand → Use the branded content search, pick Facebook or Instagram and a date range.

## What is the Meta Ad Library?

Meta's [business help page](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/2405092116183307) describes the Ad Library as a hub for ad transparency. It contains every active ad shown across Meta technologies, and every active, public piece of branded content on Facebook and Instagram that carries a paid partnership label. You can search any term, name or Page, and any ad that includes the term, or is run by a Page whose name includes it, may appear.

The Ad Library's own home page puts the scope in one line: all ads currently running across Meta technologies, plus ads about social issues, elections or politics from the past seven years, ads that have run anywhere in the EU in the past year, and ads that have run in the UK in the past year and after July 1, 2025. It also says an ad appears within 24 hours of its first impression, and changes to an ad show up within 24 hours too.

- 24 hours: For a new ad, or a change to one, to appear
- 7 years: How long political and issue ads are kept
- 1 year: How long EU and UK ads are kept after their last impression
- 200+: Countries and territories with Meta's ad transparency tools

*From the Ad Library home page and Meta's About the Meta Ad Library page.*

The 200 figure comes from the same help page, which says Meta's ad transparency tools are available in more than 200 countries and territories. Meta also notes, on its [Facebook help page](https://www.facebook.com/help/259468828226154) about the Ad Library, that ads can be removed from it in certain limited circumstances, such as serious Community Standards violations or a valid government request.

## Do I need a Facebook account to use it?

No. The Ad Library's FAQ says anyone can explore it, with or without a Facebook account. Three things do need you to be logged in:

- Reporting an ad.
- Viewing adult content. Meta's help page adds that for ads with some age-restricted content, such as alcohol or gambling, the creative isn't shown to people who are underage or not logged in.
- Downloading Ad Library searches, which also requires agreeing to the Terms of Service.

If an ad's image is missing for you, the age restriction is a likely reason. Meta says it uses self-reported ages where possible to apply it, so logging in to an account whose age allows that content may show it.

## How do I search the Meta Ad Library?

The Ad Library asks you to set your location and choose an ad category before you search. That matters, because what the library holds differs by country and by category.

1. **Open the Ad Library**: Go to facebook.com/ads/library in any browser. No login is needed.
2. **Choose a country**: Use the country selector to see ads shown to people in that country. Meta's help page says to use it to view ads from a specific country.
3. **Choose an ad category**: In the United States the categories are All ads; Issues, elections or politics; Properties; Employment; and Financial products and services.
4. **Search a keyword or an advertiser**: Type a word, a phrase or a Page name. Pick the Page from the drop-down to see only that advertiser's ads.
5. **Filter and sort**: Use Filters to narrow by language, advertiser, platform, media type, active status and impression dates.
6. **Open See ad details**: Click it at the bottom of an ad for more about the advertiser and, for some ads, spend, reach and targeting.

Meta Ad Library: Country › Ad category › Search › See ad details

*The order the Ad Library's search box asks for, checked October 31, 2026.*

### Searching by advertiser

Meta's Facebook help page says you can search for an advertiser to view the active ads running from any of their Pages, with the photos, videos and text of each ad. When you view a Page in the Ad Library, you also see context about it, such as when it was created, its name changes and, for Pages with a high fan count or that ran political ads in certain countries, the countries its admins are in.

### Searching by keyword

The search tips on the Ad Library page explain two ways to search text. Put words in quotation marks to find that exact phrase in that order, and you can include more than one quoted phrase. Without quotes, the search finds ads that contain all of the words, in any order. The Media type filter also has an option to match your keyword within a video's transcript or the ad copy.

> Keyword results include ads from any advertiser that mention the word. A search for a brand name can return its own ads, resellers' ads and unrelated ads that use the word. To see one company's ads only, pick its Page from the drop-down instead.

## How do I filter and sort the results?

After a search, the Filters button opens these options in the Ad Library, as we saw them on October 31, 2026:

| Filter | Options |
| --- | --- |
| Language | Narrow results to ads in one language |
| Advertiser | Narrow results to one advertiser's ads |
| Platform | Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads |
| Media type | All media types, images, images with little to no text, memes, images with your text, images and memes, videos, keyword within video transcript or ad copy, no image or video |
| Active status | Active and inactive, active ads, inactive ads |
| Impressions by date | An exact date or a date range |

For political and issue ads, Meta's help page lists more filters: Page name, disclaimer, delivery by region, estimated audience size and status. Choosing Inactive ads only returns results for ads the library keeps after they stop, which means political ads and ads that reached the EU or UK.

## What does the Ad Library show for a regular ad?

For an ordinary commercial ad that isn't political and didn't reach the EU or UK, the Ad Library FAQ lists two things: the ad content, and basic information such as when it started running and which advertiser is running it. In practice, each ad card in the results shows:

- Whether it's active.
- Its Library ID, a unique ID that's part of the ad's direct link.
- The date it started running.
- Icons for the platforms it runs on.
- The ad's photos or videos and its text.
- A See ad details button.

