Ad review process

Every creative must be approved before it can be selected or billed. Approval applies to one content revision, not permanently to an advertiser or campaign.

Submission and states

Creating or duplicating a creative starts it in pending. The review worker changes it to in_review, then either approved or needs_human_review. A reviewer can approve, reject or revoke approval; rejected creatives cannot serve. Reasons appear in campaign details.

Campaign activation and creative enable/disable controls are separate from approval. Enabling an unapproved creative does not make it eligible.

Automated analysis

A durable queue processes the creative and inspects its HTTPS destination. The inspection reads bounded HTML text without executing JavaScript or downloading attachments. AI checks prohibited content, category, claims and consistency between the ad and destination. Destination text is untrusted input, never review instructions.

Only clear, general-category creatives with a successfully inspected destination can be automatically approved. The advertiser’s first campaign, restricted categories, uncertainty, suspected violations and failed analysis require human review. Inaccessible or JavaScript-only destinations require human inspection. No review-time guarantee is offered.

Human review

Authorized reviewers inspect the content, destination and any public evidence. Every approval, rejection or revocation requires a reason and is recorded in an immutable history. A decision about an outdated content revision cannot approve the current creative.

Health and finance require verified evidence, a consumer disclaimer, a defined approval scope and an expiry no later than the evidence validity. Approval cannot waive unavailable age or location controls. See restricted content.

Changes and revocation

Changes to the headline, body, CTA, destination, tags, disclosure, snippet, category, disclaimer or evidence invalidate approval immediately and start a new revision. Budget, bid, weight and pause/resume changes do not invalidate content approval.

Serving filters approved revisions and checks approval again in the impression settlement transaction. The current SDK also validates a cached ad online before reusing it. Failed cache validation never permits reusing the old ad. Update older SDK versions to obtain this guarantee; content already delivered or displayed cannot be recalled.

Historical impressions retain click and conversion tracking after a creative is revoked. Acknowledging an existing impression does not create a second impression.

Current boundaries

This release does not implement automatic tax-ID verification, continuous monitoring of externally changed destination pages, private evidence uploads, formal appeals, automated strikes or financial penalties. Status and reasons are available in the portal; automated review emails and webhooks are not part of this release.