You may be spending three times your budget right now!
For advertisers running campaigns on the Meta Ads Manager, we always recommend keeping a close eye on budget settings. And we're certainly glad we do! A recent Meta Ads Manager update - or shall we say, "glitch" - has caused major anxiety for some advertisers. We have heard from several contacts in the industry that lifetime budgets were recently switched to daily budgets - with no warning! This, obviously has led to some major unexpected overspending.
Some business contacts of ours reported spending hundreds and even thousands of dollars more than intended overnight.
What’s Happening?
Meta seems to have changed their lifetime budget settings to daily budgets for some advertising accounts which means that instead of pacing the ad spend over the course of, let's say, a month, advertisers suddenly saw their daily spend skyrocket. This unexpected shift drained budgets at an alarming rate, leaving many scrambling to pause or adjust their campaigns before further damage was done.
How Did This Happen?
Bottom line: we don't know! While Meta has not yet officially confirmed the issue, we can only assume one of the following has happened:
A platform-wide bug or system error affected budget settings.
There was an intentional update or policy shift that was either poorly communicated or mistakenly applied.
There was an automated rule misfire where Meta’s AI-driven budget optimization feature misinterpreted existing lifetime budgets and adjusted them in error. - AI can make mistakes too!
Who Is Affected?
The issue appears to be impacting businesses running ads with a pre-set lifetime budget. Whether you’re an e-commerce store, agency, or local business, if you’ve been running long-term ad campaigns with spending limits, we highly recommend checking your Meta Ads Manager to ensure your budget settings remain intact.
What Can You Do to Protect Your Budget?
If you’re worried about unexpected ad spend increases, take these proactive steps:
Check your budget settings now!
Log into Meta Ads Manager and review your active campaigns.
If your lifetime budget has been converted into a daily budget, switch it back immediately.
Review recent billing activity.
Look for any unusual spikes in ad spend that may indicate an automatic budget shift.
Compare actual spend to your expected costs.
Disable automated budget adjustments.
Meta allows advertisers to set automated rules that change budgets based on performance. If enabled, check if any unexpected changes were triggered.
Pause campaigns if necessary.
If you’re experiencing rapid ad spend increases, pause affected campaigns until the issue is resolved.
Contact meta support.
If your budget was changed without your consent, reach out to Meta Ads Support and request a review. Some advertisers have been able to get refunds for unintended overspending.
Meta’s Response (or Lack Thereof)
There has been no official word from Meta as of now, but if this is truly a glitch, a fix could be on the way. However, if this is part of a broader policy change, advertisers may need to adapt by monitoring their accounts more frequently.
Stay Diligent
This situation only backs up what we always recommend - daily ad monitoring! Whether this is a one-time glitch or a sign of future Meta updates, keeping close tabs on your budget settings, billing history, and ad performance can save you a huge headache and lots of money.
Have you experienced this issue? Let us know or share your experience with Meta Support. The more advertisers speak up, the higher the chance Meta will address the problem.
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