Meta Ad Library: how to search it and what it never shows
The Meta Ad Library, also called the Facebook Ad Library, is Meta’s free archive of active ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network and Threads. Anyone can search it by keyword, advertiser or Page without an account. Reach and targeting appear only for ads shown in the EU or UK.
| What you get | Ordinary ad, outside EU/UK | Ordinary ad shown in EU/UK | Political or social-issue ad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creative, Page, run dates | yes, while active | yes | yes |
| Kept after the ad stops | no | 1 year after last impression | 7 years |
| Reach and its split by age, gender, location | no | yes | ranges |
| Targeting (age, gender, location) | no | yes | partly |
| Amount spent | no | no | range |
| Advertiser and payer | no | EU only | “paid for by” disclaimer |
Data on 8 October 2026, from Meta’s Ad Library help and our own session in the library.
How to search the Meta Ad Library
Section titled “How to search the Meta Ad Library”To search the Meta Ad Library, open facebook.com/ads/library, pick a country and the ad category “All ads”, then type a keyword or an advertiser name. A search for “running shoes” with country United States returned about 35,000 results. By default the library shows only active ads, sorted by impressions, so the top of the list is the biggest current campaigns, not the most relevant ones.
Keyword search in the Meta Ad Library is broad. Our search for “running shoes” without quotation marks also surfaced unrelated retail and supplement ads. The search suggestions offer the same phrase in quotation marks as an exact-phrase option; use it when you want only ads with that wording.
Meta ads library search filters
Section titled “Meta ads library search filters”The filter panel narrows the Meta ads library search by language, advertiser, platform, media type, active status and date range. With the date range left empty, results start from 8 October 2019. The platform filter lists Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads.
What the Facebook Ad Library shows for a US ad and for an EU ad
Section titled “What the Facebook Ad Library shows for a US ad and for an EU ad”The same Nike ad gives two very different pictures. Opened from the United States, its details showed the creative, the start date, the platforms and a collapsed “About the advertiser” block. Opened with the country set to France, the Facebook Ad Library added an “EU ad delivery” section with a reach of 7,842,253 accounts and a table of reach by location, age and gender, plus the advertiser and the payer.
Page-level counts differ by country too. Nike’s Page showed about 35 active ads in the United States and about 82 in France on the same day, so always set the country before you count a competitor’s ads.
How long the Meta Ad Library keeps ads
Section titled “How long the Meta Ad Library keeps ads”Meta keeps ads for very different periods. An ordinary commercial ad shown outside the EU and UK is visible only while it is active and is not archived after it stops. An ad shown in the EU, its associated territories or the UK is archived for one year after its last impression. An ad about social issues, elections or politics is kept for seven years.
Ad Library Report and API
Section titled “Ad Library Report and API”The Ad Library Report is an aggregated, downloadable view of spending on ads about social issues, elections or politics, by country. On 8 October 2026 the US report counted 17,462,818 such ads and $5,558,296,632 in spend since 2019. The Ad Library API covers political and issue ads anywhere for the past seven years and ads of any type shown in the EU or UK in the past year; outside the EU it returns only political and issue ads. Using it requires a Facebook account, identity and location confirmation, and a Meta for Developers app.
Where the Meta Ad Library stops
Section titled “Where the Meta Ad Library stops”Three limits matter for competitor research. Ordinary ads outside the EU and UK vanish when they stop, so a campaign that ran last month and ended is gone. There is no spend for any commercial ad. And gambling and alcohol ad creatives are hidden from people who are not logged in to Facebook or are underage.
The first gap is what paid archives are built for. Spytrend, which the team behind this site publishes, keeps an archive going back to 2018 with 1.4bn+ ads, according to its own site, and covers Facebook and TikTok, so ads that left the Meta Ad Library can still be found there. Free plans of paid tools are thinner than they look: in our session on 8 October 2026, BigSpy’s free plan returned ads but masked advertiser names. See the official libraries for other platforms in our Google Ads Transparency Center and LinkedIn Ad Library guides.
What is the Meta Ad Library?
Section titled “What is the Meta Ad Library?”The Meta Ad Library is Meta’s free public archive of ads running on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network and Threads. Anyone can search it without an account by keyword, advertiser or Page; it shows every active ad, keeps political ads for seven years and keeps ads shown in the EU or UK for one year.
Is the Facebook Ad Library the same as the Meta Ad Library?
Section titled “Is the Facebook Ad Library the same as the Meta Ad Library?”Yes. Facebook Ad Library and Meta Ad Library are two names for the same tool at facebook.com/ads/library. Meta renamed it as the library grew to cover Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network and Threads, but the address, the data and the rules are the same.
Does the Meta Ad Library show ad spend?
Section titled “Does the Meta Ad Library show ad spend?”Only for some ads. The Meta Ad Library shows amount spent, as a range, for ads about social issues, elections or politics. For ordinary commercial ads it shows no spend anywhere; for commercial ads shown in the EU or UK it shows reach and targeting instead, and outside the EU and UK it shows neither.
How long do ads stay in the Facebook Ad Library?
Section titled “How long do ads stay in the Facebook Ad Library?”It depends on the ad. An ordinary ad shown outside the EU and UK stays only while it is active and disappears when it stops. Ads shown in the EU or UK stay for one year after their last impression, and ads about social issues, elections or politics stay for seven years.
Can I see Facebook ads that are no longer running?
Section titled “Can I see Facebook ads that are no longer running?”Only in two cases: if the ad was shown in the EU or UK, it stays for a year after its last impression, and if it was about social issues, elections or politics, it stays for seven years. An ordinary commercial ad shown only outside the EU and UK is not archived by Meta at all.