When you are no longer running ads on a Facebook ad account, it is recommended to delete the Facebook ad account. Although you won’t be able to absolutely delete it, you can deactivate a Facebook ad account, or using Facebook’s terminology you can close a Facebook ad account.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to delete a Facebook ad account a.k.a. how you can close Facebook Ad accounts.
At the end of this tutorial, we are also going to answer some of the frequently asked questions related to deleting and closing Facebook ad accounts.
Can you delete a Facebook Ad Account?
Facebook doesn’t allow you to permanently delete a Facebook ad account, you can only close the FB ad account or deactivate it.
Although as most people refer to this as ‘deleting a Facebook Ad account’, we will use these terms as synonyms, so we mean the same thing under deleting, closing and deactivating Facebook ad accounts.
How to delete a Facebook Ad Account?
Here is how to delete a Facebook Ad Account:
- Open the Facebook Business Manager account where the Ad Account is located
- Navigate to the Business Settings section
- On the left side of the screen, under ‘Accounts’ click ‘Ad accounts’
- You will see the list of the FB Ad Accounts. Select the one, you would like to deactivate.
- In the upper right corner, you can see a ‘Deactivate’ button, click on it
- Facebook will ask you to confirm that you want to deactivate the Ad Account. Click on ‘Deactivate Facebook Ad Account’
Now, your Facebook ad Account has been deactivated, although the process might take up to two business days. Once the Facebook Ad account has been closed, you can see the following text next to the Ad Account name:
Here you can find a video that also shows you the process of deleting a Facebook ad account step by step:
What happens when you delete or close a Facebook Ad Account?
When you delete a Facebook ad account, you will still be able to see the Facebook Ad account, and reactivate the FB ad account when you would need it in the future.
When you delete the Facebook ad account, any outstanding balance of your FB ad account will be charged to your credit or debit card. Once the FB Ad Account has been closed, all of your Facebook ad campaigns will stop and you won’t be able to start a new advertising campaign with this Facebook ad account.
The payment method and card details will also be deleted, so there is no risk that someone uses that credit card for malicious reasons.
How to reactivate a closed Facebook Ad Account?
Once your Facebook Ad Account has been deactivated, you can reactivate a Facebook Ad Account if you want to use it again. We are planning to have a tutorial on how you can reactive a closed Facebook Ad Account. If you want to have that tutorial as soon as possible let us know in the comment section.
Can’t delete a Facebook ad account
So once again it is important to emphasize that you can’t permanently delete a Facebook Ad account, you can only deactivate or close the Facebook ad account. If you have trouble closing the Facebook ad accounts, here are some tips or things you should consider:
- you obviously have to be the admin of the Facebook page to be able to deactivate or close the Facebook ad account
- You also have to own the Ad account with the Business Manager if you want to close that FB Ad Account. It is not enough if you have access to it, you have to own it. You can read here how you can use the Business Manager to add Facebook Ad Accounts to it.
- If you can’t pay the outstanding balance with the credit card that is added to your Facebook ad account, then Facebook won’t be able to close the Facebook Ad Account.
Frequently Asked Questions – Delete a Facebook Ad Account
If you delete a Facebook Ad Account can you start a new one?
Yes, it doesn’t really have anything to do with creating other Facebook ad accounts. Although deleting a Facebook ad account (which is actually just deactivation, not permanent deletion), won’t increase the so-called Facebook ad account creation limit, you will still be able to create the same number of Ad Accounts including the closed Facebook Ad account.
I can’t delete a Facebook ad account from Facebook Business Manager, why?
There are three main reasons why you might not be able to delete the Facebook ad account. 1. You are not the admin of the Facebook Ad Account. 2. You don’t own the Facebook Ad Account with the Facebook Business Manager, you only have access to it. 3. You don’t have sufficient funds to pay the outstanding balance of the Facebook Ad Account with the credit card you have added to the Facebook Ad Account.
Can you permanently delete a Facebook Ad Account?
No, you are only able to deactivate the Facebook Ad Account, and if Facebook doesn’t disable the Ad Account for policy violations then you will be able to reactivate it any time you want to do so.