See ad details adds information such as the advertiser's About section and, for a lead ad, more about its lead form, according to Meta's help page. Meta's pages list spend, reach and targeting only for political and issue ads and for ads that reached the EU or UK. That's the most common misunderstanding about the library: for a regular ad elsewhere, you can see what a competitor is running and since when, but not how much they spend or how well it performs.

> Some ads in the library carry a watermark. The Ad Library FAQ says some advertisers choose to display one over their creative in the library, and it doesn't appear when the ad is delivered on Meta's apps.

## What extra does it show for political and issue ads?

Ads about social issues, elections or politics get much more detail, and they stay in the library for 7 years whether active or not. They carry a Paid for by disclaimer showing who paid for them. Meta notes that ads only identified as political after they ran won't have a disclaimer.

When you open See ad details on one, Meta's business help page says you can see:

| Detail | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| Active or inactive | When the ad started and whether it's still running |
| Impressions | A range, such as 1,000 to 5,000, not the exact number |
| Amount spent | A range, such as $1,000 to $5,000, not the exact amount |
| Age and gender | The share of people who saw it, by age and gender |
| Location | Where the ad was viewed |
| Estimated audience size | How many accounts met the targeting and placement the advertiser chose |
| Disclaimer | The name, phone, email, website and address the advertiser submitted; the street address and postal code can be masked |
| Audience selection | The advertiser's targeting selections, aggregated at the Page level |

In Brazil, political ads created on or after August 15, 2024 also show targeting at the ad level, total reach and reach by targeted location broken down by age and gender. If an active political ad is later rejected or disabled, the library covers it with a shield, but you can still click See ad details to view it and its information.

### How do I see an advertiser's targeting?

1. Choose a country
2. Select Issues, elections or politics as the ad category
3. Type the advertiser's name and pick their Page from the drop-down
4. On the advertiser's Page, open the Audience tab

*From the Ad Library's FAQ and search tips.*

### Restriction periods before elections

Meta can pause new political ads in the days before an election, and the Ad Library shows an alert at the top while a pause is on. When we checked on October 31, 2026, it showed one for the United States covering October 27 to November 4, 2026: no new ads about social issues, elections or politics could be published, ads with at least one impression before the start could keep running, and only their schedule, bid and budget could be edited. If you research political ads during a period like this, expect few new ones to appear, and read the alert for the dates that apply.

## What does it show for ads in the EU and UK?

Meta's business help page says the Ad Library displays and archives ads that delivered an impression to the EU or associated territories, because of the EU's Digital Services Act. As part of a commitment to more transparency in the United Kingdom, it does the same for ads that delivered to the UK. This covers all ad placements, not only political ads, so it's the one place a regular commercial ad shows targeting and reach.

For these ads, alongside the creative and the Page or account that ran it, the library shows the dates the ad ran, the targeting choices made at the ad level (age, gender and location, and whether each was included or excluded), total reach in the UK, EU and associated territories, and reach by targeted location broken down by age and gender. For the EU only, it also shows advertiser and payer information provided by the advertiser. It only shows information about the UK, EU or associated territories, so reach elsewhere isn't included.

**Regular ad, outside EU and UK**
- Ad content and start date
- Platforms and advertiser
- No spend, reach or targeting
- Gone once inactive

**Political or issue ad**
- Spend and impression ranges
- Viewers by age, gender, location
- Paid for by disclaimer
- Kept for 7 years

**Ad that reached the EU or UK**
- Dates it ran
- Ad-level targeting choices
- Reach by location, age, gender
- Kept 1 year after last impression

Two exceptions are worth knowing. The Ad Library FAQ says ads about social issues, elections or politics aren't able to run in the EU because of local regulations, so you can't search for them there, though previous ones can be found under All ads or in the Ad Library Report. And ads rejected or disabled after reaching the UK or EU stay in the library under a shield that hides the content, while the data that doesn't break Meta's standards stays visible for a year.

## Why can't I find an ad I saw?

This is the most common problem, and it usually has one of these causes:

| Likely cause | What to try |
| --- | --- |
| The ad has stopped running | Regular ads outside the EU and UK leave the library when inactive. Only political ads and EU or UK ads stay. |
| It's very new | An ad appears within 24 hours of its first impression. Check again tomorrow. |
| The country is wrong | Set the country to where you saw the ad, or to All. |
| The category is wrong | A housing, job or financial ad may sit under Properties, Employment or Financial products and services in the US. |
| Your keyword isn't in the ad | Search the advertiser's Page name instead of words you remember from the ad. |
| The creative is hidden | Age-restricted ads, such as alcohol or gambling, don't show creative to people logged out or underage. |
| It was removed | Meta can remove ads from the library for serious Community Standards violations or valid government requests. |

If you're trying to find a political ad in the EU, remember those ads can't run there now, so look under All ads for earlier ones.

