Allowing the Promotion of Non-Medical Masks on Facebook

UPDATE on February 16, 2022 at 10AM PT: In response to the increasing availability of COVID-19 test kits, we’re updating our policies to allow legitimate businesses to sell and promote these products. Peer-to-peer sales will continue to be prohibited. Click here to learn about additional advertising restrictions.

We recognize that access to these tests continues to be a challenge in some regions and we are monitoring for the latest guidance from governments and health authorities on any changes in the availability and supply of these products which may necessitate further updates to our policy.

If we see people trying to get around our rules, we may implement additional restrictions if necessary. Click here to see more about our advertising policies related to COVID-19.

UPDATE on January 19, 2022 at 11AM PT: In keeping pace with evolving guidance from governments and health authorities recommending people use higher grade masks, we are lifting our temporary advertising ban on medical masks. Advertisers with accounts in good standing and that have at least four months of advertising history with us will be allowed to promote these products in ads across our platforms.

If we see people trying to get around our rules, we may implement additional restrictions if necessary. Click here to see more about our advertising policies related to COVID-19.

UPDATE on August 19, 2020 at 10AM PT: Today we further scaled back our temporary ban to also allow hand sanitizer and surface disinfectant wipes. We apply the same advertiser restrictions to these two additional products as we do for non-medical masks, meaning that advertisers must be in good standing to advertise non-medical masks, with a minimum advertising history of four months. The same country restrictions will apply.

Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, governments and authorities around the world have evolved their guidance on the need to wear masks. In March 2020, we temporarily banned ads and commerce listings for masks on our apps to help protect against scams, misleading medical claims, medical supply shortages, inflated prices and hoarding. Since then, we’ve continued to monitor trends and activity around COVID-19 to better understand how people are using our platform and advertising tools during the pandemic.

Many health authorities now advise wearing non-medical masks – and in some places masks are required for activities like taking public transportation or visiting a store – and we’ve seen people and businesses of all sizes working to fill this need. So we’re scaling back this temporary ban to allow people to promote and trade non-medical masks, including those that are homemade or handmade, in organic posts, ads and commerce listings on Facebook and Instagram. We will still maintain a temporary ban on selling medical masks, such as surgical or N95 masks, to prevent people from exploiting the pandemic for financial gain.

People will now be able to promote masks that are non-medical grade, provided they are not marketed using medical, health or prevention claims. Common examples of non-medical masks include handmade masks, reusable masks or masks created out of household fabrics (e.g. cotton, cloth, denim, etc.) or refashioned non-conventional materials (e.g. neoprene, wetsuits, board shorts, etc.).

Advertisers must currently be in good standing to advertise non-medical masks, with a minimum advertising history of four months.

And in countries where we have seen high percentages of policy-violating ads promoting medical supplies during the temporary ban, advertisers will only be able to target non-medical mask ads to people in the country where their ad account is based. We are implementing these restrictions out of an abundance of caution and the restrictions are temporary.

More details about eligibility can be found in our Business Help Center.

We’re monitoring the pandemic carefully, and we’ll continue to reassess our policies over time.