“Show existing reactions, comments and shares” not working? Here’s the fix

You ticked Show existing reactions, comments and shares on new ads, clicked Duplicate, and the copy still shows zero likes and no comments. You didn’t miss a step. It happens a lot.

#What the checkbox is supposed to do

Meta’s help center says the box carries an ad’s existing engagement over to its duplicates, so the copy runs on the original’s posts instead of new ones. When it works, the copy shows the same likes and comments, and new comments land in one place.

#Why it doesn’t work

Meta doesn’t publish a list of when the box fails. These are the cases we know about:

• Older posts. In my own testing, duplicates of older ads lost their engagement most often, box ticked or not.
• Placement-customized creative. Meta says ads with creative customized per placement can only carry engagement over once.
• Edits after duplicating. Changing the media, primary text, headline or link of the copy can move it to new posts.
• Formats that mix assets. Dynamic creative and ads with several text or media options can create separate posts for different combinations.

And “Use existing post” isn’t a full fix either. For ads built in Ads Manager, you can pick the Facebook post, and the Instagram post becomes a separate ad, so one platform starts over.

#How to tell if your copy kept its comments

1. 1
   Open the Facebook posts

   In Ads Manager, open the preview menu on the original and the copy and choose Facebook post with comments. Both should open the same post.

2. 2
   Open the Instagram posts

   Do the same with Instagram post with comments.

3. 3
   Read the result

   Same posts on both: it worked. A different post on either: the copy is starting over on that platform.

#The fix: recreate the copy with the same creative ID

The reliable way is to copy the ad with the same creative, because the creative is what ties an ad to its Facebook and Instagram posts. Ads Manager doesn’t offer that, but Meta’s Marketing API does, and so does Claude with Meta’s Facebook Ads connector.

1. 1
   Delete the failed copy

   Do it before it spends, so its new posts don’t start collecting comments of their own.

2. 2
   Copy the ad with the same creative ID

   In Claude with the Facebook Ads connector, ask: “Duplicate the ad [ad name] into the ad set [ad set name]. Reuse the same creative ID, leave it paused, and show me both ads’ post IDs.”

3. 3
   Check and turn it on

   Compare the posts as above, then publish.

Step-by-step: duplicate Facebook ads with Claude, or all the ways to keep comments when duplicating.