Facebook content rules: unoriginal content and AI labels
Last verified September 23, 2026 · re-checked weekly · 3 rules
Facebook has publicly moved against accounts that repost other creators' content without adding anything, with reduced distribution and demonetization as the penalties.
Rules marked as awaiting re-verification below have solid secondary sourcing but a primary source page that changed since we last verified it. We show that status honestly instead of hiding it.
Account-level penalty for reusing others' content
DistributionFacebook's July 14, 2025 unoriginal-content policy applies penalties at the account level: accounts that repeatedly reuse someone else's videos, photos, or text "will not only lose access to Facebook monetization programs for a period of time, but will also receive reduced distribution on everything they share". Approved source material may be used only if you "make it your own through creative editing, voiceover or commentary"; "simply stitching together clips or adding your watermark does not qualify as meaningful enhancement". Detected duplicate videos have their distribution reduced, and Meta is testing links from duplicates back to the original.
What to do: The penalty follows the account, not the post, so one reposting habit suppresses everything else you publish. Voiceover or commentary counts as transformation; a stitch or a watermark does not.
Facebook shows violations and restrictions in Account Status
GuidelinesMeta states: "You can see your history of violations, some restrictions that your account might have and how long they'll last in your Account Status on Facebook and Instagram." Account Status is Meta's own record of what has been applied to an account and for how long.
What to do: Check Account Status before assuming a hidden penalty. If it shows nothing, a drop in reach is more likely a content or distribution issue - for example unoriginal content, which Meta says it distributes less - than an undisclosed restriction.
Meta auto-labels detected AI content
Monetization & AIMeta labels AI-generated content across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The label was introduced as "Made with AI" and renamed "AI info" on July 1, 2024; organic AI content labelling began in May 2024. Labels are driven by industry-standard AI indicators embedded in the file (C2PA and IPTC metadata) and by creator self-disclosure, not by a general-purpose detector. Meta's own generator adds "Imagined with AI" to photorealistic images it produces.
What to do: Do not assume Meta will detect and label a clone render on its own - labelling keys off embedded provenance metadata or your own disclosure. Neither Instagram nor Facebook exposes an AI-disclosure flag through the publishing API, so disclose in the caption when the video is realistic synthetic media.
Common questions
What counts as unoriginal content on Facebook?
Reposting other creators' material without meaningful additions of your own. Meta has said publicly that these accounts see reduced distribution and lose access to monetization.
Does Facebook label AI-generated content?
Yes. Meta applies AI labels across its apps, including where it detects industry-standard signals in the file itself, and expects creators to disclose realistic synthetic media.
Keep reading
When did these rules change? See the dated policy timeline →
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