FTC influencer guidelines for gifted products

The rules in one paragraph

The FTC’s Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255) say that when there’s a connection between a brand and the person endorsing it that viewers wouldn’t expect, it has to be disclosed. A free product is that kind of connection. The FTC revised the Guides in June 2023, the first update since 2009, and published an updated FAQ, “What People Are Asking”. For creators, its plain-language brochure is Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers.

A free product is a material connection

Disclosures 101 defines a material connection as a personal, family, employment or financial relationship with a brand, and gives free or discounted products as an example. It doesn’t matter whether the creator asked for the product, or whether the brand asked them to post. If they got it free and they talk about it, they should disclose.

• Unsolicited gifts count. The FAQ says a company that sends products to people it hopes will post should ask them to disclose the gift in any resulting posts.
• There’s no dollar threshold. The FAQ says there is no amount that applies in every situation. The question is whether the gift could affect how much weight viewers give the post.
• Posting from abroad doesn’t exempt you. Disclosures 101 says US law applies if it’s reasonably foreseeable that the post will affect US consumers.

#gifted vs #ad

The FTC doesn’t require any particular word. It requires that viewers understand. Some words do that and some don’t:

Where the disclosure goes

Since 2023, the Guides define “clear and conspicuous”: a disclosure must be difficult to miss and easily understood by ordinary consumers. On social media, the Guides say it should be unavoidable. In practice:

• With the endorsement, not elsewhere. Disclosures 101 says a disclosure is likely to be missed if it’s only in the bio or profile page, at the end of the post, or behind “more”.
• Not mixed into hashtags. A disclosure buried in a group of hashtags or links is easy to miss.
• In the creator’s language. If the post is in Spanish, the disclosure should be in Spanish.

Video: say it and show it

For TikTok, Reels and Shorts, the caption isn’t enough. Disclosures 101 says the disclosure should be in the video itself, not just in the description uploaded with it. The Guides set the rule by format:

• If the product is endorsed visually, the disclosure should be at least on screen.
• If it’s endorsed out loud, the disclosure should be at least spoken.
• If it’s both, which is most short videos, the disclosure should be both on screen and spoken. The Guides say showing and saying it at the same time is more likely to be clear.
• On-screen text should stand out by size, contrast, position and how long it stays, so it’s easily read.
• In live streams, repeat it, so people who join late still hear it.

Platform labels help, but add your own

Instagram’s “Paid partnership” label, TikTok’s content disclosure setting and YouTube’s “Includes paid promotion” are useful, and the platforms ask creators to use them for gifted products. But Disclosures 101 says not to assume a platform’s disclosure tool is good enough, and the FAQ says it’s safest to add your own disclosure even when a platform tool exists. The FAQ also says the responsibility rests with the creator and the brand, not the platform. How each label works is in our guide to the paid partnership label.

What the brand is responsible for

This is the part brands often miss. The FTC’s FAQ says a company is ultimately responsible for what others do on its behalf, and that advertisers need reasonable programs to train and monitor the people who promote their products. The FAQ describes what such a program includes:

1. 01

   Tell creators what to disclose

   Explain, in writing, that they should disclose the gift and how. Put the exact words in the note that goes with the product: “Gifted by @yourbrand” at the start of the caption and on screen.

2. 02

   Tell them what not to claim

   Tell creators which claims about the product they can and can’t make, for example about results or health.

3. 03

   Check what they post

   Periodically search for posts about your product by the creators you gifted, and check that the disclosure is there and visible.

4. 04

   Follow up when it’s missing

   If a disclosure is missing or a claim is wrong, ask for a fix, and keep a note of what you asked and when. Act on creators who keep leaving it out.

Monitoring is easy to promise and hard to do once you gift more than a handful of creators, because the posts that matter most are often the ones that don’t tag you. You can check one post at a time with our free disclosure checker.

Gifts in exchange for reviews

A separate rule covers reviews. The FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule (16 CFR Part 465), fully in effect since October 21, 2024, bans offering incentives for reviews that express a particular sentiment, positive or negative. Sending a product with no conditions on what the review says isn’t banned by that rule. Asking for a five-star review in return for it is. The disclosure rules above still apply either way.

How Pozto helps

Pozto watches the creators you gifted on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts and finds the posts that show your product, tagged or not. For each post, it reads the caption for disclosure words and notes whether they come before the caption is cut off. It notes YouTube’s paid promotion flag and Instagram’s “Paid partnership” label where it can read them, and, for videos it checks, whether the creator said or showed the disclosure.

It reports what it found: clear, weak or none. It doesn’t decide whether that meets the FTC’s standard, but it shows you which posts to look at and which creators to ask for a fix. Start free with up to 10 creators. For other countries, see influencer disclosure rules by country.