Facebook Ad Library Scraper

Extract ads from the Facebook Ad Library — including creative content, targeting info, impressions, and page details — without needing a Facebook account or API key.

Three input modes: keyword search (simplest), Ad Library search URLs, or Facebook page URLs. Handles cursor-based pagination automatically. Output is normalized to one row per creative card.

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Features

• No login required — scrapes the public Ad Library
• Simple keyword mode — type a keyword and go, no URL-building required
• Three input modes — keyword search, Ad Library search URLs, or Facebook page URLs
• Normalized card-level output — one dataset row per creative card, clean flat fields, dates as YYYY-MM-DD
• Automatic pagination — follows cursor-based pages until the limit is reached
• Proxy-ready — supports Apify residential proxies or custom proxy URLs

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Input

There are two ways to tell the actor what to scrape. Use one or the other — not both.

Simple mode (recommended)

Provide a keyword and the actor builds the Ad Library URL for you:

{
    "keyword": "zapier",
    "country": "US",
    "activeOnly": true,
    "mediaType": "all",
    "limitPerSource": 50
}

That's it. No URL construction needed.

URL mode

Provide pre-built Ad Library search URLs or Facebook page URLs:

{
    "urls": [
        { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=active&ad_type=all&country=US&q=zapier&search_type=keyword_unordered&media_type=all" }
    ],
    "limitPerSource": 50
}

The above two examples produce identical results. Use URL mode when you need precise control over query parameters, or when you're copying a URL directly from the Ad Library website.

All input fields

Field	Type	Description
keyword	string	Search keyword. The actor builds the Ad Library URL for you. Use this OR urls, not both.
urls	array	Pre-built Ad Library search URLs or Facebook page URLs. Use this OR keyword, not both.
country	string	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (US, GB) or ALL. Applies to all input modes. Default: ALL
activeStatus	string	Filter by ad status: all, active, inactive. Applies to all input modes. Default: all
mediaType	string	Filter by media type: all, image, video, meme, none. Applies to all input modes. Default: all
sortBy	string	Sort order: impressions_desc, impressions_asc, start_date_desc, start_date_asc. Applies to all input modes. Default: impressions_desc
limitPerSource	integer	Maximum ads to collect per source URL. Default: 10
scrapeAdDetails	boolean	Include full creative snapshot in output. Default: true
includeRawData	boolean	Attach the full raw Facebook API response to each row. Default: false
proxyConfiguration	object	Optional proxy settings

Using Facebook page URLs

If you provide a Facebook page URL (e.g. https://www.facebook.com/Nike), the scraper resolves the numeric page ID and builds the Ad Library URL automatically using the scrapePageAds.* options:

{
    "urls": [
        { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/Nike" },
        { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/Adidas" }
    ],
    "limitPerSource": 30,
    "activeStatus": "active",
    "country": "US",
    "sortBy": "impressions_desc"
}

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Output

Each dataset row represents one creative card. A single-image or video ad produces one row. A carousel ad produces one row per card (after deduplication).

{
    "adArchiveID": "914351827969140",
    "adUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?id=914351827969140",
    "cardIndex": 0,
    "pageName": "LinkedIn",
    "pageUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/LinkedIn",
    "pageID": "6191007822",
    "isActive": true,
    "isDCO": false,
    "startDate": "2024-07-03",
    "endDate": "2026-03-27",
    "format": "video",
    "headline": "LinkedIn Ads",
    "body": "Grow your business with LinkedIn Ads.",
    "cta": "Learn More",
    "destinationUrl": "https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions",
    "imageUrl": null,
    "videoUrl": "https://video.fbcdn.net/..."
}

Field	Description
adArchiveID	Unique Facebook ad archive ID
adUrl	Direct link to this ad in the Ad Library
cardIndex	0-based position within the ad (always 0 for non-carousel ads)
pageName	Advertiser page name
pageUrl	Facebook page URL of the advertiser
pageID	Numeric Facebook page ID
isActive	Whether the ad is currently running
isDCO	Dynamic Creative Optimization — ad uses template variables
startDate	When the ad started running (YYYY-MM-DD)
endDate	When the ad stopped running (YYYY-MM-DD), or null if still active
format	image, video, or carousel
headline	Card headline / title
body	Ad body text
cta	Call-to-action button label (e.g. Learn More, Shop Now)
destinationUrl	Landing page URL
imageUrl	Card image URL (resized version preferred)
videoUrl	Card video URL (HD version preferred)
rawData	Full raw Facebook API response (only present when includeRawData: true)

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How it works

Facebook's Ad Library server-side renders ad data as a JSON blob embedded in the initial HTML response (a Relay store dump containing search_results_connection). The scraper:

1. Makes a plain HTTP request to the Ad Library URL with browser-like headers
2. If Facebook returns a 403 challenge page, solves it via the /__rd_verify endpoint and retries
3. Extracts the embedded JSON blob using balanced-brace parsing
4. Normalises fields into the output schema above, one row per creative card
5. Reads the page_info.end_cursor from the response and enqueues the next page URL (?after=<cursor>) if more ads are needed
6. Repeats until limitPerSource is reached or no more pages exist

For Facebook page URLs, the scraper first visits the page to extract its numeric ID, then builds and processes the corresponding Ad Library URL.

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Proxy

The Facebook Ad Library is a public transparency tool — no proxy is required in most cases. The actor runs cleanly on Apify's infrastructure without additional proxy configuration.

If you encounter blocks or CAPTCHAs (more likely with very high volumes or repeated runs from the same IP), you can optionally add residential proxies:

"proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
}