### Why do I see ads I didn't expect?

Meta's help page says a search returns ads that include your term and ads run by Pages whose names include it. So a search for a common word can return many advertisers. Pick a Page from the drop-down to see one advertiser, or put a phrase in quotation marks to match it exactly.

### Why does a disapproved ad still show?

For political ads, Meta says an ad that was active and then rejected or disabled is covered by a shield, but you can still open See ad details. For EU and UK ads, the content is hidden under a shield and the data stays for a year. Meta's Facebook help page also notes that ads that don't follow its Advertising Policies may appear in the library with a warning before you view them.

- First impression: The ad starts delivering to people.
- Within 24 hours: It appears in the Ad Library, searchable by keyword and advertiser.
- While active: It stays searchable. Edits show within 24 hours.
- Last impression: A regular ad outside the EU and UK leaves the library.
- 1 year later: An ad that reached the EU or UK leaves the archive.
- 7 years later: A political or issue ad leaves the archive.

*Retention rules from Meta's About the Meta Ad Library page.*

## How do I search branded content?

Branded content means posts, stories, videos and reels where a creator worked with a business and tagged it with a paid partnership label. The Ad Library has a separate search for it, linked from the top of the page. Meta's business help page says it covers public and active branded content on Facebook and Instagram created on or after August 17, 2023.

You search by Page or Instagram profile, and you have to choose Facebook or Instagram and a date range. Each result shows the date the content was created, the creator, the brand partner, the type of post, such as a video or a reel, and a link to it. It's a quick way to see which creators a brand has worked with, or which brands a creator has partnered with.

## What are the Ad Library Report and the Ad Library API?

### The Ad Library Report

The [Ad Library Report](https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/report/) covers ads about social issues, elections or politics. Its page says you can explore, filter and download data for these ads since October 2019, with overall spending totals, spending by advertiser and spending by location. You can view the last day, last 7, 30 or 90 days, or all dates, and download a CSV for a date range ending within the most recent 7 days. Meta's business help page says the report is available in all countries that require authorization to run these ads.

Meta's Facebook help page adds a spending tracker that compares advertisers or campaigns, and embeddable widgets that let you share a snapshot of political ad spend on a website, either fixed or updating daily.

### The Ad Library API

The API is for people who want to analyze ads in bulk with code. Meta's help page says it covers ads about social issues, elections or politics, and its business help page adds ads that delivered to the EU and associated territories. Meta's [developer reference](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/reference/ads_archive/) says ads that didn't reach any EU location are only returned if they're about social issues, elections or politics.

1. **Confirm your identity and location**: Meta says this typically takes 1 to 2 days if you haven't done it before.
2. **Create a Meta Developer account**: On Meta for Developers, select Get Started and agree to the Platform Policy.
3. **Add a new app**: Then go to facebook.com/ads/library/api and select Access the API.
4. **Build your query**: The reference lists parameters such as ad_reached_countries, search_terms (up to 100 characters, where a space means AND) and ad_type, which can be all ads, employment, financial products and services, housing, or political and issue ads.

## How can marketers use the Ad Library?

For businesses, the library is a free way to see what others in your market are putting money behind. Used carefully, it answers useful questions. Used carelessly, it leads to copying ads you know nothing about.

### What it can tell you

- Which competitors are advertising right now, in each country you choose.
- The formats they use, such as video, images or images with little text, using the Media type filter.
- Which platforms each ad runs on, from the platform icons.
- When each ad started, so you can see which ones have been running for a while.
- The offers, calls to action and landing pages they're promoting, by opening the ad.
- For ads that reached the EU or UK, the age, gender and locations they targeted and the reach.

### A worked example

Say you sell handmade candles in the US and want to see what three larger candle brands advertise before the holidays. Set the country to the United States and the category to All ads. Search each brand and pick its Page from the drop-down. For each, note how many ads are active, the oldest start date, and whether they lean on video or images using the Media type filter. Open a few to see which products and offers they push. If one of them also sells in France or Germany, switch the country to see that ad's targeting and reach. You end with a short list of formats, offers and timings to test, not a template to copy.

### What it can't tell you

Outside political ads and the EU and UK, it doesn't show spend, reach, targeting or results. An ad that has run for months may be working, or may have been forgotten. Treat run length as a hint, not proof, and test ideas with your own audience rather than copying.

