Meta Ad Library
The Meta Ad Library is Meta's public, searchable record of the ads running across Facebook, Instagram and its other apps. Anyone can search it by keyword or advertiser, with or without an account. It keeps ordinary commercial ads only while they are active, and keeps a history only for political and issue ads and for ads shown in the UK or EU.
What is in the Meta Ad Library?
The library's own page says you can "Search all the ads currently running across Meta technologies", plus three kinds of past ads. Its FAQ lists what each kind shows:
| Ads | How long they stay | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Every ad currently running | While active | "The ad content" and "Basic information such as when the ad started running and which advertiser is running it" |
| Ads about social issues, elections or politics | "the past 7 years" | The same, plus "Additional transparency about spend, reach and funding entities" |
| Ads that ran in the UK and EU | "archived for one year after they serve their last impression" | The same, plus "Additional transparency specific to the UK & EU" |
The page's headline adds a date for the UK: ads "that have run in the UK in the past year and that have run after July 1, 2025".
The practical result: a US-only brand's ads disappear from the library when they stop running, and an ordinary commercial ad never shows spend or impressions.
Do I need a Facebook account to use the Ad Library?
No. Meta's FAQ: "Anyone can explore the Ad Library, with or without a Facebook account. However, reporting ads and viewing adult content both require that you have an account and are logged in."
How quickly do new ads show up?
"An ad will appear in the Ad Library within 24 hours of the time it gets its first impression. Any changes or updates made to an ad will also be reflected in the Ad Library within 24 hours."
How does the Ad Library sort results?
By impressions, unless you change it. The interface writes
sort_data[mode]=total_impressions into the URL on its own, and its only
alternative, "Most recent", groups results by launch month rather than sorting by
date. The sort-order post shows both from the
URL and the sort control's own values. The top of an advertiser's page is what
has run biggest, not what launched last.
What other tools sit next to the library?
The same page links three:
- Ad Library Report, for "Anyone who wants to quickly explore, filter and download data on ads about social issues, elections or politics."
- Ad Library API, for "custom searches using parameters like an ad's estimated audience size, country or language". It covers less than the website does: see the API post.
- Branded content search, for "content from a creator who worked together with a business."
What it means for your ads
- Your live ads are public. Anything you run appears within a day, with its start date and your Page name.
- Read position as reach, not recency. Switch to "Most recent" and read each card's date when you want what's new.
- "Inactive" isn't a history of US ads. Outside political ads, past ads only stay if they ran in the UK or EU.
- There is no spend for commercial ads. Not in the library, the report or the API. Any competitor spend figure for an ordinary brand is an estimate.
Common mistakes
- Taking a watermark for part of the ad. Meta's FAQ: "Some advertisers have opted to display a watermark atop their ad creative in the Ad Library. This watermark does not appear when an ad is delivered on Meta technologies."
- Reading the first screen as a strategy. New ads start below older, bigger ones by default.
Sources
- Meta Ad Library — Meta: the coverage headline including the UK date, the FAQ on what each kind of ad shows and how long it stays, account requirements, the 24-hour delay, the watermark answer, and the descriptions of the Ad Library Report, API and branded content search (rendered in a browser, accessed 2026-10-16)
- Meta Ad Library sort control and URL — Meta: the default
total_impressionssort and the month-grouped "Most recent" option (checked logged out in a browser, accessed 2026-09-20, for the linked post)
The library page is client-rendered and was read logged out in a real browser on 16 October 2026, with each FAQ answer expanded. Meta changes this interface and its retention notes without notice, so check the page before relying on any of it.
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