We tracked 58,000 Snapchat ads through review. Here’s what gets rejected.

When we started logging every Snapchat ad review in Adkorly, I expected something like “a few get rejected, you fix them, life goes on”.

Then the numbers came in.

About 4 in 5 Snapchat ads we tracked got rejected.

Not 1 in 5. Four in five. I checked the query three times, then I made a coffee, then I checked it again.

Here’s everything we found, and what it means if you run performance ads on Snapchat.

The headline numbers

Between late May and late October 2026, we logged about 58,000 Snapchat ads across 478 ad accounts managed through Adkorly.

Of the ads Snap made a decision on, 82% were rejected.

Now, that number has a catch. 274 of those accounts never got a single ad approved. Some were brand new, some were dead, some were suspended. They drag the average down, and I don’t want to sell you a scarier number than the real one.

So we cut them out. In the 204 accounts that got at least one ad approved, 75% of ads were still rejected.

That’s the fair number. Three out of four ads you upload won’t run. And that’s in accounts that work.

Who’s in this data matters too. Our clients are mostly performance affiliates: aggressive offers, lots of creative variations, a lot of testing. If you sell sneakers with a polished brand video, your rejection rate will be much lower. If you run performance offers, this is your reality.

Why Snap rejects ads

Snap gives one or more reasons for every rejection. We group their codes into buckets. Here’s how often each bucket shows up on rejected ads:

A few things jump out:

1. “General policy violation” is the biggest bucket, and also the least helpful. It’s Snap’s way of saying “no” without saying why. More than half of rejected ads carry it.
2. Misleading content is the real killer. Almost 4 in 10 rejected ads get flagged for it. Exaggerated claims, fake urgency, results that look too good. If your ad could make a lawyer twitch, Snap twitches first.
3. Gambling shows up on 1 in 10. Most of those aren’t casino offers. Casino cues (spinning wheels, piles of cash, “you won!”) trigger it anyway.
4. Landing pages and brand identity are small, but easy to fix. These are the ones you can avoid with five minutes of checking.

Month by month

Is it getting worse? A bit, with a wobble:

July was the best month, at 70%. September was the worst, at 83%. October is back down to 74% (with a few days still missing).

My honest read: the rate moves with what people are testing more than with Snap changing its rules. When a new angle works, everyone floods Snap with variations of it, and review catches up.

What this means for how you test

Here’s the part I care about most.

If 3 out of 4 ads get rejected, a test plan that assumes your ads will run is broken before it starts.

You plan 10 ads, 7 or 8 get rejected, and the 2 that survive aren’t a test. They’re a coin flip with a small budget.

So flip the math:

• Want 10 live ads? Upload about 40. That’s the 1 in 4 approval rate working for you, not against you.
• Budget time for rejections, not just money. Every rejected ad is a re-edit, a re-upload and another wait.
• Look at review status before you look at results. Half the “this angle doesn’t work” conclusions I’ve seen were actually “this angle never ran”.

The affiliates who make the most money on Snapchat push volume, see quickly what got through, and move on.

The checklist: lose fewer ads before you hit upload

Save this. Print it. Tape it to the monitor of whoever edits your videos.

• No miracle claims. If it sounds too good, Snap thinks so too.
• No before and after shots for weight, skin or money.
• No casino cues unless you’re licensed and approved for it.
• No logos or brand names you don’t own.
• The landing page says what the ad says. Same offer, same price.
• The page loads fast and works on a phone.
• Brand name and headline match who you really are.
• Upload more than you need. You’ll lose some anyway.

After a rejection: fix it or move on?

Quick rule I use:

• Rejected for the landing page or brand identity? Fix and resubmit. These are usually small, clear fixes.
• Rejected as misleading? Change the claim, not just the edit. Trimming two seconds off the same promise rarely works.
• Rejected for a general policy violation with no detail? Don’t spend an hour guessing. Make a new variation with a different hook and keep moving.

How we counted

For the data nerds (hi, I’m one of you):

• What: every Snapchat ad created between 22 May and 28 October 2026 in ad accounts managed through Adkorly, about 58,000 in total.
• Status: the latest review status we saw for each ad. Ads still pending are left out of the rates.
• The fair number: 204 accounts with at least one approval, 39,266 reviewed ads, 75% rejected.
• Reasons: Snap’s reason codes, grouped by us. One ad can have several reasons, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
• What’s not in here: client names, offers or anything that could identify an account.

We’ll update these numbers as the data grows. If you want them for your own accounts, that’s literally what Adkorly shows you: approved, pending and rejected, in one place, without refreshing Ads Manager like it owes you money.

What’s your rejection rate on Snapchat right now? Better or worse than 3 in 4? I’d genuinely like to know. Drop me a line.

Cheers,
Johannes