**A 20-minute competitor check**
- [ ] Set the country to your main market and the category to All ads
- [ ] Search each competitor's Page from the drop-down
- [ ] Note each active ad's start date and platforms
- [ ] Filter by media type to see their video and image mix
- [ ] Open a few ads to see offers and landing pages
- [ ] Switch the country to an EU market to see targeting and reach, if they advertise there
- [ ] Check the branded content search for creator partnerships

The library is also useful for your own ads. Search your Page to confirm your ads appear as you expect, in the countries you meant, on the platforms you chose. For organic posts, which don't appear in the Ad Library at all, size and caption rules still matter: our guides to [Facebook post timing](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-facebook), [Instagram post sizes](/blog/instagram-post-size), [Reel sizes](/blog/instagram-reel-size) and [image sizes on every network](/blog/social-media-image-sizes) cover the specs, and our [Facebook character counter](/tools/facebook-character-counter) checks caption length. To compare your organic results with what you learn from competitors' ads, [turn on Instagram Insights](/blog/how-to-turn-on-instagram-insights) for your account. If something you learned from competitor ads goes into organic posts on several networks, our guide to [whether cross-posting hurts engagement](/blog/does-cross-posting-hurt-engagement) covers how to adapt it per network.

## How do I copy an ad's link or report an ad?

Every ad has a unique ID that forms part of its direct link. Meta's Facebook help page explains how to save it and how to report an ad from the library.

Meta Ad Library: Options on the ad › Copy ad link

*To report an ad instead, choose Options, then Report ad. Reporting needs you to be logged in.*

- To copy a link, click Options on the ad, then Copy ad link, and paste it into your browser or notes to go straight back to that ad.
- To report an ad, click Options, then Report ad, and follow the on-screen steps.
- You can report active ads that you think are about social issues, elections or politics and are missing a Paid for by disclaimer, or that break Meta's Advertising Standards. Meta says reporting an ad as political is only possible in certain countries.

Copied links are a simple way to keep a record of an ad for research, and regular ads leave the library once they stop, so save the ones you care about while they're running. Keep the Library ID with your notes so you can find the ad again.

## What to do next

- Open the Ad Library, set your country and All ads, and search one competitor's Page to see what they're running.
- If you want targeting and reach for commercial ads, repeat the search with an EU country selected, for advertisers who run ads there.
- For political ads, use the Issues, elections or politics category and the Ad Library Report for spending totals.
- If you need data at scale, start the API's identity check early, since it takes 1 to 2 days.
- Save ads you want to revisit with Copy ad link, because regular ads leave the library once they stop.
- If you also post organically on Facebook and Instagram, see [how to schedule Instagram posts](/blog/how-to-schedule-instagram-posts) and the [best time to post on Instagram](/blog/best-time-to-post-on-instagram). PostMesh doesn't run ads; it publishes organic posts to [Facebook Pages](/platform/facebook) through Meta's API and to [Instagram](/platform/instagram) through Instagram's API.
- Tag the links in any ads or posts you run with our [UTM builder](/tools/utm-builder), so you can see in your analytics which ones send traffic.

## Questions

### Is the Meta Ad Library free?

Anyone can search it at facebook.com/ads/library, with or without a Facebook account, and Meta's pages don't mention any fee. Reporting ads and downloading searches need a login.

### Can I see how much a competitor spends on Facebook ads?

Not for regular commercial ads. The Ad Library shows spend ranges only for ads about social issues, elections or politics.

### Does the Ad Library include Instagram ads?

Yes. It covers ads across Meta technologies, and its platform filter includes Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads.

### Can I see ads that are no longer running?

Only some. Political and issue ads stay for 7 years, and ads that reached the EU or UK stay for a year after their last impression; other ads leave once they stop.

### Can I see who an ad was targeted at?

For ads that reached the EU or UK, yes: age, gender and location targeting at the ad level. For political ads, you can see the advertiser's targeting at the Page level in the Audience tab.

### How long until a new ad shows up?

Within 24 hours of its first impression, according to the Ad Library. Changes to an ad also appear within 24 hours.

### Why does an ad show a watermark in the Ad Library?

Some advertisers choose to display a watermark over their creative in the library. It doesn't appear when the ad is shown on Meta's apps.

### What time zone does the Ad Library use?

Pacific Time. The Ad Library FAQ says dates and times for political ads, and the Ad Library Report, are recorded in PT.

### Can I download Ad Library results?

Yes, if you're logged in to Facebook and agree to the Terms of Service. The Ad Library Report also offers a CSV download for political ads.

### Can I see organic posts in the Ad Library?

No. It shows ads and branded content with a paid partnership label, not ordinary posts.

## Sources

- [Meta Ad Library (home page, FAQ and search tips, checked October 31, 2026)](https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/)

- [Meta Business Help Center: About the Meta Ad Library](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/2405092116183307)

- [Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?](https://www.facebook.com/help/259468828226154)

- [Meta Ad Library Report](https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/report/)

- [Meta for Developers: Ads Archive (Ad Library API) reference](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/reference/ads_archive/)