Sponsorships, Affiliates & AI: Disclosure Rules Creators Can’t Ignore
Brand deals, affiliate links, gifted products, UGC whitelisting, AI tools writing your talking points — it’s all normal now. What regulators care about hasn’t changed:
If money or benefits changed hands, viewers should clearly know that when they hear your opinion.
This guide pulls together the current rules and platform practices for:
- Sponsorships and paid promotions
- Affiliate links and gifted products
- AI-generated reviews and endorsements
All in practical, creator-facing language.
🎯 The Core Rule: Material Connections Must Be Disclosed
In US law, the center of gravity is the FTC Endorsement Guides and related rules:
- A “material connection” is any relationship that might affect how people weigh your endorsement:
payment, affiliate commission, free product, family tie, brand employment, etc. (eCFR) - If a significant minority of your audience wouldn’t reasonably expect that connection, it must be clearly and conspicuously disclosed. (Legal Information Institute)
In plain English:
If you get paid, get a cut, or get free stuff, say so — up front and in human language your viewers actually understand.
🧩 Sponsorship vs Affiliate vs “Gifted” – What Needs A Disclosure?
Short answer: nearly everything.
| 💼 Situation | Is There A Material Connection? | Needs Disclosure? | Typical Wording That Works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat-fee brand deal (sponsored video, post, stream) | Yes – direct payment for coverage. | ✅ Always | “Sponsored by…”, “Paid partnership with…”, “This video is an ad for…”. |
| Affiliate links (you earn % of sales or per click) | Yes – financial incentive tied to viewer actions. | ✅ Always | “Links are affiliate links, I earn a commission if you buy.” (Federal Trade Commission) |
| Free product or experience (no cash) | Yes – free stuff is a benefit. | ✅ Usually | “Gifted by…”, “PR sample from…”, “I received this for free from…”. |
| Discount code you earn from (affiliate code) | Yes – commission or kickback. | ✅ Always | “My code gives you X% off and I earn a commission when you use it.” |
| Employee or ambassador talking about employer’s products | Yes – employment/long-term relationship. | ✅ Always | “I work for [Brand]…”, “I’m a [Brand] ambassador…”. |
| Pure fan recommendation (bought with your own money, no contact) | Usually no | ❌ Not required | Voluntary “not sponsored” notes are fine but not required. |
The FTC has repeatedly said that weak tags like “thanks to X” or burying #ad among ten hashtags is not good enough.
🧠 AI In The Mix: Scripts, Reviews & Synthetic Voices
AI doesn’t change the basic rule: don’t mislead people.
New twists you should be aware of:
| 🤖 AI Scenario | What Regulators Care About |
|---|---|
| AI writes your sponsored script or review | