How to tell if your sponsored posts are FTC-compliant
A working checklist for creators and brand teams who need disclosure to hold up — not a legal opinion.
A sponsored post is compliant when the disclosure is unavoidable: placed before the caption truncates, written in plain words like “Ad” or “Paid partnership,” legible on a phone, and spoken aloud in video and audio. A platform’s built-in tag alone is generally not treated as sufficient.
The short checklist
- Put the disclosure before the “more” truncation point, not after it.
- Use plain words — “Ad,” “Advertisement,” “Sponsored,” “Paid partnership.”
- Do not rely on the platform’s built-in tag as your only disclosure.
- Say it out loud in video and audio, not only in the description.
- Free product, gifted stays, and affiliate links all count as material connections.
- Disclosure belongs on the post itself — not only in a bio or a linked page.
- Both the creator and the brand can be held responsible.
- Hashtag soup buries disclosure; keep it separate and early.
What counts as a “material connection”?
A material connection is any relationship between you and the brand that a reasonable viewer would not guess and might weigh when judging your endorsement. Payment is the obvious one. It is not the only one.
- Cash — flat fee, commission, or bonus.
- Free product — including items you were allowed to keep.
- Affiliate links and discount codes that pay you per click or sale.
- Employment or ownership — you work there, or you hold equity.
- Family and close personal ties to the brand or its principals.
The test is not whether you felt influenced. It is whether the audience would want to know.
Where does the disclosure have to appear?
In the place the viewer actually looks, before they decide whether the endorsement is genuine. The recurring failure is a disclosure that technically exists but sits below a truncation point, inside a hashtag block, or on a different screen entirely.
Placement is format-specific:
| Format | Where it has to appear | The common failure |
|---|---|---|
| Static image post | First line of the caption, above the “more” cut | Disclosure placed after the fold or inside a hashtag block |
| Short-form video | On-screen text and spoken, within the opening seconds | Only in the caption, which many viewers never open |
| Story / ephemeral | On every frame that carries the promotion | Disclosed on frame one of a nine-frame sequence |
| Livestream | Repeated verbally throughout the stream | Said once at the start to a fraction of the eventual audience |
| Podcast / audio | Spoken in the episode itself | Written in show-notes only |
| Newsletter / blog | Above the endorsement, before the reader scrolls | A disclosure line in the footer |
Is the platform’s “Paid partnership” tag enough?
Treat it as a supplement, not a substitute. Built-in tags render inconsistently across devices, sit in small grey type, and sometimes disappear entirely when content is reshared, embedded, or viewed in an in-app browser.
The durable practice is to use the platform tool and put a plain-language disclosure in the creative itself, where it travels with the content wherever it goes.
What about video, livestreams, and audio?
Text-only disclosure fails when the medium is not text. Someone listening to a podcast in a car never sees a show-note.
- Short video — on-screen text plus a spoken mention near the start.
- Long video — disclose at the start and again around the segment itself; viewers join late.
- Livestream — repeat it periodically, because the audience turns over continuously.
- Podcast and audio — spoken, in the episode. Show-notes alone do not reach the listener.
Who is liable — the creator or the brand?
Potentially both. Advertisers carry responsibility for the endorsements made on their behalf and are expected to have a disclosure policy, to train the creators they engage, and to monitor what actually gets published. Creators carry responsibility for their own posts.
Operationally this means a brand’s contract should state the disclosure standard, and a creator should not accept a brief that quietly instructs them to bury it.
What does a compliant disclosure actually look like?
Short, early, and boring on purpose:
- “Ad — thanks to [Brand] for sponsoring this one.” as the first line of the caption.
- “Paid partnership with [Brand]” burned into the first seconds of the video.
- “I get a commission if you use this link.” directly beside the link itself.
What consistently fails: #sp, #collab, #thanks[Brand], a disclosure at the end of a 200-word caption, or grey 10-pixel text on a white background.
This is not legal advice. Clemons Wright is a management-consulting and risk-advisory firm, not a law firm, and Dustin L. Clemons is not a licensed attorney. This page is general operating information, not advice about your situation, and reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. Rules differ by jurisdiction and change over time. For advice on your matter, retain a licensed attorney — here is how we help you choose one.
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