Meta Ad Library: How to Search Any Brand’s Ads
The Meta Ad Library is Meta’s searchable record of ads. Go to facebook.com/ads/library, pick a country and All ads, then search a brand: you’ll see every ad its Page is running now across Meta’s apps, with start dates. Spend appears only on ads about social issues, elections or politics; audience data, on those and on ads delivered in the EU.
The Meta Ads Library, the Facebook Ad Library and the ads library on Facebook are one tool. For the rest of Facebook, start with how to use Facebook.
Table of Contents
- What is the Meta Ad Library?
- How do you search the Meta Ad Library?
- How do the Meta Ad Library filters work?
- What can you see on each ad?
- Does the Meta Ad Library show every ad? (by ad type and region)
- Is there a Meta Ad Library API?
- How to use the Ad Library for organic content ideas
- Meta Ads Library FAQ
What is the Meta Ad Library?
It’s a public, searchable collection of the ads running on Meta’s apps. Meta’s help page says you can search every ad that’s currently active across its products, plus inactive ads about social issues, elections or politics, which it keeps for 7 years along with who funded them, a range of what they spent and their reach across demographics. Checked against Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?
For a marketer, it’s a live view of what any brand is running today. It also holds active, public branded content that carries a paid partnership label. Checked against Meta Transparency Center: Meta Ad Library tools
Meta’s help page doesn’t say whether you need to be logged in to browse it; only the API is documented as needing a Facebook account. Checked against Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?Not verified
The library is for looking, not running ads: ad accounts sit in a business portfolio (the current name for Meta Business Manager), and everyday posting happens in Meta Business Suite.
How do you search the Meta Ad Library?
Open the library, choose a country and an ad category, then type what you’re looking for. For All ads, results are grouped by Page, so the quickest way to see a brand’s ads is to search its name and open its Page. Meta publishes one set of steps for every device:
On any device:
- Go to the Ad Library at https://www.facebook.com/ads/library.
- Select a country.
- In the Ad category dropdown, select All ads (or Issues, elections or politics, or Housing).
- Enter what you are looking for in the search bar.
- Select See ad details to see more information about an ad.
Checked against Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?.
Ads about social issues, elections or politics can be searched by Page or by keyword or phrase, and Housing, the third category, by Page, city or state.
How do the Meta Ad Library filters work?
Once you’re looking at a Page’s active ads, you can narrow them by country, by impressions over a time period, by platform and by keyword. The platform filter covers Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network. Ads about social issues, elections or politics get three extra filters: Page name, active or inactive status, and disclaimer. Checked against Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?
| Filter | What you choose | Where it’s offered |
|---|---|---|
| Country | One country | A Page’s active ads |
| Impressions by date | A time period in which the ads had impressions | A Page’s active ads |
| Platform | Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or Audience Network | A Page’s active ads |
| Keyword | A word or phrase | A Page’s active ads |
| Page name | One Page | Ads about social issues, elections or politics |
| Active or inactive | Running ads, or ones that have stopped | Ads about social issues, elections or politics |
| Disclaimer | One disclaimer | Ads about social issues, elections or politics |
Meta’s article lists those four platforms only; Threads isn’t among them. And because ordinary ads are searchable only while they’re active (EU ads aside), check a competitor’s Page regularly, not once.
What can you see on each ad?
Every ad shows when it started running, which Meta platforms it ran on, its ad ID with a link you can copy, a Report option and See ad details. The Page’s entry adds when the Page was created, its name changes and, for some Pages, the countries its admins are in. For ordinary commercial ads, Meta’s help page lists no spend, reach or targeting data; the EU is the exception, covered below. Checked against Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?
- Start date. Shown at the top of the ad: in Meta’s words, “the date that the ad first appeared on Meta technologies”.
- Platforms. The Meta platforms that showed the ad.
- Ad ID and link. An ID plus a copyable link, which is the easiest way to save an ad and find it again.
- Report. An option to report the ad to Meta.
- See ad details. The fuller view. On political and issue ads, this is where spend and reach appear.
- Page details. When the Page was created and its name changes. Admin country locations show only for Pages with a high fan count, or Pages that ran issue, electoral or political ads in certain countries.
What political and issue ads add
On an ad about social issues, elections or politics, See ad details can show whether it’s active or inactive, a notice if it was disapproved, an impressions range, a spend range (Meta’s example is “$1K-$1.5K”, never the exact amount), age and gender percentages, locations, and whether it ran on Facebook or Instagram. Ads judged political only after they ran won’t carry a disclaimer. Checked against Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?
For the bigger picture there’s the Ad Library Report, which totals these ads by country and period: total and weekly estimated spend per advertiser, ad counts, the week’s top search terms and top advertiser spend by region. Meta offers it in every country that requires authorization to run ads about social issues, elections or politics. Checked against Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?
