The 'In Review' Purgatory: Why Your Ads Are Stuck and How to Fix It

The Core Concept
Instagram's ad review process is primarily an automated system powered by AI that scans creative assets, copy, and landing pages against Meta's Advertising Standards. While the official timeline is 24 hours, algorithmic sensitivities in 2025 mean that specific triggers—like aggressive claims or poor landing page experiences—can push ads into a manual review queue, delaying approval by days.

The Strategy
To minimize review times, marketers must adopt a 'compliance-first' creative strategy. This involves avoiding prohibited keywords, ensuring landing page continuity, and building account trust history. The goal is to bypass the manual review queue entirely by satisfying the automated system's safety checks immediately upon submission.

Key Metrics
Marketers should track Approval Time (target: <4 hours), Rejection Rate (target: <5%), and Appeal Success Rate. A high rejection rate not only pauses active campaigns but negatively impacts the ad account's internal quality score, leading to higher CPMs and slower future reviews.

Most Instagram ads are reviewed within 24 hours, but in practice, established accounts often see approvals in under 60 minutes. However, 'In Review' times are not uniform; they fluctuate based on your industry, ad history, and the complexity of the creative.

Around 80% of ads are reviewed within 24 hours, but complex cases involving regulated industries or new ad accounts can take longer [1]. I've observed that during peak retail seasons like Q4, these timelines can stretch significantly due to system load.

Typical Timelines by Scenario

In Review status means the automated system is scanning your text, images, video frames, and targeting settings. It is also scraping your landing page to ensure the post-click experience matches the ad promise. Unlike 'Pending', which suggests a system delay, 'In Review' is the active processing state.

Automated Review System is Meta's primary AI-driven defense layer that uses computer vision and natural language processing to instantly scan millions of ads for policy violations. Unlike manual review, this system looks for specific patterns—like excessive text on images, prohibited keywords, or before-and-after visual comparisons.

Understanding the difference between automated and manual review is critical for troubleshooting delays.

Automated Review (The Default)

• Speed: Instant to a few hours.
• Method: AI scans for keywords, image recognition (nudity, brand logos), and landing page functionality.
• Trigger: Every single ad submission goes through this first.

Manual Review (The Exception)

• Speed: 24 to 48+ hours.
• Method: A human moderator reviews the ad because the AI flagged a potential but ambiguous violation.
• Trigger: High volume of negative feedback, repeated rejections, or sensitive topics (social issues, elections, health claims).

In my experience working with D2C brands, 90% of 'stuck' ads are stuck because they triggered a manual review flag. The AI wasn't sure if your 'skin clearing' cream violated the 'Personal Health' policy, so it queued it for a human. That queue is where speed dies.

If your ad has been 'In Review' for more than 24 hours, it is likely waiting for a human decision or has encountered a technical glitch. While Meta officially asks for 24 hours, seasoned media buyers know that silence after 48 hours usually requires intervention.

The 48-Hour Troubleshooting Protocol

1. Check Account Quality: Navigate to Meta Business Suite > All Tools > Account Quality. This dashboard will reveal if your ad account itself is under review or has restricted capabilities. Sometimes the ad isn't the problem; the account is.
2. Duplicate and Re-Publish: This is a common 'soft fix.' Sometimes ads get lost in the server queue. Duplicating the ad set (without changing anything) can force a fresh review. I've seen this resolve 'stuck' status in about 30% of cases.
3. Simplify the Creative: If you are using complex dynamic creative or heavy copy, try submitting a simplified version. If the simple version passes immediately, you know your original creative contained a trigger element.

Critical Insight: Do not edit an ad that is currently in review. This resets the timer to zero and moves you to the back of the queue. Wait for a decision, or duplicate it to test a parallel version.

Rejections rarely happen by accident. They are almost always triggered by specific violations of the Advertising Policies or Community Standards. For e-commerce brands, three specific areas cause the majority of headaches.

1. Personal Attributes (The 'You' Problem)

Meta's policy prohibits ads that assert or imply personal attributes about the viewer. This includes race, religion, age, sexual orientation, or medical condition.

• Micro-Example: "Do you suffer from acne?" (Rejected) vs. "Treat acne effectively." (Approved).
• Why: The first implies you know the user's medical status. The second focuses on the product.

2. Misleading Claims & 'Before/Afters'

This is the silent killer for health and beauty brands. The automated system aggressively flags 'unrealistic results.'

• Micro-Example: Side-by-side photos showing weight loss or extreme skin transformation.
• The Fix: Use user-generated content (UGC) testimonials or focus on the process of using the product rather than the extreme result.

3. Landing Page Experience

Your ad might be perfect, but if your landing page fails, the ad gets rejected. The review bot crawls your URL immediately.

• Micro-Example: A landing page with a broken link, a slow load time, or a popup that covers the main content immediately.
• Requirement: The landing page content must match the ad creative. If you advertise a specific shoe, don't link to the homepage.

To consistently hit that <1 hour approval window, you need to sanitize your creatives before they ever touch Ads Manager. I recommend implementing a rigorous pre-flight checklist for your creative team.

The 5-Point Compliance Check

1. Text-to-Image Ratio: While the '20% text rule' is technically gone, images with excessive text still get throttled and flagged for manual review. Keep text overlays minimal.
2. Restricted Keyword Scan: Check your copy for trigger words like 'cure', 'guarantee', 'money-back', or 'crypto'. These words heighten the AI's sensitivity.
3. Button Functionality: Ensure every button on your landing page works. A 404 error on a Terms of Service link can trigger a rejection.
4. Video Quality: Ensure your video specs match the placement (e.g., 1080x1920 for Reels). Low-quality or glitchy video encodings can trigger technical rejections.
5. Thumbnail Safety: Don't ignore the video thumbnail. If your video is clean but the auto-selected thumbnail shows a 'zoom-in' on a body part, the ad will be rejected.

By systematizing these checks, you reduce the likelihood of manual review. Brands that maintain a high approval history are trusted by the algorithm, leading to faster approvals on future campaigns.

Rejection is not the end of the road. In fact, false positives are common with AI moderation. If you are confident your ad complies with policy, you should appeal—but you must do it correctly.

How to Appeal Effectively

1. Request Review in Account Quality: Go to Account Quality, select the rejected ad, and click 'Request Review.'
2. Select the Right Reason: You will usually be given options. If it's clearly a mistake, choose "I believe this ad complies with policies."
3. Wait for Manual Review: This appeal forces a human to look at the ad. This usually takes 24-48 hours.

When NOT to Appeal:
If you know you are in a gray area (e.g., slightly aggressive copy), do not appeal. Repeated failed appeals damage your account's internal trust score. Instead, edit the ad to be compliant and re-publish. It is better to have a compliant ad running than to fight a losing battle with policy support.