Community Discussion

SUMMARY
The documented procedure for resolving an item in NEED_TO_EDIT status started
failing with HTTP 400 between 2026-09-03 and 2026-09-09. Our client code has not
changed since June 2026.

The only difference we can observe between working and failing campaigns is the
approval state: campaigns created up to 2026-09-03 reached approval_state=APPROVED
and their items went RUNNING, while every campaign created from 2026-09-09 onwards
is stuck at approval_state=PENDING / status=PENDING_APPROVAL with safety_rating="-",
in some cases for more than 48 hours, and its items cannot be updated. This affects
multiple sub-accounts.

We cannot tell whether the stalled approvals cause the 400 or whether both are
symptoms of the same change on your side.

INTEGRATION FLOW (unchanged since June 2026)

1. POST /backstage/api/1.0/{account}/campaigns/ -> create campaign (is_active: false)
2. POST /backstage/api/1.0/{account}/campaigns/{cid}/items/ -> create item with {"url": "..."} only
3. GET the item until status != CRAWLING
   The item reaches NEED_TO_EDIT. This has always been the
   case and was never a problem before.
4. POST /backstage/api/1.0/operations/upload-image -> HTTP 200, returns a CDN url
5. POST /backstage/api/1.0/{account}/campaigns/{cid}/items/{iid}/
   with thumbnail_url (+ title, cta) -> HTTP 400

EXPECTED
Per your documentation (Campaign Item Statuses), for NEED_TO_EDIT:
"The item was successfully crawled, but some fields could not be parsed from
the item's content - either thumbnail_url or title (or both). Solution: try
updating those fields that have a value of null."
This is exactly what step 5 does.

ACTUAL {
"http_status": 400,
"message": "Cannot set instruction to Active when it's not Pending or Paused",
"offending_field": "",
"message_code": "campaign.inventory.error.server.cantActivatePendingOrPaused",
"template_parameters": []
}

REPRODUCIBLE EXAMPLE
Campaign 50423830 (onetag-automotive-sc), created 2026-09-10.
Item 4322310664, status NEED_TO_EDIT.
Failure at 2026-09-10T16:58:24Z. Request body sent: {"thumbnail_url":"https://cdn.taboola.com/libtrc/static/thumbnails/13c58d973089c841ef3da31f5c2a2b3b.jpeg",
"title":"test","cta":{"cta_type":"NONE"},"creative_focus":{"type":"AUTOMATIC"}}
This campaign and item are still in place and can be inspected.

LAST WORKING REFERENCE (same code, same flow)
Campaign 50361927 (onetag-usbl-sc), created 2026-09-03.
Its items are RUNNING with thumbnail_url set, created through steps 1-5 above.
Current state: approval_state=APPROVED, status=RUNNING, safety_rating=High.

Failing campaign 50423830 (onetag-automotive-sc), created 2026-09-10:
approval_state=PENDING, status=PENDING_APPROVAL, safety_rating="-".

ADDITIONAL FINDINGS

• A minimal request body containing only {"thumbnail_url": "
• Updates that only set "title" ARE applied: the affected items have a title but
  a null thumbnail_url.
• Sending {"is_active": false} to move the item to PAUSED first returns: {"http_status":400,"message":"Can be modified only when the Item has
  status=RUNNING or status=PAUSED","offending_field":"is_active",
  "message_code":"api.action.bad_request.is_active"}
  This makes the situation circular: the item needs the update to leave
  NEED_TO_EDIT, but the update is refused because the item is in NEED_TO_EDIT.

RULED OUT ON OUR SIDE

• Image upload: step 4 returns HTTP 200 and a valid CDN url, verified manually
  with curl outside our application.
• creative_focus: fails identically with COORDINATES and with AUTOMATIC.
• Campaign configuration: bid_strategy (MAX_CONVERSIONS), bid_type, cpc,
  conversion_rules and platform_targeting are identical between working and
  failing campaigns.
• Our client code: unchanged since June 2026, i.e. months before the last
  successful campaign on 2026-09-03.

QUESTIONS

1. Why have campaigns created since 2026-09-09 remained in PENDING_APPROVAL with
   safety_rating "-" for days, across multiple sub-accounts, when campaigns
   created up to 2026-09-03 were approved normally? Is campaign review suspended
   or blocked on our account?
2. Is the 400 on the item update a consequence of the campaign not being approved?
   If so, is that a new constraint? The same flow worked on 2026-09-03.
3. Is updating thumbnail_url on an item in NEED_TO_EDIT still supported? If not,
   what is the supported way to set a thumbnail on such an item via the API?