Meta gave special content moderation treatment to top advertisers

Meta's 2023 implementation of 'guardrails' for high-spending advertisers raises concerns about fairness and transparency.

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Meta implemented “guardrails” in 2023 that exempted high-spending advertisers from automatic content moderation, instead routing their content to human reviewers. This system was designed to prevent mistaken penalties against major brands that drive significant revenue, according to internal documents obtained and reported on by Financial Times.

Internal documents reveal Meta created a two-tiered content moderation system that protected its biggest advertising revenue streams while raising questions about fairness and transparency in its platform policies.

By the numbers:

  • Spending threshold for special treatment: $1,500+ per day
  • Meta’s 2023 revenue: Nearly $135 billion
  • Justified enforcements for top advertisers: 73%

Why we care. The existence of these special “guardrails” indicates that larger advertisers received preferential treatment through human review rather than automated systems. For advertisers spending above the thresholds ($1,200 over 56 days for businesses), this means their content is less likely to face sudden, automated restrictions that could disrupt their campaigns. However, smaller advertisers who don’t meet these spending thresholds remain subject to automated moderation, potentially creating an uneven playing field in Meta’s advertising ecosystem.

Between the lines. The company’s internal documents rated these spend-based protections as having “low defensibility,” suggesting concerns about how the public might perceive such preferential treatment.

Details. The protections applied to:

  • Businesses spending over $1,200 in a 56-day period.
  • Individual users spending over $960 in the same timeframe.
  • “P95 spenders” ($1,500+ daily).

What they’re saying. Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels called the reporting “simply inaccurate” and based on “cherry-picked” documents, stating the system was meant to prevent enforcement mistakes.

What’s next. This revelation comes as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces an end to third-party fact-checking and reduced automated moderation, coinciding with Donald Trump’s potential return to the platform.

Bottom line. Meta’s treatment of top advertisers highlights the tension between protecting revenue streams and maintaining consistent content moderation standards across its platforms.


About the author

Anu Adegbola
Staff
Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.

In 2008, Anu's career started with
 delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side.
 
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event - PPC Live and host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup.
 
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.

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