Meta Special Ad Category Checker.
Answer a few yes or no questions about your Facebook or Instagram ad and see whether Meta requires a special ad category, which one, and what targeting you can still use in the US.
01Does the ad promote homes, apartments or other housing for sale or rent?
02Does the ad promote real estate agent services, home appraisals, home equity or a housing listing site?
03Does the ad offer a mortgage, or homeowners, renters or mortgage insurance?
04Does the ad promote a job opening, internship, apprenticeship or job fair?
05Does the ad promote a job board, career placement service or professional certification program?
06Does the ad promote a credit card, loan, financing or debt relief offer, including your brand of credit card?
07Does the ad mention 0% APR, buy now pay later or in house payment plans?
08Does the ad promote banking, investment, retirement, insurance or payment services to consumers?
09Does the ad mention a candidate, political party, election, ballot measure or voting?
10Does the ad argue for or against a position on an issue like guns, immigration, health policy, crime, the economy, education or the environment?
Result
Answer the questions to see whether your ad needs a special ad category.
Based on Meta’s published rules, checked October 29, 2026. Meta decides in review; if in doubt, declare the category.
The categories in detail.
Housing
Requires the category
- Homes or apartments for sale or rent
- Temporary housing listings
- Homeowners, renters or mortgage insurance offers, including bundles
- Mortgage loans and other home financing
- Home equity or appraisal services
- Real estate agent and house hunting services
- Housing listing aggregator services
Usually does not
- Hotels
- Resorts
- Retreats
- Tips about homeownership or home buying
- Education about fair housing rights and responsibilities
US limits
- Age options are generally fixed to include ages 18 through 65+.
- Specific gender cannot be chosen; the audience must include all genders.
- ZIP codes are not supported as a location option, nor are subcity neighborhood, metro area, small geo area or electoral district.
- Location selection must include at least a 15 mile (25 kilometer) radius around any selected city, address or dropped pin.
- Location exclusion is not supported.
- Behavior and demographic targeting, interest exclusion and detailed targeting exclusion are not permitted; interests must come from an approved list.
- Lookalike audiences are unavailable, including excluding Lookalike audiences.
- Saved audiences are unavailable.
- Bid multipliers cannot be used.
Employment
Requires the category
- Full time or part time job openings
- Internships
- Apprenticeships
- Professional certification programs
- Job fairs
- Job boards or job aggregation services
- Guaranteed interviews or career placement
- Company perks shown alongside job openings
Usually does not
- General advice on succeeding at work unrelated to specific listings
- General career development advice unrelated to specific listings
- Ads about a company that share no job openings or perks
US limits
- Age options are generally fixed to include ages 18 through 65+.
- Specific gender cannot be chosen; the audience must include all genders.
- ZIP codes are not supported as a location option, nor are subcity neighborhood, metro area, small geo area or electoral district.
- Location selection must include at least a 15 mile (25 kilometer) radius around any selected city, address or dropped pin.
- Location exclusion is not supported.
- Behavior and demographic targeting, interest exclusion and detailed targeting exclusion are not permitted; interests must come from an approved list.
- Lookalike audiences are unavailable, including excluding Lookalike audiences.
- Saved audiences are unavailable.
- Bid multipliers cannot be used.
Financial products and services
Requires the category
- Credit cards, including brand ads for credit cards
- Auto, mortgage, personal or business loans
- Long term financing
- Debt recovery, debt consolidation and debt relief
- Checking and savings accounts and other banking services
- Prepaid cards
- Investment services
- Pension or retirement funds
- Insurance products
- Consumer payment services
- 0% APR installments, including buy now pay later and in house payment plans
- Brand ads for financial products and services
Usually does not
- Gift cards
- Store rewards
- Business to business only financial products and services
- Tax and accounting services
US limits
- Age options are generally fixed to include ages 18 through 65+.
- Specific gender cannot be chosen; the audience must include all genders.
- ZIP codes are not supported as a location option, nor are subcity neighborhood, metro area, small geo area or electoral district.
- Location selection must include at least a 15 mile (25 kilometer) radius around any selected city, address or dropped pin.
- Location exclusion is not supported.
- Behavior and demographic targeting, interest exclusion and detailed targeting exclusion are not permitted; interests must come from an approved list.
- Lookalike audiences are unavailable, including excluding Lookalike audiences.
- Saved audiences are unavailable.
- Bid multipliers cannot be used.
Social issues, elections or politics
Requires the category
- Ads made by, on behalf of, or about a candidate, political figure, political party or PAC
- Ads that advocate for an election outcome
- Ads about an election, referendum or ballot initiative, including get out the vote campaigns
- Ads that take a stand on a US social issue: civil and social rights, crime, economy, education, environmental politics, guns, health, immigration, political values and governance, or security and foreign policy
- Ads regulated as political advertising
Usually does not
- Product or service ads that do not discuss, debate or advocate on a social issue, election or candidate
US limits
- Audience options are not restricted by this category label.
- The advertiser must complete Meta authorization by confirming identity and location in the country where ads run.
- Every ad needs a verified Paid for by disclaimer.
- Ads are kept in the public Ad Library for seven years.
- Ads about Washington State or local elected officials, candidates, elections or ballot initiatives, or Seattle legislation, must not run in or target Washington.
- Ads must not discourage voting, question the legitimacy of an election or claim victory prematurely.
The method.
Meta requires advertisers to declare a special ad category for ads about housing, employment, financial products and services, and social issues, elections or politics. Declaring a category restricts targeting so ads cannot exclude people by protected characteristics, and running a qualifying ad without it can get the ad rejected or the account restricted.
Each question maps to the examples Meta publishes for that category. The result lists the US targeting limits from Meta’s documentation and links Meta’s own page so you can confirm before launch.
Building campaigns inside the limits from the start is easier than fixing them after a rejection: broad audiences, location radius instead of ZIP codes, and creative that qualifies the right people on its own.
About this tool.
- What are Meta's special ad categories?
- Housing; employment; financial products and services; and social issues, elections or politics. Advertisers must declare the category when an ad is about one of these topics, which limits targeting options.
- What happened to the credit special ad category?
- Meta replaced the credit category with the broader financial products and services category, which also covers insurance, investment services and banking offers in the US.
- Can I target by ZIP code with a special ad category?
- No. In the US, special ad category campaigns cannot use ZIP codes and must use at least a 15 mile radius around a selected location, according to Meta's documentation.
- Can I use lookalike audiences?
- Not with housing, employment or financial products and services ads in the US. Meta's documentation says lookalike and saved audiences are unavailable for those categories.
- Is my answer stored?
- No. The checker runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.
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