Guidelines for running a contest or giveaway on Facebook (+official rules)

Is it allowed to run a giveaway, contest, competition or promotion on Facebook? And if it’s allowed, what are the giveaway rules that are allowed by Facebook according their policies?

These are a few of many questions that we get from our users of Comment Picker. In this blog we will try to answer all questions regarding Facebook Giveaway rules.

Can I do a contest, competition or giveaway on Facebook?

Yes, it is allowed to do a competition, contest, promotion, giveaway on Facebook. When doing a Giveaway Facebook will not assist you in the administration of your promotion, and you agree that if you use our service to administer your promotion, you do so at your own risk.

In the Facebook policy you can find the following statement:

Communicating a Promotion

If you use Facebook to communicate or administer a promotion (ex: a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including:

• The official rules;
• Offer terms and eligibility requirements (ex: age and residency restrictions); and
• Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (ex: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals).

You should create the Giveaway rules according to the law of your country where the contest will be held. You should tell the about restrictions in age and location of the participants if needed. In some countries it’s illegal to do lotteries or contest.

Which Facebook Giveaway Rules are required?

According to Facebook policy promotions and giveaways must include the following:

• A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant; and
• Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook.

What does this mean? It means that you must enter a text in the giveaway post where it’s stated that it’s not sponsored by Facebook and that your participants understand that Facebook will never be responsible for anything related to your giveaway. To secure yourself as well, you could use the following statement:

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook. By entering the promotion you agree that we, the prize provider(s), and Facebook, will have no liability, and will be held harmless from and against any liability or loss, including reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, for all matters related to your acceptance, possession, experience with, use or misuse of the prize or participation in the promotion.

Is it allowed to add “like page to win” to my contest/giveaway rules?

No, according to the policy of Facebook it is not allowed to ask people to like a page in order to join a giveaway or for an extra entry.

• You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page.

You could ask and encourage your followers to like the page and tell them to like the page to don’t miss any content or the announcement of the giveaway winner, but it’s not allowed to have it as an official giveaway rule to participate or have an entry in the contest.

Can I ask followers to share the post or tag friends to participate in the Giveaway?

No, it’s not permitted to ask participants to:

• Share the Giveaway post on their Timeline
• Share the Giveaway post on their friend’s Timeline
• Tag their friends in the post or photo

You find those rules in the following statement in Facebook policy:

Promotions may be administered on Pages, Groups, Events, or within apps on Facebook. Personal Timelines and friend connections must not be used to administer promotions (ex: “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend’s Timeline to get additional entries”, and “tag your friends in this post to enter” are not permitted).

So it’s not allowed to create a “Tag & Win”, “Share & Win” contest on Facebook. You could ofcourse ask and encourage followers to tag people and share the post and like the page, but it can’t be one of your Facebook Giveaway Rules.

Where can I find the official Facebook promotion guidelines?

You can find the official guidelines from Facebook here:

Promotion Guidelines Facebook

The guidelines apply to Facebook pages, Facebook groups and Facebook events.

How do I pick a winner for my Facebook Giveaway?

You can use our Facebook Comment Picker tool to pick a winner for your giveaway/contest/promotion:

Facebook Random Comment Picker

Questions about Facebook Giveaway Rules?

Please leave a comment if you have more questions about the Facebook Giveaway Rules and we will figure it out for you. You can also send us a message via Facebook or Instagram. Don’t forget to share this post.