ReferenceGoogle Ads disapproval
Legal requirements
Google disapproves ads and campaigns that break local law where they serve. Campaigns that target embargoed countries are marked Not allowed. An ad removed through a legal request is appealed with the legal appeal form sent by email or in the product. Check every targeted country first, and resolve any legal notice with the claimant directly.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- The campaign or ad status in the account, as Not allowed for embargoed targeting, or a notice by email or in the product for a legal removal.
- What stops
- Ads in the affected campaign stop serving. A serious local-law violation can suspend the whole account.
- How serious
- Varies. Embargo targeting is marked at once. Account suspension is reserved for limited, serious cases, and it stops all ads in the account and may affect related accounts.
What it means
Google requires advertisers to follow the local laws of every area their ads target, as well as Google's policies. The page is not a complete guide to local law, so the advertiser has to check the rules where the ads serve.
The page covers three areas: trade sanctions, the audiovisual media rules that apply to EU and UK targeting, and reports of illegal content. It gives no step-by-step fix for an embargo flag. The steps below follow from the rules.
What actually triggers it
Targeting an embargoed country
Campaigns that geographically target embargoed countries or territories are marked Not allowed. The page lists current embargoes on Crimea, Cuba, the DNR and LNR, Iran and North Korea.
A campaign run for a restricted entity
Campaigns run for restricted entities are marked Not allowed as well.
Cigarette or unsafe-behavior advertising aimed at EU or UK audiences
The audiovisual media rule the page quotes prohibits all audiovisual commercial communications for cigarettes. It also restricts alcohol ads aimed at minors and bars ads that encourage unsafe behavior.
A legal removal request
An ad can be disapproved through a legal removal process. Those ads are appealed with the legal appeal form, which comes by email or as an in-product notification.
Fix it in this order
- Open Campaigns and list every country and territory the campaign targets. Check each one against the embargo list on the policy page.
- Remove the embargoed countries and territories from the campaign, and remove any campaign run for a restricted entity.
- For an ad disapproved through a legal removal, use the legal appeal form from the email or the in-product notice.
- For a legal notice about content, resolve it directly with the claimant. The page encourages advertisers to do this.
Check the targeted locations again whenever a campaign's targeting changes. A location added later can bring an embargoed territory back into the campaign.
When to appeal
For a legal removal, use the legal appeal form sent by email or in the product. The page does not describe an appeal for an embargo marking.
Often confused with
A policy disapproval
An ordinary policy flag is fixed in the account, by selecting Edit and then Save. A legal removal is a claim about the content, delivered as a notice, and it is appealed with the legal form.