Does Meta Require Written Permission for Online Dating Ads on Facebook and Instagram?

Yes. Meta's Advertising Standards state that ads for online dating services are only allowed with Meta's prior written permission, and every approved dating ad — with no exception — must be restricted to audiences 18 years or older.

What's Banned Even With Permission

Written permission covers standard online dating services, but it doesn't open the door to every dating-adjacent ad format. Meta's policy specifically bars ads that promote dating based on monetary or other financial transactions, including arrangements like mail-order brides, offers to facilitate affairs, or connections framed around fictitious people. Getting approved for conventional dating service ads doesn't extend to these categories.

What Doesn't Need Written Permission

Not every relationship-themed app falls under this policy. Apps and services that promote relationship-themed entertainment or general social meet-up functionality, without an actual matchmaking component, can advertise without going through the dating-ads permission process. The distinguishing factor is whether the product includes matchmaking — a social event app isn't treated the same as a swipe-to-match dating app, even if both are loosely "relationship" products.

The 18+ Rule Has No Carve-Out

Unlike some Meta ad categories that allow narrower age exceptions in specific contexts, the dating ads policy applies its 18+ floor uniformly: every ad for an online dating service must target adults only, regardless of what the underlying app's own minimum age might be.

Enforcement Has Documented Gaps

A Tech Transparency Project test found that Facebook approved a dating-related ad targeted at users aged 13 to 17, despite the policy requiring both written permission and 18+ targeting — and the group reported it had sought neither when submitting the test ad. That's evidence of at least one enforcement gap, not a comprehensive audit of how often the policy is bypassed, so treat it as a documented instance rather than a general failure rate.

Age Verification on Meta's Dating Product Is a Separate, Evolving Layer

Beyond the ads policy itself, Meta has previously tested age verification tools — including video selfies and ID uploads — on Facebook Dating as a product-level safeguard. That reporting dates to 2022, so advertisers shouldn't assume the exact mechanism described then is still the current implementation without checking Meta's current product policies directly.

Permission Applies Per Ad Account, Not Per Brand

As with Meta's other written-permission categories, approval for dating ads is understood to attach to the specific ad account and the territories named in that approval, not to the brand or app in the abstract. A dating product running campaigns from multiple ad accounts, or expanding into a new country, needs the permission question revisited for each new account and territory rather than assuming one approval travels automatically with the brand.

Bottom Line

Before running any campaign for a dating or matchmaking product on Facebook or Instagram, apply for written permission through Meta Business Suite and build 18+ targeting into the campaign from the start — and don't assume a "social" or "meet-up" framing exempts your app from the dating-ads policy if it actually includes a matchmaking feature.

Sources: Meta Advertising Standards, "Dating Ads" (transparency.meta.com/policies/ad-standards/restricted-goods-services/dating-ads); Tech Transparency Project, "Broken Promises"; Axios, "Exclusive: Meta testing age verification on Facebook Dating" (December 2022).