Skip to main content

Use case: Ad delivery interruptions

Know when billing issues or platform outages disrupt your ads.

Ads can stop for reasons outside the campaign: a failed payment, a spend limit, a restriction, or a platform incident. AdFence records the delivery and account status a connected platform exposes, adds published platform status where available, and leaves the reading to your team.

Start protectingSee the sample disruption

Which checks run depends on the platform, permissions, and plan. A stalled report is not proof the ads stopped, and a restriction is not a sign of compromise on its own.

This account

Delivery
Normalchanged to Zero since 09:10
Billing
Paidchanged to Payment failed
Account status
Active

Platform context

Published status
No incident reported
Other connected accounts
Delivering
Reporting
Current

Read together

A billing failure on this account, not a platform incident.

Sample. Accounts, times, and figures are invented.

Changed evidence

One observed disruption, two very different causes.

Two accounts go quiet within twenty minutes of each other: one stops delivering, the other stops reporting. The account checks and the platform's status page split them: a billing failure on one, a platform incident affecting the other.

Sample scenario. Accounts, times, and figures are invented.

  1. 01Observed disruption

    From the outside both look the same: the numbers stopped moving.

    Account AAdvertiser billing failure

    • Delivery

      Normalchanged to Zero since 09:10

    Account BPlatform incident

    • Delivery reporting

      Hourlychanged to Stalled since 08:50

  2. 02Account checks

    Billing and account status the platform exposes, per account.

    Account AAdvertiser billing failure

    • Billing

      Paidchanged to Payment failed, card ending 4412

    • Account status

      NewActive

    Account BPlatform incident

    • Billing

      NewPaid

    • Account status

      NewActive

  3. 03Platform status

    The platform's published status, where there is one, at the same time.

    Account AAdvertiser billing failure

    • Platform status page

      NewNo incident reported

    Account BPlatform incident

    • Platform status page

      NewIncident: delivery reporting delays, since 08:45

  4. 04Next action

    Different cause, different next step, both taken by your team.

    Account AAdvertiser billing failure

    • Appropriate next step

      NewUpdate the payment method in the platform

    Account BPlatform incident

    • Appropriate next step

      NewWait for the platform; the ads may still be delivering

AdFence reads the billing and account status the platform exposes and, where the platform publishes one, its status page. It does not see inside the platform's systems, so an incident's timeline is the platform's own.

The next action stays with your team: updating a payment method, waiting out an incident, or taking a restriction through the platform's own process. None of it is done by the product on its own.

Impact

Three kinds of stop, three kinds of fix.

The groups need different people: finance for billing, the platform's own process for a restriction, and patience for an incident. Reading the checks together is what tells them apart.

  • Billing and payment

    The platform could not charge you.

    • Payment failed or card expired
    • Spend limit reached
    • Payment method removed or changed

  • Account status

    The platform changed what the account may do.

    • Account restricted or under review
    • Advertising access disabled
    • Business verification pending

  • Platform incidents

    The platform itself is degraded.

    • Delivery degraded on the platform side
    • Reporting delayed or missing
    • Management tools or the API unavailable

Read carefully

What a signal does not prove.

Each of these signals is real and worth an alert. None of them settles the question on its own.

  • Signal

    A reporting delay

    Does not prove

    That your ads stopped

    Read instead

    Delivery can continue while the platform's reporting lags. Check the platform status and the account's own delivery state before changing anything.

  • Signal

    A restriction

    Does not prove

    That the account was hacked

    Read instead

    Restrictions can result from policy reviews, verification, or payment problems; a restriction alone does not establish compromise. Check the access record before treating it as a takeover.

  • Signal

    An advertiser billing failure

    Does not prove

    That customers cannot pay you

    Read instead

    Advertiser billing is the platform charging you. Customer checkout is your store charging them. Different systems, different fixes, different use case.

  • Signal

    A failed payment

    Does not prove

    That spend is being wasted

    Read instead

    Most platforms stop delivery when billing fails, so the cost is missed reach rather than wasted spend. Some accounts keep delivering up to a billing threshold; the checks show which applies.

Review and response

What AdFence surfaces, and what stays with your team.

The product puts the account's status and the platform's published status side by side, with times. The reading, and the fix, run through your team, your finance people, or the platform's own process.

What AdFence surfaces

  • Which connected accounts stopped delivering, and since when
  • The billing and account status the platform exposes
  • The platform's own status page context, where the platform publishes one
  • An alert to the channels your team chose

What stays with your team

  • Whether it is billing, a restriction, or a platform incident
  • Updating a payment method, or raising it with finance
  • Appeals and verification, which run through the platform's own process
  • Any automatic response, which runs only if your team explicitly configured and pre-approved it

How AdFence behaves

  • Supported checks start after connection and run every 15 minutes.
  • Read-only by default. Monitoring never edits an ad account on its own.
  • Coverage varies by platform, permissions, integrations, configuration, and plan.
  • Automatic actions run only when they are explicitly configured and pre-approved.
  • No guarantee of prevention, recovery, refund, or reinstatement.

Retain the record

Know how long the disruption lasted, and why.

AdFence keeps the timeline of when delivery or reporting changed, what the checks showed, and when it recovered, so the gap in a client's report has a dated explanation.

What the record can support

  • Finance handoffs
  • Client updates
  • Platform support cases
  • Internal reviews

The record covers activity recorded after the account was connected. It documents when delivery changed and what the checks showed. It does not guarantee reinstatement of a restricted account, and an incident's timeline comes from the platform's own status page.

Disruption timeline

Sample scenario. Accounts, times, and figures are invented.

  1. 08:50Reporting stalledAccount B
  2. 09:10Delivery stoppedAccount A
  3. 09:12Billing checkAccount A: payment failed
  4. 09:12Platform statusIncident reported at 08:45
  5. 09:13Alert sentEmail, Slack
  6. 10:30Payment updatedAccount A delivering

Questions, answered

What teams ask before connecting.

If reporting stops, did our ads stop?

Not necessarily. Reporting and delivery are separate systems, and a reporting delay on the platform side can hide ads that are still running. AdFence puts the platform's status beside the account's own delivery state so your team can tell the two apart.

Is a restriction a sign the account was hacked?

No. Restrictions can result from policy reviews, verification, or payment problems; a restriction alone does not establish compromise. If the access record also shows unfamiliar changes, the ad account security use case is the place to look.

Does AdFence watch our customers' checkout too?

This page is about advertiser billing: the platform charging you. Customer checkout belongs to the ad spend leaks use case and depends on a connected store source.

Does a failed payment mean we are wasting money?

Usually not. Most platforms stop delivery when billing fails, so the cost is lost reach rather than wasted spend. Some accounts keep delivering up to a billing threshold; the checks show which applies to yours.

Can AdFence fix billing or lift a restriction?

No. Payment methods are updated in the platform, and appeals and verification run through the platform's own process. AdFence tells you sooner and keeps the record; it does not guarantee reinstatement.

Start protecting

See the account's status and the platform's, side by side.

Start protecting your accounts

Read-only by default. Platform status context depends on what each platform publishes; the reading stays with your team.

  • 7-day free trial
  • Read-only by default
  • Cancel anytime