Ask HN: Banned from both Google AdWords and Facebook Ads - What to do?
I'm still flabbergasted as to how this could possibly happen. As far as I can tell, the only thing I did wrong was to login from different IPs within a short time frame.
About two weeks ago, I signed up for a Facebook business account. Then, I opened an ads account, and set up my first campaign. Within minutes, my account got suspended. I filled out a form trying to explain that I'm traveling and that my current location, the location I sign in from, and my billing address all may differ from each other. I also attached a copy of my passport as requested. All to no avail. A few hours later, they sent me an email to the effect that my account was permanently suspended, this decision being final.
Then it got even worse. Just 24 hours later, my Google AdWords account also gets suspended. It had been previously been put under review, but there was a message that said that this was done periodically, so I thought there was no reason to worry. But apparently I was wrong. At least, they gave me a reason. Apparently, the system thinks that my billing information is incorrect. But my billing info did not change at all. I'm just traveling.
So, I'm totally at loss over this. I already gave up the hope of ever being able to run Facebook ads. But as for Google, I had run several campaigns in the past, and, I still believe that it should somehow be possible for me to get my account reinstated. Though, I don't know how to go about it. I already filed an appeal, but I guess it can take ages for them to make a decision. I just don't understand what I did wrong. If I violated any ToS, then please someone tell me what exactly it is that I did wrong. Thus far, I'm totally in the dark. I can't possible be the only person signing in from different locations?
If anyone can help me or give me some pointers, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks. As for the ad content of my campaign, the target was a dating site. The ads were pretty standard, I based all texts on ads run by other dating sites. Something like: Date Successful Men
Successful men all over the world are looking for [insert country] women. Sign up - it's all free to use! Is there anything wrong with this? Of course it depends rather a lot on how deep your pockets are and what sort of return you were getting on your Fb and Google ads, but these are not the only sources for advertisers. There are plenty of other types of advertising, affiliate companies, remarketing and the like. You could try setting up a second account and running your ads. Also make sure that you understand their terms of use.