FTC endorsement disclosures: practical basics for creators and brands

What this guide is (and is not)

The FTC’s Endorsement Guides help advertisers, influencers, agencies, and review programs keep endorsements honest and not misleading. Staff published a long FAQ — What People Are Asking — covering social media, contests, affiliates, employees, and online reviews.

• The Guides do not themselves have the force of law. Practices that conflict with them may still lead to investigations under Section 5 of the FTC Act.
• Staff guidance is not a safe harbor.
• The FTC generally does not regulate political advertisements.
• Children and teens may need different disclosure approaches; research suggests disclosures may not work for younger children.

Primary source: FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking (June 2023).

Three rules in plain language

1. Be truthful. An endorsement must reflect the endorser’s honest opinion or experience. Don’t claim you used a product you haven’t tried.
2. Don’t make claims the brand couldn’t make. Performance claims still need substantiation.
3. Disclose unexpected material connections. If payment, free product, employment, family ties, contest entry, or similar would affect how people weigh the endorsement — and a significant minority of consumers wouldn’t expect it — disclose it clearly and conspicuously.

Do I need a disclosure?

Usually yes, if…

• You were paid, or given free/discounted products, travel, or lodging in expectation of coverage.
• You earn affiliate or referral commissions.
• You are an employee, paid spokesperson, or brand “ambassador.”
• You entered a contest or sweepstakes by posting praise.
• You swap reviews with another creator in a mutual arrangement.

Often no, if…

• You bought the product yourself and have no relationship with the marketer.
• You got a free sample the same way any customer would, with no expectation you’ll promote it.
• Your audience already understands a traditional media reviewer’s employment relationship — context still matters.

Tagging a brand is an endorsement, not a disclosure. Tagging alone does not tell people you were paid.

How to disclose clearly and conspicuously

Staff emphasize three practical tests:

• Placement — hard to miss; near the endorsement; not buried in comments, “more,” or a homepage-only note.
• Readability — simple language; readable size and contrast; not lost in hashtag soup.
• Clarity — plain words (“Brand paid me,” “Ad,” “I get commissions…”).

Platform built-in disclosure tools can help but may not be enough by themselves. Responsibility sits with the influencer and the brand — not the platform.

Wordings that tend to work

• “Ad” / “Paid ad” / “Advertising” near the start of a post
• “Brand X paid me to talk about this”
• “I get commissions for purchases through links in this post”
• “Thanks to Brand X for the free product” (if that’s all you received)

Wordings that often fail

• Vague “partner,” “ambassador,” “#endorsement,” “thank you Brand,” or “#gifted” without naming the brand
• Disclosures only in comments, tiny captions, or after a “more” click when the endorsement is above the fold
• Calling a paid review a “sneak peek”

Video: if the endorsement is visual, disclose visually; if audible, disclose audibly; both is better. Put disclosures early, and repeat on long live streams.

Truth beyond the hashtag

• Fake likes from nonexistent people or people with no experience are deceptive.
• Don’t condition incentives on positive reviews.
• Don’t suppress, delay only negatives, or organize reviews in a way that skews the picture.
• Exceptional results usually imply typical results unless you disclose generally expected performance — “results not typical” alone often isn’t enough.

Who is responsible?

Advertisers should train and monitor networks in proportion to risk (health claims need more care). Intermediaries that hire and direct influencers can share liability. Affiliates must disclose commission relationships near recommendations and links.

Employees posting about employer products should disclose the job relationship in the post itself — a profile line that lists the employer is usually not enough.

AI, virtual influencers, and generative outputs

Read carefully. The June 2023 Endorsement Guides updates address topics such as virtual influencers and fake reviews in the official Guides text. Separately, FTC business-guidance blogging has discussed generative AI and consumer trust. This section does not invent new legal tests — open the citations yourself.

• Official Guides package (2023 revisions / Federal Register notice): 16 CFR Part 255 notice on ftc.gov
• Related FTC Business Blog (May 2023) on AI and consumer trust — verify live text yourself: The Luring Test: AI and the engineering of consumer trust
• Broader advertising basics + AI enforcement pointer on our Policy Watch — FTC snapshot.

Practical takeaway aligned with longstanding FTC themes: ads should be identifiable as ads; paid vs organic should be distinguishable; material commercial relationships should be clear. Confirm current wording on ftc.gov before relying on any paraphrase.

FAQ shortcuts

Influencer

Is #ad enough? Often near the start of a post, yes — clarity and placement still matter.

Free product only? Disclose that the brand gave it to you; say if you got more than the product.

One disclosure forever? No — each new endorsement may need its own disclosure.

Brand / reviews

Only invite happy regions to review? No — that can skew results.

Free-product reviewers? Disclose incentivized reviews; watch whether incentives inflate star ratings.

Affiliate

“Affiliate link” alone? Often unclear — prefer “I earn a commission…” or “Paid link” next to the link.

Convenience links with no pay? No pay-relationship disclosure needed if there is no commercial connection.

Citations & further reading

1. FTC — Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking (primary source for this article)
2. FTC — 16 CFR Part 255 Endorsement Guides (Federal Register notice)
3. FTC Business Blog — The Luring Test (verify live)
4. FTC — Advertisement Endorsements topic page
5. ReportFraud.ftc.gov