How to get your Meta assets out of an agency's business portfolio

Only the business portfolio that owns an asset can let it go. For a Facebook Page or an Instagram account, someone with full control of the agency's business portfolio removes it, and then you add it to your own. An ad account or a dataset (pixel) the agency's portfolio created cannot be moved at all: the agency can share it with your business as a partner, or you start a new one in your own portfolio.

Check who owns each asset

Before you write to the agency, find out what it owns and what it only has access to. Removing a partner's access is a different job, covered in how to remove an old agency's access.

• Facebook Page. Open Settings in Meta Business Suite and look under Accounts > Pages. A Page that is only shared with your business shows the other business as its owner. If the Page is not there and Meta will not let you add it, check whether another person or business owns it: Meta only lets you add a Page that nobody else owns. The Page access audit shows the other lists to check.
• Instagram account. An Instagram account can only be in one business portfolio. If it is not under Instagram accounts in your Settings, it may be in the agency's.
• Ad account. An ad account can only be in one business portfolio too. If your agency set it up as advertising "on behalf of" your business, it is still the agency's ad account: Meta says the business it advertises for cannot see the account unless the agency gives it permission.
• Dataset (pixel). In Meta Events Manager, select the dataset under Data Sources and open the Settings tab. Meta says it shows the ID and the owner of the data.

Write down what the agency owns. Those are the assets this guide is about.

Facebook Page

Meta does not transfer a Page from one business portfolio to another. Its own words: "You can't transfer ownership of a Facebook Page to another business portfolio but, if you remove the Page from your business portfolio, another organization can add it to theirs."

So someone with full control of the agency's business portfolio removes it. These are Meta's steps, to send to the agency:

1. Disconnect the Page from other business assets, such as an Instagram account or WhatsApp account.
2. Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite for the business portfolio.
3. Click Pages below Accounts in the left menu.
4. Click the Page.
5. Click Remove.
6. Review the information, then click Remove Page from business portfolio.

Meta's steps for disconnecting Instagram from a Page start in the Instagram app, so if you have the Instagram login you can try step 1 for that connection yourself: tap your profile, Edit profile, then Page and Disconnect Page.

Then add the Page to your business portfolio. Your business owns it from that moment.

One trap: if the agency gave your business full control of the Page as a partner, that still does not let you take it out. Meta says a partner with full control cannot remove a Page from a business portfolio, delete it, or connect or disconnect an Instagram account.

Instagram account

Someone with full control of the agency's business portfolio removes the account. Meta's steps:

1. If the Instagram account is connected to a Facebook Page, disconnect it from the Page first.
2. Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite for the business portfolio.
3. Click Instagram accounts below Accounts in the left menu.
4. Click the Instagram account.
5. Click Remove, then Remove again to confirm.

Removing it does not delete the account. Then add it to your own portfolio and connect it to your Page again: see how to connect Instagram to your Facebook Page and business portfolio.

Ad account

This is where an agency-owned setup hurts. Meta says an ad account created in a business portfolio "will permanently be a part of that portfolio. This means the ad account can't be deleted or transferred from the portfolio." Adding an existing ad account to a portfolio "may permanently move it into the portfolio". Meta's help gives no step that moves it to you.

You have two options.

• Keep using the old ad account through partner access. The agency's portfolio stays the owner and shares it with yours. Meta describes the owner's side: in Settings, the Ad accounts tab, Assign Partner, then your business portfolio ID. Ask for full control if you will run the account yourself. Even then, your business cannot share it with a new agency later: Meta says only the organization that owns an asset can share it with another business portfolio. Your next agency would need the old agency to share it.
• Start a new ad account in your own portfolio. In Settings, go to Accounts > Ad accounts, click + Add and select Create a new ad account. Meta says a new business portfolio can create one ad account at first, and three once a campaign delivers and a payment is made.

If your card is on the agency's ad account, agree with the agency who deactivates the account and when. Only the owning portfolio can deactivate it, not a partner. Meta charges any outstanding balance to the card on file and then removes the payment methods.

Pixel (dataset)

Meta says "you can't delete a dataset or transfer it to another business portfolio". So a pixel the agency created stays in the agency's portfolio.

• Keep the old dataset: ask the agency to share it with your business portfolio. Its side is Settings > Data sources > Datasets > Assign partners, then your business portfolio ID and the access level.
• Start your own: create a dataset in your own portfolio (Settings > Data sources > Datasets & pixels > +Add). Your website then needs the new ID: the pixel's base code holds the ID in two places, so whoever manages the site has to update it. See how to find your pixel ID.

From then on, keep the dataset in your portfolio and share it with each agency.

A message to send the agency

Send a plain request from an address the agency knows. Something like:

Hi [name], we are moving our Meta assets into our own business portfolio, [your business name], ID [your business portfolio ID]. We have disconnected our Instagram account from our Page. Could someone with full control of your business portfolio please: remove our Facebook Page [Page name] from your portfolio (Settings, Pages, the Page, Remove); remove our Instagram account [@account] (Settings, Instagram accounts, the account, Remove); and share our ad account [ad account ID] and our dataset [dataset name] with our business portfolio. Please tell us when it is done so we can add the Page and Instagram account on our side. Thank you.

If you have the Instagram login, disconnect the account from the Page in the Instagram app before you send it, as shown above. If you do not, replace that sentence with a request that the agency disconnects them first. When the agency confirms, add the Page and the Instagram account to your portfolio.

If the agency does not answer

Meta's help offers less here, so start with what you control.

• Your Page. Meta says people who had access to a Page before it was added to a business portfolio can still access and manage it. If you created the Page, check your own access on Facebook: switch into the Page, then Settings & privacy > Settings > Page setup > Page access. With full control of the Page, you can also ask for it to be released from the agency's portfolio; Meta gives that portfolio 30 days to respond, and an unanswered request does not release the Page. How to get admin access back to a Facebook Page covers that request.
• Your Instagram account. If you have its login, Meta suggests you "can also try switching your Instagram professional profile to a private profile", then switching back to professional and connecting it to a Page you have admin access to. A professional account cannot be private, so this means switching to a personal account first. Instagram says that switch ends access to ads, may cost access to some tools and disconnects any Facebook Page connected to the account.
• A portfolio set up in your business's name. If the agency created a business portfolio for your business, rather than holding your assets in its own, and the person with full control "is a former employee or contractor with no ownership rights", Meta lists that among the cases where the business can ask Meta for full control, with documents. How to get admin access back lists what Meta asks for. This route is not for the agency's own portfolio.
• The ad account and the dataset. If the agency never shares them, start new ones in your own portfolio as above.

Afterwards: give the agency partner access the right way

Once your business portfolio owns the Page, the Instagram account, the ad account and the dataset, give each agency partner access instead of letting it create or claim assets for you. You keep ownership, choose the tasks, and remove the partner when the work ends. See how to give an agency partner access.