Account linking and the circumventing-systems policy

What linking is for

Linking exists to prevent two things: advertisers escaping enforcement by starting over, and bad actors operating many accounts from behind one front. Both are addressed by the same mechanism, which is why linking is aggressive.

The consequence for legitimate advertisers is that the platform looks at the whole group of related accounts when assessing any one of them. A new account that shares infrastructure with a suspended one does not get the benefit of a fresh start.

The signals that create a link

Shared payment instruments are the strongest signal, and the one advertisers most often overlook. Using a different card on the same bank account, or the same cardholder name, is frequently enough.

Shared administrators follow. The same person holding access to two accounts links them, and two-factor authentication attached to the same phone number reinforces it.

Then come business signals: the same legal entity, the same address, the same domain, the same contact details. And finally technical signals: the same device or browser profile, the same network, and creative assets reused identically.

Any one of these may be innocuous. Several together, particularly alongside a previous suspension, is what produces a termination.

Why evasion escalates

A suspension is usually recoverable. It has a reason, the reason can often be addressed and the account can be appealed.

Circumvention is different. It is treated as an intent to defeat enforcement rather than a failure of compliance, and it is penalised across the group. The common outcome is that the suspended account stays suspended, the new account dies with it, and any other accounts sharing the signals are terminated as well.

This is the reason the honest advice during a suspension is to appeal the existing account rather than open a new one, even when the appeal looks unlikely to succeed.

Legitimate multi-account structures

Multiple accounts are not a violation. Agencies managing many clients, groups with separate brands, and advertisers with distinct legal entities in different markets all run multiple accounts legitimately.

The structure that keeps this clean is genuine separation: separate legal entities, separate payment instruments, separate administrators where practical, and a clear business reason visible in the account naming.

The structure that creates risk is cosmetic separation: one business with several accounts under slightly different names, sharing a card and an administrator, with no underlying reason. That reads as evasion whether or not it was intended that way.

What to do when an account is suspended

First, find the stated reason and read it as written. Appeals succeed most often when they address the specific reason rather than the general complaint.

Second, do not touch payment instruments or administrators during an appeal. Changing the card on a suspended account, or adding an administrator who controls other accounts, creates new signals while the case is open.

Third, if the reason is genuinely unclear after an appeal, escalate rather than start over. A partner support channel can usually obtain an explanation that standard support will not provide.

Recovering a terminated business

Where a termination was caused by circumvention, recovery is slow and not guaranteed. It generally requires demonstrating that the activity was not an attempt to evade enforcement, which in practice means evidence of a legitimate reason for the structure.

The most useful thing an advertiser can do is avoid reaching this point. Suspensions are common; circumvention terminations are not, and almost all of them start with a new account opened too quickly after a suspension.

Frequently asked questions