Facebook ad spy: research Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram

Know what Meta Ad Library shows

Meta states that people can search all active ads running across Meta products. Ads about social issues, elections, or politics remain visible after they stop and are stored for seven years. Ads delivered in the EU are archived for one year after their last impression. UK ads that ran after July 1, 2025 are also kept for one year.

For other commercial ads outside the EU and UK scope, assume you are seeing what runs now. An ad that is missing today may have stopped, may not run in your selected country, or may sit under a different Page name. Record which explanation you checked.

Official sources: Meta Ad Library · Meta Transparency Center: Ad Library tools

Work from the Page, then the variants

Meta advertisers often run many versions of one idea with small changes in the first line, the image crop, or the button. Looking at them one by one wastes time. Group them first.

1. Search the brand, then open the advertiser’s Page view in the library.
2. Set the country you sell in and filter to active ads.
3. Sort variants into groups that share one offer and one main promise.
4. Inside each group, write down the single element that changes.
5. Note whether the same creative appears with different placements, such as Instagram or Facebook, when the library shows it.
6. Pick one variant group and turn its changing element into a brief with the free research brief tool.

Illustrative example: one offer, three openings

Imagine a skincare brand with nine active ads for one cleanser. Three open with a dermatologist quote, three with a customer complaint about dry skin, and three with a price-per-use calculation. That grouping is a research finding: the brand uses three opening approaches, based on proof, problem, and value. The library does not tell you why it runs them or whether it is testing them.

It is not proof that any opening wins. The number of variants shows effort, not results. A useful brief picks the opening that fits your product evidence and tests it against your current control.

Check how the ad appears in each placement

Do not assume how people read a Facebook or Instagram ad. Inspect the actual preview. Note where the primary text is cut off, which words are visible before the cut, and how the image or video is cropped. When the library shows more than one version, such as a vertical cut, record each version separately and compare what is visible in each.

Finally, open the destination. A creative that promises a quick fix and a page that starts with a long story are a mismatch worth noting, whatever the visual quality.