How to see ads on Instagram (anyone's): the platform filter in Meta's library, the app, and GccFY's data

Way one: the platform filter in Meta's library

1. Open the Ad Library at facebook.com/ads/library. It works in a mobile browser too, and needs no account.
2. Choose the country (Saudi Arabia, for example) and "All ads".
3. Type the account or brand name. Ads appear under the advertising Page, which is usually the Instagram account's name or close to it. Pick the Page from the suggestions to see its ads only.
4. Open the filters and in Platform choose "Instagram": only the ads running on Instagram remain.
5. Open any ad to see its versions, start date and the link it leads to.

The same works without an account name: type a product word or the country's name with the "Instagram" filter to see a whole market's Instagram ads:

Can't find the account? Try the name in English and Arabic, or search a word from its signature product and open one of its ads to learn the advertising Page's name. Every ad of one Page in detail: All ads of a Facebook page.

Way two: what the Instagram app itself reveals

On any profile in the Instagram app, open the menu and choose "About this account". You will not see the ads, but you see what helps you size up the advertiser:

• Date joined: a one-month-old store advertising heavily is a different player from a brand that is years old.
• Account based in: is the seller in Saudi Arabia, or selling into it from abroad?
• Former usernames: an account that changed names often may have changed business too.

The reverse works from the library: in any ad's details, "About the advertiser" shows the Instagram account linked to the Page and its followers, so the library tells you which Instagram account stands behind an ad:

Way three: GccFY's platform data for Saudi ads

In GccFY every ad carries the icons of the platforms it runs on, so we can count them. In our second study (12 October 2026) we read 8,272 Arabic ads shown in Saudi Arabia: Instagram in 97% of them, Facebook in 76%. One ad usually runs on both, but Instagram is in almost every ad while Facebook is missing from part of them. Whoever looks for "Instagram ads" in Saudi Arabia is, in practice, looking at the whole market's ads.

What those ads look like, from our third study of the newest 55,533 ads shown in Saudi Arabia between 2026-10-25 and 2026-11-06: video 62% and single image 21%, a discount mentioned in 35%, the "Shop now" button in 36% and "WhatsApp message" in 23%.

The full numbers, Instagram against Facebook, video and prices in Saudi Arabia: Instagram ads in Saudi Arabia.

Instagram ads of Gulf stores in GccFY

What Meta's library does not give for Instagram ads is what we built GccFY for: stopped ads stay saved so you see what a competitor ran last month, you sort by "longest running" to see the Reels that survived for weeks first, you filter by country, store platform (Salla, Zid, Shopify, WhatsApp…) and ad type, and you open the store page behind every ad.

The Advertisers screen gathers all of an account's ads in one place, active and stopped, with what runs now and since when. How to find the ads of any Page, product or country on Facebook and Instagram: How to find ads on Facebook.

What you will not see anywhere

• Regular posts: the library is for paid ads only.
• Influencers: an influencer post appears only if it is branded content labelled "Paid partnership", which has its own search in the library.
• Stopped ads: a commercial ad disappears from Meta's library when it stops (outside the EU).
• Numbers: no spend, reach or sales for commercial ads, in the library or in any tool.

And whatever Instagram ads you save are for study, not reuse: the video, images and copy belong to their owners. How to save them before they disappear: Saving Ad Library ads.