Fix Meta business verification errors

What this error looks like

Meta verification required. Please verify your account before continuing.
Authentication error — your account needs to be verified before this campaign can run.
Verification pending. Complete the required steps in Meta to publish this campaign.

Before you begin

Make sure you are logged into the correct Facebook account — the one associated with the ad account where the error is appearing. If you manage multiple ad accounts, double-check before starting.

Fix the verification error

You'll complete this in Meta Ads Manager, not in this platform. The goal is to reach the Ad level of a new campaign, where Meta will prompt you to verify your email. You will not actually publish a campaign.

Option A — Trigger verification without publishing (preferred)

Go to adsmanager.facebook.com. Make sure you are on the correct ad account.
Click the green Create button to start a new campaign.
Choose Traffic as the campaign objective and click Continue.
Select Manual Traffic Campaign.
Navigate to the Ad level (the third level, after Campaign and Ad Set).
Once you're on the Ad level, a notification should appear on the right-hand side prompting you to start authentication.
Click the notification and complete the email verification process.

Once verified, the error is resolved. You can close or discard this test campaign — it was never published.

Option B — If the verification notification doesn't appear

In some cases Meta won't show the verification prompt until a campaign is actually published. If the notification didn't appear in Option A, follow these steps instead:

Still in the campaign creation flow, complete the required fields at the Ad level. Fill in a website URL, upload any image, and add placeholder headlines and descriptions. These do not need to be accurate — use a random image and test copy.
Click Publish to submit the campaign.
Meta may now prompt you to complete additional requirements — such as phone number verification. Complete any steps it asks for.
If the campaign publishes successfully, Meta should display an authentication error with a Fix it button. Click it and follow the on-screen steps to complete verification.
Once verified, go back to Ads Manager and pause or delete the test campaign.

The test campaign will spend money if you leave it running. Pause or delete it immediately after verifying.

Verification is account-level, not campaign-level. Once you complete it once, all future campaigns on that ad account will be unblocked — you won't need to do this again.

After verifying

Return to the campaign you were trying to publish and try again. If the campaign still shows an error after verification is complete, disconnect and reconnect your Meta account in settings — this refreshes the account status and clears any cached errors.

A different issue: Meta Business Verification

The steps above fix a authentication error — an email or phone verification tied to a specific Meta account. This is different from Meta Business Verification, which is a formal identity check required for accounts that want to run higher-spend campaigns or advertise in regulated categories (housing, employment, credit, political content).

If your account is flagged for Business Verification, you'll see a message like:

Your account is restricted. You need to complete business verification to continue running ads.

Business Verification is completed in Meta Business Manager under Security Center and requires submitting legal business documents. See the Meta Help Center for details: facebook.com/business/help.

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