Twitter (X) Ads Library: How to See Anyone's Ads

The closest thing to a Twitter ads library today is X's Ads Repository at ads.twitter.com/ads-repository, where you pick an advertiser account, a country and a date range, and X generates a CSV report of matching ads. The catch is scope: it only covers ads served in the European Union, because it exists to meet the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), so it is not a browsable gallery of every promoted post worldwide.

I've used it for client audits, and the honest summary is that it works as a narrow lookup tool, not as a research tool. If you're used to the Meta Ad Library, adjust your expectations before you start. Below is how it works, what it leaves out, and what I do instead when I need to see a competitor's X ads.

What is the X Ads Repository?

The Ads Repository is X's public ad transparency tool for the EU. Very large online platforms operating in the EU must keep a searchable archive of the ads they show there, under Article 39 of the DSA. X launched its repository in 2023 to meet that requirement, and it still lives on the old twitter.com ads domain at the time of writing.

You don't browse ads visually. You fill in a short form and request a report:

1. Go to ads.twitter.com/ads-repository.
2. Enter the advertiser account (the @handle you want to check).
3. Choose a country (EU member states) and a date range.
4. Submit, wait for the report to generate, then download the CSV.

X's own help pages describe the output as information about the ads that match your search. What actually lands in the file has been criticised as thin, which I cover below. Treat the repository as a way to confirm that an account advertised in a given EU country and period, then go look at the posts themselves.

Is there a Twitter ads library outside the EU?

Not for ordinary commercial ads. If a brand only advertises in the US, India or Australia, the Ads Repository will show nothing for them, and there is no official X page that lists their promoted posts.

This is the biggest difference from Meta. The Meta Ad Library shows every active ad from any advertiser in any country, free and without login. X has nothing equivalent for global commercial advertising.

Political ads are a separate story. When X started accepting US political ads again in August 2023, it said it would provide a global transparency center for political posts being promoted on the platform. If you're researching political advertising specifically, check X's current political content policy pages for where that disclosure lives today, since the location has moved more than once over the years.

What happened to the old Twitter Ads Transparency Center?

Twitter launched an Ads Transparency Center in June 2018. For a while it let anyone look up the ads an account was running, and for political campaigns it showed extra detail such as spend, impressions and targeting demographics.

Two things ended it. In October 2019 Twitter announced a ban on political ads, which took effect on 22 November 2019. Then, in early 2021, the Transparency Center was quietly removed; reports at the time dated its disappearance to late January 2021. Twitter said the tool no longer served its original purpose once political and issue ads were banned. An archive of the political and issue ad data from 2018 to November 2019 was kept available for researchers.

So if you've seen an older blog post pointing you to the Twitter Ads Transparency Center, that tool no longer works as described. The current EU Ads Repository is a different tool built for a different law.

What does the Ads Repository actually give you?

Less than you'd hope. In December 2025 the European Commission fined X €120 million under the DSA, and the ad repository was one of the issues cited. Independent testing published in mid-2026 by a transparency research group reported that:

• Search was limited to three filters: advertiser account, country and date range. No search by ad text, by who paid, or by targeting.
• Report generation was slow, taking several minutes even when a search returned no results.
• Searches for large, active advertisers often came back with "No ads found".
• The bulk dataset they examined had very few columns.

I'd treat those findings as a snapshot. Reports say X appealed the fine, and the tool may still change. But at the time of writing, plan for it to be unreliable. If the CSV returns rows, great. If it returns nothing, that does not prove the account isn't advertising.

There is also no spend, click or engagement data for commercial advertisers. That's normal across platforms (Meta and LinkedIn don't publish it either), but it means the repository can't tell you whether an ad worked.

How can I see a competitor's promoted posts on X?

When the repository isn't enough, these are the methods I actually use.

Read their profile and look for posts that get unusual reach. On X, many ads are ordinary posts that the brand has paid to promote, so they appear on the profile like any other post. A post with far more views than everything around it, especially one that stays pinned or keeps getting replies weeks later, is a strong candidate for paid boost. It's not proof, but it is a useful signal.

