Facebook bans bail bond ads & requires pre-certification for addiction treatment ads

Facebook will no longer allow promotions for bail bond services and is only allowing ads for addiction treatment centers from advertisers that have first been approved by LegitScript, a third-party certification platform. These latest updates to its advertising policies apply to Facebook’s platform, as well as Messenger, Instagram and Facebook’s Audience Network.

“Addiction treatment centers that advertise to people in the US on Facebook will now be required to have certification from LegitScript, which will review their background, qualifications, compliance with state legal and regulatory licensing requirements and privacy practices,” Facebook writes on its Business blog.

Once addiction treatment centers have been certified by LegitScript, they will still need to complete Facebook’s Addiction Treatment Centers Onboarding Request to run ads on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram or Facebook’s Audience Network.

When determining whether or not to allow ads from bail bond services and addiction treatment centers, Facebook says it relied on feedback from industry and policy experts and advocates in the respective fields.

About its decision to ban bail bond ads, Facebook says, “We consulted a wide range of policy experts, advocates and community organizations working in criminal justice to ensure we’re taking the right approach,”

Facebook is not alone in instituting ad policies for addiction treatment centers and banning bail bonds ads. Last September, Google gradually began limiting search ads on addiction treatment queries.

“We found a number of misleading experiences among rehabilitation treatment centers that led to our decision, in consultation with experts, to restrict ads in this category,” a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land. In May, the company announced a ban on ads for bail bonds services.

In January, Facebook announced it was banning all cryptocurrency ads but then reversed that decision in June — with the condition that cryptocurrency advertisers would have to submit an application to Facebook before they could run an ad campaign.

The company also recently restricted weapon accessory ad targeting to users 18 or older, a new policy that took effect June 21.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media's General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.