Meta Ad Library search: how to find Facebook and Instagram ads, what data you get, and the API

How to search the Meta Ad Library

The library lives at facebook.com/ads/library. Meta says anyone can view and search it, for any term, name or Page. One exception: ads with age-restricted content such as alcohol or gambling are hidden from people who are underage or not logged in.

1. 01

   Pick a country. Results are country-specific, so choose the market you care about, or All.

2. 02

   Pick an ad category. All ads covers commercial ads. Issues, elections or politics switches to the political archive with more data.

3. 03

   Search by keyword or advertiser. A keyword search returns ads containing the term and ads from Pages whose name contains it. To see one brand's ads, pick its Page from the suggestions instead of running a keyword search.

4. 04

   Filter. Common filters include active status, platform, media type (image, video, meme), language and date range.

5. 05

   Open See ad details for more information, such as the advertiser's Page history, or See summary details when several ads share one creative.

What you see for an ordinary commercial ad

When we searched 'skincare' in the US library on October 18, 2026, every result card showed the same fields: Active status, a Library ID, the date the ad started running, platform icons, and notes such as 'This ad has multiple versions' or '4 ads use this creative and text'. Below that is the ad itself: Page name, primary text, the image or video, the headline and call-to-action button.

What you do not get, for a commercial ad shown only outside the EU and UK: spend, impressions, reach, targeting or results. Meta's help page lists these extras only for political ads and for EU or UK delivery. So the library cannot tell you if an ad is working. The start date is the best proxy: an ad that has run for months is likely profitable enough for the advertiser to keep paying for. Many versions of the same concept is another signal that the advertiser is investing in it.

The library also includes branded content. Meta says it shows public, active Facebook and Instagram posts with a paid partnership label, created on or after August 17, 2023, searchable by Page or Instagram profile with a required platform and date range. That is useful for seeing which creators a brand partners with. For how these differ from ads run on a creator's handle, see partnership ads vs whitelisting.

Meta Ad Library for Instagram ads

There is no separate Instagram ad library. Instagram ads are in the same Meta Ad Library, and you can narrow results to Instagram with the platform filter. A card's platform icons show every placement the ad was eligible for, so an ad marked with both Facebook and Instagram icons ran on both.

To see a brand's Instagram creator partnerships, use the Branded Content tab at the top of the library, choose Instagram, and search by the brand's profile. In our October 2026 searches, cards showed platforms only, not placements, so you cannot tell from the card whether a video ran in Reels, Feed or Stories.

Political ads and EU ads get far more data

Two groups of ads carry extra transparency, and the difference matters if you are researching a market.

1. 01

   Ads about social issues, elections or politics: shown whether active or inactive and kept for 7 years. See ad details gives ranges for impressions and spend (for example $1,000 to $5,000), age and gender breakdowns, location, estimated audience size and the disclaimer saying who paid. Extra filters include delivery by region, disclaimer and estimated audience size.

2. 02

   Ads delivered to the EU and associated territories: archived under the EU Digital Services Act, and kept for one year after their last impression. Meta shows the dates the ad ran, the advertiser's targeting choices (age, gender, location, including exclusions), total reach in the EU, and reach by location broken down by age and gender. For the EU only, it also shows advertiser and payer information.

3. 03

   Ads delivered to the United Kingdom: Meta applies the same display and one-year archive to UK delivery, which it describes as a commitment to expand transparency. The payer details are EU only.

The Meta Ad Library API

The Ad Library API is for programmatic research, and its scope is narrower than the website. Meta's API page says it covers ads about social issues, elections or politics delivered anywhere in the past 7 years, and ads of any type delivered to the UK or EU in the past year. It does not return ordinary commercial ads that only ran elsewhere, such as a US-only skincare ad.

1. 01

   Confirm your identity and location at Facebook.com/ID, using the same process required to run political ads. Meta says this can take a few days.

2. 02

   Create a Meta for Developers account and agree to the Platform Policy.

3. 03

   Return to the Ad Library API page, select Access the API, and create an app.

4. 04

   Query the ads_archive endpoint. The developer reference lists ad_type (ALL, POLITICAL_AND_ISSUE_ADS, HOUSING_ADS, EMPLOYMENT_ADS, FINANCIAL_PRODUCTS_AND_SERVICES_ADS), ad_reached_countries, search_terms of up to 100 characters, and up to 10 search_page_ids, plus filters for active status, delivery dates, language, media type and platform.

Using the library for creative research, ethically

The library is built for transparency, and it is a legitimate place to study how a category advertises. Some limits are worth respecting.

Study, do not copy. Note structures: how long the opening runs before the product appears, whether ads lead with a problem or a demo, how many versions of a concept an advertiser keeps live. Then write your own. Lifting a competitor's script, footage or likeness creates copyright and likeness problems, and copied ads rarely stand out anyway. Our likeness policy sets out our rules on real people's likeness.

Do not scrape it. Meta's Automated Data Collection Terms prohibit automated collection without Meta's express written permission. Download searches through the library's own export (Meta says you must be logged in and accept its terms) or use the official API.

Read longevity, not popularity. Long-running ads and many-version concepts tell you what an advertiser keeps funding. They do not tell you the ad's results.

Turn findings into a brief. Log openings you see in the first 3 seconds, then rewrite them for your product with our UGC hooks library, outline the body with a UGC script template, and hand the plan over in a UGC brief template. When the new ads run, measure the openings with the hook rate calculator. The TikTok Creative Center guide covers the equivalent research on TikTok.

From research to new creative

If your research shows a format working in your category, FireplaceUGC can produce your own original version: 9:16 creator-style takes with AI actors (500+), in modes such as Ad Remake or Box Opening. FireplaceUGC does not publish or track ads, and AI actors must never be presented as real customers; see the AI ad disclosure rules. Category pages such as home goods show the formats that fit each vertical.