Engage with the brand and their category. X's ad targeting leans on interests, keywords and follower lookalikes. Following a competitor, a few accounts in their category, and searching their product terms will usually start serving you their promoted posts within days. Use a separate research account so your main feed stays clean. Screenshot or save each ad as it appears, with the date, because you won't be able to find it again on demand.

Watch for promoted-only posts. Some advertisers run ads that never appear on their profile at all. You'll only see those in your feed, labelled "Ad" or "Promoted". This is exactly why the feed-seeding method matters.

Check the landing pages. Click through each promoted post and note the URL, UTM parameters and offer. UTMs often reveal the campaign name and how the brand segments X traffic. Our guide to finding competitor landing pages covers what to look for.

Use third-party tools with caution. Some scrapers and spy tools claim to collect X ads, but coverage is patchy because X doesn't publish a global commercial library to pull from. Test any tool on a brand you know is advertising before you rely on it.

How does the X Ads Repository compare with the Meta Ad Library?

Here's the short version, based on what each tool offers at the time of writing.

The Meta side is where most of my competitive research happens, and the reason is simple: it's the only major library that shows every live ad, visually, for any advertiser anywhere. Our step-by-step guide to seeing competitors' Facebook ads covers that workflow, and the EU vs US Ad Library guide explains why EU searches show extra detail on Meta too.

If you're mapping a competitor across platforms, I'd also check the LinkedIn Ad Library for B2B brands, the Google Ads Transparency Center for search and YouTube, and the Snapchat Ad Library for younger consumer audiences. Each one shows a different slice.

How do I build a cross-platform swipe file when X won't let me download?

Because X doesn't give you creative files, I keep X ads as screenshots plus notes in one sheet: date seen, the post text, the hook in the first line, the media type, the CTA and the landing URL. That's enough to compare angles over time, which is the point of the exercise.

For Meta, I save the actual files. I use our free extension, the Klipio Meta Ad Library Downloader, which adds a Download button to each ad in the Meta Ad Library and can collect a whole search into one ZIP with a searchable index page and a CSV. It's Meta only; it does nothing on X. The full method is in how to download Facebook Ad Library videos.

Putting both into one swipe file is useful because brands rarely run the same message on X and Meta. X ads tend to be text-led and conversational, and a competitor's X account often tests angles in organic posts before they show up as paid ads elsewhere. Seeing the same claim appear first as a tweet, then weeks later as a Meta video ad, tells you which angle they decided was worth paying for.

One reminder on what you do with what you find: study the angle, the structure and the offer, then write your own. Copy the angle, not the asset. This isn't legal advice, but reusing someone else's creative in your own ads is where people get into trouble.

Is checking a competitor's X ads worth the effort?

For most ecommerce and DTC brands, X is a smaller ad channel than Meta, TikTok or Google, so I spend less time there. Where it earns attention is in tech, finance, gaming, media and B2B, where buyers actually use X and competitors spend real money on it.

My routine is quick: once a month, run the Ads Repository for the main competitors in the EU countries that matter, scan their profiles for posts with unusual reach, and log anything that shows up in a seeded research feed. Twenty minutes a month is usually enough to see when someone changes their message.

FAQ

Does Twitter have an ads library?

X has an Ads Repository at ads.twitter.com/ads-repository, but it only covers ads served in the EU and produces a CSV report rather than a visual gallery. There's no official worldwide library for commercial ads on X.

Can I see a competitor's ads on X outside the EU?

Not through an official tool. The practical options are watching their profile for posts with unusual reach, seeding a research account so their promoted posts reach your feed, and checking the landing pages those ads link to.

Does the X Ads Repository show ad spend?

No. Like Meta and LinkedIn, X doesn't publish spend, clicks or engagement for ordinary commercial ads. You'll need to infer performance from how long an ad keeps running and how often you see it.

What happened to the Twitter Ads Transparency Center?

It launched in June 2018 and was removed in early 2021, after Twitter's 2019 ban on political ads made its main purpose redundant. An archive of political and issue ad data from 2018 to November 2019 was kept for researchers.

Can I download ads from the X Ads Repository?

You can download a CSV report of the matching ads, but not the videos or images themselves. To keep the creative, save screenshots or recordings of the posts as you find them.