Emergency stop for all live writes

If something looks wrong — a suspicious session, an unexpected automation, a client dispute — you need one button that stops everything. That is the emergency stop.

What it does

The workspace-level switch “Emergency stop for live writes” blocks execution of any change to ad accounts, whatever its origin. Queued operations are not executed while it is on. Reading and analytics keep working.

Turning it on and off is a sensitive action for owners and admins, confirmed with the second factor and logged. Per client, the “writes paused” flag in the write policy gives the same effect for one client.

Why it helps

• Instant containment in an incident.
• Analytics and reporting continue while writes are frozen.
• Every use is logged for the post-mortem.

How to set it up

1. Open Settings → “Emergency stop for live writes”.
2. Turn it on with one click (no code needed).
3. Investigate using the audit log and Operations.
4. Turn it off when it is safe to resume.

Good to know

• Changes to GA4 or Tag Manager are not ad writes; the stop applies to writes to ad accounts.
• The server list of accounts allowed for writes is a third, independent layer.

Originally published at AdAce Ads blog.