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Troubleshooting

Facebook Ad Library not working?

Almost always it's one of five things, in roughly this order of likelihood. Work down the list before assuming Meta's servers are the problem — usually they aren't.

1. Your ad blocker is eating the request

This is the single most common cause, and it catches people off guard because it has nothing to do with the ad library itself. The URL contains the word "ads," which is exactly the pattern most blocklists filter on. Whitelist facebook.com in your blocker, or just try an incognito window (extensions are off there by default) and see if it suddenly works.

2. You searched the wrong name

The library matches on the Facebook Page name, not an Instagram handle or a shortened brand name someone uses casually. If "Acme" turns up nothing, look up their actual Facebook Page first and copy the name exactly as it's written there.

3. The category filter is set wrong

It defaults to a specific ad category in some regions. If you're not seeing an advertiser's ordinary product ads, check that the category dropdown is set to "All ads" rather than something like "Issues, elections, or politics."

4. You've been rate-limited

Running a lot of searches back to back, especially while logged out, tends to get you throttled. Logging into a Facebook account raises the ceiling considerably. If you were signed out and getting blocked, sign in and try again.

5. It's actually down

Rare, but it happens. Check Meta's status page, or search X for "ad library down" — if others are reporting the same thing at the same time, it's not your setup.

Still stuck, or just want a second source?

Ad Repository keeps its own free, searchable archive of Facebook ads (alongside five other platforms), so it's a reasonable fallback if the official library is misbehaving or you'd rather not fight with it in the first place.

Search Facebook ads hereHow we compare to Meta Ad Library

Also see the broader guide to finding competitor ads across every platform, not just Facebook.