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Ad policies and review

Why does Meta ask for a beneficiary and payer on my ads, and what should a B2B company or its agency enter?

By The Tofu team ·

Meta asks because the EU's Digital Services Act requires ads to show who benefits and who paid. Any ad set that targets the EU or worldwide needs both names, or it won't publish. Meta's help now calls the beneficiary the "advertiser." A B2B company enters its own name for both. Meta doesn't cover agencies, but by its definitions the client is the advertiser, and the payer is whoever pays Meta: the client if its card is on the account, the agency if it pays and bills the client. Singapore, Thailand and some other markets can also require verified names.

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As of November 2026.

Before you start

  • Ads Manager on a desktop. Meta says the default advertiser and payer setting is only available there.
  • Full control of the ad account, which Meta's EU article says you need to manage the defaults. If you're an agency without it, see how to give an agency access to a Meta ad account.
  • Know who pays Meta for each ad account.

Step 1: Check whether your ads need it

Where your ads deliverWhat Meta asks for
The EU or its associated territories, or worldwideAn advertiser and a payer on every ad set. "Without this information, your ad cannot be published." You can type the names in
SingaporeFrom as early as May 27, 2025, all advertisers must verify who benefits from and pays for their ads, then pick those names. Ads that don't comply may be rejected or paused
ThailandMeta announced in October 2025 that advertisers that meet its risk criteria get up to 7 days after notice to verify. Otherwise they can't deliver ads to Thailand
Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia, IndiaRequired "in certain circumstances," which Meta's help doesn't list. Its API reference has categories for financial services ads to Taiwan and Australia, securities and investment ads to India, and other ad sets to Taiwan, Australia and Malaysia. Financial services ads in Australia also show a "Paid for By" line with the payer

Meta's EU list also covers places such as the Azores, the Canary Islands and French Guiana. Its API reference also lists Brazil and US securities ads, which Meta's help pages don't mention.

Meta's transparency article lists two more factors that can require the names anywhere: an account with a history of breaking its rules or that "meets certain risk criteria," and ads "more susceptible to harm." If you only target the US, run no securities ads and none of these apply, Meta's pages describe no requirement.

Step 2: Decide what goes in each field

Meta's EU article defines the advertiser as "the person or organization who is benefiting from the ad" and the payer as the person or organization paying for it, if different. The Marketing API and Meta's 2025 announcements still call the first field the beneficiary. It's the same field.

Your situationAdvertiser (beneficiary)Payer
You run and pay for your own adsYour company or brand nameThe same. Leave the payer toggle off
A subsidiary or brand, with the parent company payingThe subsidiary or brand nameThe parent company (Meta's own example)
An agency runs ads in the client's ad account, on the client's cardThe clientThe client
An agency pays Meta and bills the clientThe clientThe agency

For resellers, Meta says the payer is "the name of the reseller that owns the business portfolio from which the relevant ad set is run." Meta's pages don't discuss agencies, so the agency rows are our reading of its payer definition and this reseller rule, not Meta's own guidance.

Before you type:

  • Meta pre-fills a name. It selects "your Facebook Page or Instagram profile name as the advertiser and payer." Check that it's the name you want shown.
  • The names are public. Meta says they "will be available in the Meta Ad Library but will not be displayed on the ad itself or in feed," for one year after the ad's last impression. An agency that pays will appear by name, and competitors can look. See what the Meta Ad Library shows about B2B ads.
  • They don't change delivery. Meta says the information has no impact on delivery, cost, bidding, feature access or ad review.
  • Edits are kept. If you change the names, Meta archives all versions for one year.

Step 3: Set a default for each ad account

  1. In Ads Manager on a desktop, go to Advertising settings.
  2. Open Default advertiser and payer.
  3. Select the country where you're delivering ads, then choose the advertiser and payer.

Defaults apply to each ad account's new ad sets, so an agency sets them in every client account. You can pick:

  • the name of a business verified in Meta Business Suite
  • the organization in a verified disclaimer for ads about social issues, elections or politics
  • a confirmed business or organization that has claimed ownership of a Page
  • an organization verified with a Financial Conduct Authority firm reference number
  • the name of a seller verified for certain regulatory requirements
  • one of up to 10 recently used names, or a name you type in. Typed names must follow Meta's Community Standards and Advertising Standards

Step 4: Check the fields on each ad set

On a new or edited ad set that reaches the EU, the fields may already be filled from your default or Page name. Review them. If the advertiser and payer differ, turn on The advertiser and payer are different and choose or type the payer.

This applies to all new or edited ads that target the EU, in Ads Manager, Meta Business Suite, Ad Center, Instagram ads and the Marketing API.

Step 5: Verify, if a market requires it

For Singapore and Thailand, Meta's 2025 announcements describe two steps:

  1. Verify who benefits from and pays for your ads on the Authorizations and verifications page in your business settings. Meta's Singapore post says this "may involve providing business documents or receiving a one-time passcode to an email address associated with the client's web domain."
  2. Designate the verified names, as a default in Advertising settings or on each new ad set.

If you create ads through the Marketing API, Meta says you must still verify "directly from one of the supported ad tools."

Step 6: Send the fields through the API, if you build ads in code

  • EU ad sets: send dsa_beneficiary and dsa_payor (up to 512 characters each). The ad account can hold defaults in default_dsa_beneficiary and default_dsa_payor.
  • Send both. If defaults exist and you pass only one field, Meta fills the other from the default, not from the value you passed. With no defaults and no values, the request fails.
  • Other markets: declare the market in regional_regulated_categories (such as SINGAPORE_UNIVERSAL or THAILAND_UNIVERSAL) and pass verified identity IDs in regional_regulation_identities. Both beneficiary and payer are required, and they can be the same ID.
  • Suggestions: the ad account's dsa_recommendations edge returns likely names from recent activity. Meta says it doesn't guarantee they're correct, so review them.

The dsa_ fields are only saved for ad sets that target the EU.

Common problems

ProblemWhy it happensFix
An EU ad won't publishThe advertiser or payer is empty and the account has no defaultFill both fields, or set a default (Step 3)
API error "No payor provided in DSA regulated region"dsa_payor is missingSend both dsa_payor and dsa_beneficiary
Your Page name shows instead of your company nameMeta pre-selected the Page or Instagram nameChange the default in Advertising settings
You can't find Default advertiser and payerYou're on mobile, or you don't have full control of the ad accountUse a desktop, or ask an admin for full control
The agency's name shows in the Ad LibraryThe agency is the payerExpected. Agree on it with the client up front
Ads to Singapore or Thailand rejected or pausedThe beneficiary and payer aren't verifiedVerify, then designate (Step 5)
Meta says your ad is about social issuesA separate authorization, not the payer fieldsSee why Meta flagged a B2B ad as social issues
Account restricted after you verifyA separate reviewSee why Meta restricted an account after verification

Sources

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