Facebook competition terms and conditions: rules every Australian brand must follow

Facebook remains one of the most widely used platforms for Australian trade promotions. But running a competition on Facebook requires more than a good prize. Your promotion must comply with Australian Consumer Law, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and Meta's own promotion policies, all of which apply simultaneously.

Meta's promotion policies for Facebook

Meta publishes promotion guidelines that apply to all competitions run on Facebook pages, groups, and events. Before drafting your terms, review the current Meta promotion guidelines at facebook.com/policies/pages_groups_events. The key requirements are:

The mandatory Meta release disclaimer

Every Facebook competition must include the following statement in its terms and conditions:

"This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook."

This disclaimer is non-negotiable. It must appear in your full terms and conditions. It should also be referenced in the promotional post directing entrants to the full terms.

Prohibited entry mechanics

Meta's Platform Policy explicitly prohibits certain entry mechanics. You cannot require participants to:

•       Like the promoter's Facebook page as a condition of entry

•       Share the competition post to their personal timeline as a condition of entry

•       Tag themselves in a photo or image they do not appear in

•       Post the competition to their personal timeline as the entry method

These mechanics are widely used in practice and Meta's enforcement is inconsistent. However, they technically breach platform policy and carry real risks: entrant complaints, reputational issues, and in serious cases, temporary page restriction. The compliant approach is to use mechanics that do not require personal timeline actions or page likes as mandatory conditions.

Permitted entry mechanics

The following entry mechanics are compliant with Meta's current policies:

•       Commenting on the competition post on the promoter's Facebook page

•       Answering a question in the comments

•       Mentioning a friend in the comments (note: asking to formally tag a friend is technically non-compliant, but asking entrants to mention a friend's name in the comments is generally accepted)

•       Submitting an entry via an external form linked from the post

•       Liking or reacting to the post as an encouraged but non-mandatory action

Personal timelines and groups

Meta's policies state that personal timelines and friend connections must not be used to administer promotions. This means you cannot run the competition from a personal profile, and you cannot require entrants to take actions on their own personal timelines as the method of entry. Competitions must be administered from a business page, group, or event.

What your Facebook competition T&Cs must include

In addition to the Meta-specific requirements above, your Facebook competition terms must cover all the standard elements required for any Australian trade promotion. These are covered in detail in our guide to social media competition terms and conditions. In summary, your Facebook T&Cs must include:

•       Promoter's full legal name, address and ABN

•       Eligibility: age (minimum 13 years for Facebook, 18 years or over for alcohol-related promotions), residency, and any other restrictions

•       Entry period: exact opening and closing date and time including time zone

•       How to enter: every required step listed clearly

•       Prize details: full description and retail value of each prize

•       Winner selection: how and when the winner will be selected, including draw date, time, and location for games of chance

•       Winner notification: how and when winners will be contacted

•       Privacy statement: what personal data is collected, why, and how it will be used

•       Disqualification conditions: fraudulent behaviour, multiple accounts, non-compliant entries

•       Liability disclaimer: that the promotion is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Facebook

•       Dispute resolution and modification rights

How to display your terms on Facebook

Facebook posts support clickable links, so you can include a shortened link directly in the competition post. Use a link shortener such as Bitly to keep the post copy clean. The post itself must also include any significant conditions that affect a consumer's decision to enter, such as eligibility restrictions, entry limits, and permit disclosures where required.

Do not rely on the full terms appearing in the post caption. The caption should include entry instructions in clear steps and a link to the full terms. The full terms should be hosted on a dedicated page or the brand's website.

Permit requirements for Facebook competitions in Australia

Whether your Facebook competition requires a trade promotion permit depends on whether it is a game of chance and the total prize pool value, not on the platform it is run on. See our guide to trade promotion permits in Australia for the full state-by-state breakdown.

Contacting winners on Facebook

When notifying winners, tag them in a comment on the competition post and ask them to contact the brand directly. Do not send unsolicited direct messages to winners. Brand accounts that send unsolicited private messages can be flagged as spam by recipients, which may result in account restriction. Tagging the winner publicly in the post is both safer and more transparent.

Can I require entrants to like my Facebook page to enter?

No. Meta's Platform Policy prohibits requiring page likes as a condition of entry. You can encourage people to like your page, but liking must not be a mandatory step without which an entry is invalid. Using a page like as a mandatory entry condition is a breach of Meta's guidelines and creates the risk of enforcement action against your page.

Can I ask entrants to share my competition post?

Requiring entrants to share a post to their personal timeline as a condition of entry is prohibited under Meta's promotion policies. You can encourage sharing as an optional action, but it cannot be listed as a mandatory entry step. Sharing mechanics remain common on Facebook despite this, and Meta's enforcement is inconsistent, but the policy violation and its associated risks remain.

Do I need separate terms and conditions for Facebook and Instagram if I run a cross-platform competition?

You can use a single set of terms that covers both platforms provided it includes the platform-specific disclaimers and mechanic restrictions for each. Both Facebook and Instagram require the Meta release disclaimer. Both prohibit inaccurate tagging. Where the entry mechanics differ by platform, your terms should specify clearly which steps apply to which platform.

Generate compliant Facebook competition terms in minutes

Plexus Promotion Wizard produces legally reviewed terms and conditions for Australian trade promotions including Facebook competitions, with platform disclaimers and permit disclosures built in. See how Plexus trade promotions compliance works.