Does the Meta Ad Library show every ad? (by ad type and region)
Every active ad, yes; every ad ever, no. Ordinary ads are searchable while they’re active. Ads about social issues, elections or politics stay for 7 years, and ads delivered in the EU stay for a year after their last impression. Meta may also remove an ad in limited cases, such as a serious Community Standards violation or a valid government request. Here’s what you get for each:
| Ad type, and where it ran | How long you can find it | Spend shown? | Audience data shown? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary commercial ad | While it’s active | No | None listed on Meta’s help page |
| Ad about social issues, elections or politics | 7 years | Yes, as a range | Yes: impressions range, age and gender percentages, locations |
| Any ad delivered in the EU | While active, then a year after its last impression | Only on political and issue ads | Yes: targeting parameters such as age, gender and location, and who was served |
| Any ad delivered to the UK or EU, via the API | The past year | Only on political and issue ads | Yes: targeting, and reach by age, country and gender; EU ads add total EU reach and beneficiaries and payers |
Checked against Facebook Help Center: What is the Meta Ad Library and how do I search it?.
Checked against Meta Transparency Center: Meta Ad Library tools.
The EU row follows Meta’s Digital Services Act announcement of 22 August 2023, which said the library would “display and archive all ads that target people in the EU, along with dates the ad ran, the parameters used for targeting (e.g., age, gender, location), who was served the ad, and more” (checked 2 October 2026). The API row comes from Meta’s Archived Ad field reference (checked 2 October 2026): targeting and the age, country and gender reach breakdown are returned for ads delivered to the UK and EU, and for political and issue ads delivered to Brazil; total EU reach and the reported beneficiaries and payers only for ads delivered to the EU; spend and impressions only for political and issue ads, in ranges.
There’s one EU twist. Since 6 October 2025, Meta no longer delivers political, electoral or social issue ads in the EU at all, in response to the EU’s TTPA regulation on political advertising. The decision is specific to the EU, and organic political posts there aren’t affected. Checked against Meta Newsroom: Ending Political, Electoral and Social Issue Advertising in the EU in Response to Incoming European Regulation
Is there a Meta Ad Library API?
Yes. Meta’s Ad Library API searches ads about social issues, elections or politics delivered in the past 7 years, plus ads of any type delivered to the UK or EU in the past year. Access needs a Facebook account, a confirmed identity and location, a Meta for Developers account and an app. Meta’s setup steps:
On a computer:
- Confirm your identity and location at facebook.com/ID (it can take a few days).
- Create a Meta for Developers account and agree to the Platform Policy.
- Return to facebook.com/ads/library/api and select Access the API.
- Create a new app (My Apps > Create App).
Checked against Meta Ad Library API page.
Two limits from Meta: the API works only in countries where it’s available, and a release note dated 6 October 2025 says searching political and issue ads with EU countries as the reached countries “will no longer be available”.
How to use the Ad Library for organic content ideas
Treat it as a swipe file you keep by hand. Pick a few brands, note what each ad says, how long it has run and what format it uses, then write your own organic version for your Page. Borrow the angle, never the creative, and read long-running ads as hints rather than proof: the library never shows spend for ordinary ads.
- Pick five Pages to watch. Two or three direct competitors, plus a couple of brands your customers already buy from. Search each one under All ads for your country.
- Log each ad’s start date. An ad still running months later is one the advertiser chose to keep, which may mean it works. It’s a hint, not proof: you can’t see what it spent or sold, and an ad can also run on because nobody switched it off.
- Note the format and the platforms. A still image, a video or a set of cards, and whether it ran on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or Audience Network.
- Write the angle in one line. The problem it names, the promise it makes, the proof it offers. Paste the ad’s link beside it so you can find it again.
- Rewrite it as an organic post. Your words, your visuals, your offer. Then give it a date: our free content calendar template lays out a month across platforms.
For more starting points, see our Facebook post ideas and these social media post examples.
Outfeed AI, which we make, doesn’t run ads or read the Ad Library; it handles the organic half. Describe the post in a chat and it publishes to your Facebook Page and eight other networks. On Facebook that means a Page post with text and at most one photo or video, and TikTok posts currently publish as private while TikTok reviews our app.
Write your organic version in Outfeed AI
Meta Ads Library FAQ
How do I search the Meta Ad Library?
Go to facebook.com/ads/library, select a country, choose an ad category (All ads; Issues, elections or politics; or Housing), then enter what you’re looking for, such as a brand name, in the search bar. Results for all ads are grouped by Page, and See ad details opens more information about any ad.
Does the Meta Ad Library show all ads?
It shows every ad currently active across Meta’s products. Inactive ads stay in two cases: ads about social issues, elections or politics, kept for 7 years, and ads delivered in the EU, archived for one year after their last impression. Meta may also remove ads in limited cases, such as serious Community Standards violations or valid government requests.
Can you see how much competitors spend on ads in the Meta Ad Library?
Not for ordinary commercial ads. Meta shows spend only for ads about social issues, elections or politics, and only as a range, such as $1K-$1.5K, never the exact amount. Those ads also show an impressions range, age and gender percentages and locations.
How long do ads stay in the Meta Ad Library?
Ordinary ads are searchable while they’re active. Ads about social issues, elections or politics stay for 7 years. Ads delivered in the EU are archived for one year after their last impression. Through the Ad Library API, ads of any type delivered to the UK or EU can be searched for the past year.
Is there a Meta Ad Library API?
Yes. Meta’s Ad Library API searches ads about social issues, elections or politics delivered in the past 7 years, plus ads of any type delivered to the UK or EU in the past year. Access needs a Facebook account, a confirmed identity and location, a Meta for Developers account and an app.