--- name: set-up-political-ads-authorization description: >- Sequences everything a Social Issues, Elections & Politics (SIEP) campaign needs before it is eligible to deliver: advertiser authorization (identity confirmation plus location confirmation, a HUMAN STEP that can take days, not minutes), a "Paid for by" disclaimer naming the real accountable entity, and declaring the political special ad category on mads_create_campaign. Covers per-country authorization requirements, the additional transparency rules the EU layers on top of Meta's baseline, the fact that live SIEP ads are published in the public Ad Library, and the consequence of skipping any of this, removal plus an account-level restriction, not a warning. Reach for it before building any campaign about a candidate, election, referendum, legislation, or a recognized social issue. It ends at an authorized, disclaimered, category-declared setup ready to go live, general Special Ad Category mechanics and restricted-targeting rules live in declare-special-ad-categories. --- # Set Up Social Issues, Elections & Politics (SIEP) Ad Authorization ## Purpose Running a SIEP ad without completed authorization is not a gray-area risk, it is a guaranteed removal plus an account restriction, because Meta's delivery system checks for the authorization credential before serving, not after a complaint. This skill sequences the authorization (slow, entirely outside VigilDog), the disclaimer, and the political special-ad-category declaration so a SIEP campaign is actually eligible to run before any build work starts. ## When to run - Before building any campaign whose subject is a candidate, election, referendum, legislation, or a recognized social issue (immigration, civil rights, the economy, health-care policy, and similarly listed topics, Meta maintains the current issue list). - An advertiser wants to run SIEP ads and authorization status is unknown or unconfirmed. - An existing SIEP-adjacent campaign is missing its disclaimer or was declared under the wrong category. - Expansion into a new country that carries its own SIEP authorization or transparency rules. ## When NOT to run - The campaign is commercial and only tangentially touches a sensitive topic without being about the issue itself, reassess against Meta's SIEP definition before assuming this skill applies. HUMAN STEP judgment call; when genuinely unsure, treat it as SIEP, since under-declaring is the costlier mistake. - Authorization is already complete, the disclaimer is set, and the only remaining work is general targeting compliance → `declare-special-ad-categories`. - The ad already went live and was removed for missing authorization → diagnosing the removal reason and deciding next steps is `appeal-rejections-and-restrictions`, but authorization must still be completed here before anything can go back live. ## Prerequisites - An advertiser willing to complete identity confirmation (government ID) and location confirmation through Meta's authorization process, HUMAN STEP entirely outside VigilDog, and it can take days; do not schedule a launch date that assumes same-day approval. - A decision on who is named in the "Paid for by" disclaimer, the real, legally accountable entity, not a placeholder or an agency name unless the agency genuinely paid. - Knowledge of every target country's specific SIEP rules, requirements are not globally uniform, and the EU layers additional political-ad transparency requirements on top of Meta's baseline. ## Procedure 1. **Confirm the campaign is actually SIEP.** Check the subject against Meta's social-issues list plus any election, candidate, or legislation content. IF uncertain, THEN treat it as SIEP, under-declaring risks removal and restriction, over-declaring only costs some targeting flexibility. 2. **Start authorization early, it is the long pole.** HUMAN STEP (outside VigilDog): the advertiser completes identity confirmation and location confirmation through Meta's process. This can take multiple days and must finish before any SIEP ad can be created, let alone go live, sequence it first, not in parallel with creative production, if the timeline is tight. 3. **Confirm the "Paid for by" disclaimer entity.** HUMAN STEP: get the exact, legally accurate name from the advertiser. The disclaimer displays on the ad itself and is not optional cosmetic text, an inaccurate or missing disclaimer is its own violation, independent of authorization status. 4. **Declare the political special ad category on `mads_create_campaign`.** Set `special_ad_categories` to include the political/SIEP category, the same declaration mechanism as `declare-special-ad-categories`, applied here specifically; do not skip it just because authorization (step 2) is the bigger lift. 5. **Check per-country requirements before targeting multiple markets.** Some countries require in-country authorization even when the advertiser is already authorized elsewhere; the EU requires additional political-advertising transparency disclosures beyond the baseline "Paid for by" line. HUMAN STEP to confirm current per-country rules before finalizing the target-location list. 6. **Apply SAC-restricted targeting.** Once the political category is declared, the same restricted-targeting rules apply as any other Special Ad Category, locked 18-65 age, no gender targeting, no ZIP targeting, reduced detailed targeting, ~15-mile minimum radius. Validate with `mads_policy_guardrail` before `mads_create_adset`. 7. **Build and preview, then create PAUSED.** Preview creative and disclaimer placement via `mads_preview_creative`, get explicit user approval, then create the campaign, ad set, and ad with `status=PAUSED`. An ad created before authorization finishes will not be eligible to deliver regardless of pause state. 8. **Verify authorization is actually complete before unpausing.** HUMAN STEP: confirm in Business Manager that both identity and location confirmation show approved, not just submitted. A submitted-but-pending authorization will not pass delivery eligibility. 9. **Expect and plan for Ad Library visibility.** Once live, the ad, its spend, and its targeting demographics publish automatically to Meta's public Ad Library, this is not configurable; make sure the advertiser knows before launch, not after someone else finds it. ## Decision rules - IF the campaign subject is a candidate, election, legislation, or a listed social issue THEN authorization, disclaimer, and category declaration are all mandatory, there is no partial-compliance option. - IF authorization is not yet complete THEN no SIEP ad may go live, even briefly, build the creative and targeting in the meantime, but treat the launch date as gated on authorization, not on build completion. - IF the disclaimer entity is unclear or unconfirmed THEN do not create the ad, this is a HUMAN STEP blocker, not a placeholder-and-fix-later item. - IF targeting multiple countries THEN check each one's SIEP rules individually, EU transparency requirements in particular go beyond the global baseline. - IF a SIEP ad ran without completed authorization THEN expect removal plus an account-level restriction, route to `appeal-rejections-and-restrictions` to read the specific citation, but the real fix is completing authorization, not appealing. - **Done means:** authorization confirmed approved (not just submitted) for every target country, the "Paid for by" disclaimer confirmed and attached, the political special ad category declared, SAC-restricted targeting validated, and the ad created PAUSED pending explicit unpause once authorization is verified live. ## Common failure modes - Building the full campaign before starting authorization, then discovering it takes days and blowing the launch date, start authorization first, build in parallel. - Treating the disclaimer as boilerplate text instead of confirming the legally accurate paying entity with the advertiser. - Declaring the political category but leaving normal, non-SAC targeting on the ad set, the same restricted-targeting rules apply here as any Special Ad Category. - Assuming authorization in one country covers another, per-country rules, especially in the EU, are additive, not inherited. - Unpausing on a "submitted" authorization status instead of a confirmed "approved" one, resulting in a non-delivering ad or a removal. - Not warning the advertiser that the ad will be publicly visible in the Ad Library, producing an unpleasant surprise later. ## Related skills - Run before: `declare-special-ad-categories` (shares the SAC declaration and restricted-targeting mechanics; this skill layers SIEP-specific authorization and disclaimer on top). - Related: `pass-ad-review-and-avoid-rejection` (creative, text, and landing-page review still apply to SIEP ads on top of authorization). - Related: `appeal-rejections-and-restrictions` (if a SIEP ad was removed for missing or incomplete authorization).