Why has my music been blocked or muted on Facebook or Instagram?

Some customers and artists are reportedly experiencing "blocked" notifications on Facebook and Instagram videos.

These messages result from a modification to how Meta handles reference matching internally. They deal with copyright management enforcement in regions where the Audio Library is not yet accessible:

Netherlands Antilles (AN), Angola (AO), Antartica (AQ), Åland Islands (AX), Azerbaijan (AZ), Bahrain (BH), Burundi (BI), Benin (BJ), Saint Barthélemy (BL), Brunei (BN), Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (BQ), Bhutan (BT), Bouvet Island (BV), Botswana (BW), Belarus (BY), Democratic Republic of the Congo (CD), Central African Republic (CF), Republic of the Congo (CG), Côte d'Ivoire (CI), China (CN), Cuba (CU), Djibouti (DJ), Western Sahara (EH), Eritrea (ER), Ethiopia (ET), Faroe Islands (FO), Georgia (GA), Greenland (GL), The Gambia (GM), Equatorial Guinea (GQ), Greece (GR), Guinea-Bissau (GW), Haiti (HT), Hungary (HU), British Indian Ocean Territory (IO), Iran (IR), Comoros (KM), North Korea (KP), Liberia (LR), Moldova (MD), Saint Martin (MF), Madagascar (MG), Marshall Islands (MH), Myanmar (MM), Mauritania (MR), Mauritius (MU), Maldives (MV), Mozambique (MZ), New Caledonia (NC), Niger (NE), French Polynesia (PF), Papua New Guinea (PG), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (PM), Pitcairn Islands (PN), Sudan (SD), Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (SH), Slovenia (SI), Svalbard and Jan Mayen (SJ), Sierra Leone (SL), Somalia (SO), South Sudan (SS), São Tomé and Príncipe (ST), Syria (SY), Chad (TD), French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TF), Togo (TG), Timor-Leste (TL), East Timor (TP), United States Minor Outlying Islands (UM), British Virgin Islands (VG), Wallis and Futuna (WF).

This situation is not specific to LabelWorx's services; it affects all distributors and rights holders that use Facebook/Instagram.

We can attest that the material is still accessible through the Facebook/Instagram Audio Library and is merely muted in the regions mentioned above. Asset availability shouldn't have altered, and most situations don't call for user intervention.

Both that this shouldn't harm income and that going forward, these alerts would happen less frequently, be more pertinent, and be more location-specific for the user have been confirmed by Meta.

What Do You Need to Do?

Most of the time, nothing has to be done. In order to avoid receiving these banned notifications, whitelisting is not required.

Please click the "appeal" button on the notification if there is a need or want to make your content accessible in the impacted markets and you have permission to publish everything in the video. Please be aware that appeals are handled content-by-content.

The process to restore that particular content will begin when you select "appeal," but the asset will not yet be usable in the relevant territories' Audio Library. You can submit all necessary appeals with no repercussions if you have the authority to make the flagged content available.

Please contact support if you have any additional worries or inquiries about this, and we will be pleased to help.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is un-launched territories enforcement and when does it generate a notification?

Un-launched territories are a limited set of regions where Meta music products are unavailable because Meta does not have complete rights. For this reason, when a user posts content to FB/IG that contains music, it may be muted in these countries. Users in these territories will receive a notification if their content is muted and will receive the option to appeal. Users who are located in a launched territory will not receive a notification. Meta is also updating the content of the notification to clarify the issue.

What is the current list of un-launched territories? 

As listed in full above... AD, AN, AO, AQ, AX, AZ, BH, BI, BJ, BL, BN, BQ, BT, BV, BW, BY, CD, CF, CG, CI, CN, CU, DJ, EH, ER, ET, FO, GA, GL, GM, GQ, GR, GW, HT, HU, IO, IR, KM, KP, LR, MD, MF, MG, MH, MM, MR, MU, MV, MZ, NC, NE, PF, PG, PM, PN, SD, SH, SI, SJ, SL, SO, SS, ST, SY, TD, TF, TG, TL, TP, UM, VG, WF

Is there any monetisation impact as a result of this restriction?

There is no impact on monetization as a result of un-launched territories enforcement.

What other actions and notifications can users expect as a result of this? 

There are no additional changes to user notifications or actions beyond un-launched territories enforcement. 

Did the recent retroactive scan generate additional un-launched territory restrictions?

Yes, the retroactive scan did generate restrictions for un-launched territories where music was detected. 

Will there be any implications for blocks?

There is no implication for any un-launched territory actions.