Instagram Ad Monitor and Analyzer

# Instagram Ad Monitoring & Analysis Automation

## Project Objective

Develop a dependable automation system for monitoring and analyzing a minimum target of 1,000 publicly accessible Instagram advertising creatives per 24-hour period, subject to availability and the access limits of Instagram/Meta-approved services.

The system will focus specifically on video-based advertising formats, including video creatives and Story-style advertisements where such content is lawfully accessible.

The purpose of the system is advertising research, classification, auditing, and analytics. It must not generate artificial impressions, engagement, clicks, conversions, or other activity intended to manipulate advertiser statistics.

## Functional Requirements

The system should collect and analyze eligible advertisements based on configurable criteria.

Users must be able to configure filters without modifying source code, including:

- Minimum and maximum video duration, for example 10–30 seconds.
- Keywords to prioritize.
- Keywords to exclude.
- Advertising categories or topics to prioritize.
- Advertising categories or topics to exclude.
- Video and Story-style creative formats.

Configuration may be provided through a dashboard, configuration file, database settings, or environment variables.

## Advertisement Processing

For each qualifying advertisement, the system should record available information such as:

- Date and time discovered.
- Processing start time.
- Processing completion time.
- Advertisement or creative identifier.
- Public advertisement URL or approved source URL, where available.
- Video duration.
- Advertisement format.
- Advertiser or page name, where publicly available.
- Relevant keywords or content category.
- Short automatically generated description of the advertisement.
- Processing result or validation status.

The system should avoid recording unnecessary personal information about individual Instagram users.

## Daily Volume

The desired processing target is at least 1,000 qualifying advertisements during each 24-hour operating cycle.

The implementation must not artificially play advertisements solely for the purpose of increasing impression or view counters.

If platform availability, API restrictions, rate limits, geographic availability, account restrictions, or other legitimate technical limitations prevent 1,000 advertisements from being collected, the system should record the reason and report the actual number processed.

## Data Access and Platform Compliance

The implementation must use lawful and authorized methods of accessing advertising information.

Preferred sources include:

- Official Meta APIs.
- Meta advertising transparency or advertising-library services.
- Publicly accessible advertising information where automated access is permitted.
- Licensed third-party advertising-data providers.

The system must comply with applicable Meta/Instagram terms, API policies, rate limits, privacy requirements, and applicable law.

The application must not be designed to:

- Bypass authentication or access controls.
- Circumvent rate limits.
- Defeat CAPTCHA or anti-bot protections.
- Conceal prohibited automation through proxy rotation.
- Operate fake Instagram accounts.
- Generate fraudulent ad impressions or engagement.
- Manipulate advertising analytics.
- Access private user information without authorization.

## Proxy Usage

Proxies may be used only where they serve legitimate infrastructure purposes, such as normal network routing, geographic testing expressly permitted by the relevant platform, redundancy, or access to an authorized data provider.

Proxy rotation must not be used to bypass platform restrictions, account limits, regional restrictions, rate limits, security systems, or anti-automation mechanisms.

## Logging and Audit Trail

The system should create a verifiable daily audit log.

CSV, JSON, database storage, or a simple administrative dashboard is acceptable.

Each processing record should contain, where available:

- Timestamp.
- Advertisement identifier.
- Advertisement URL.
- Duration.
- Format.
- Content classification.
- Processing start time.
- Processing finish time.
- Success or failure status.
- Error reason where applicable.

A daily summary should show:

- Total advertisements discovered.
- Total advertisements processed.
- Total qualifying advertisements.
- Total excluded advertisements.
- Number of video advertisements.
- Number of Story-style advertisements.
- Processing failures.
- Processing period.

## Deployment

The application must run reliably on a Linux VPS.

The developer should provide clear deployment instructions covering:

- Required Linux packages.
- Runtime and programming-language version.
- Application dependencies.
- Database requirements, if applicable.
- Environment variables.
- API credentials or third-party service configuration.
- Starting and stopping the service.
- Scheduled execution.
- Log storage.
- Error recovery.
- Updating configuration.
- Basic troubleshooting.

Docker deployment is preferred where practical.

## Technology

Python, Node.js, or another appropriate technology may be used.

If a technology other than Python is selected, the developer should briefly explain why it provides better reliability, maintainability, scalability, browser/media processing, or API integration for this application.

Browser automation such as Playwright or Selenium should only be used where automated browser access is permitted by the relevant platform.

Official APIs or authorized advertising-data services should be preferred over browser scraping whenever reasonably available.

## Acceptance Criteria

The project will be considered complete when:

1. The system continuously discovers, processes, and classifies eligible Instagram advertising creatives using an authorized data source.

2. It supports configurable advertisement-duration and content filters without requiring source-code modifications.

3. It targets at least 1,000 qualifying advertisements per 24-hour period where sufficient compliant inventory and platform access are available.

4. It does not intentionally create artificial advertising impressions, clicks, engagement, or conversions.

5. Every processed advertisement has an auditable record containing the available identifier or URL, timestamps, duration, classification, and processing status.

6. Daily processing totals can be verified through CSV, JSON, database records, or a simple dashboard.

7. The application operates reliably on a Linux VPS and includes complete installation and operating instructions.

8. The implementation respects applicable laws, privacy requirements, Meta/Instagram policies, API restrictions, authentication requirements, and rate limits.

## Compliance Requirement

The contractor must notify the client if any requested feature would require violating platform terms, circumventing technical protections, generating artificial engagement, or accessing data without authorization.

In such circumstances, the contractor should implement a compliant alternative rather than bypassing the relevant restriction.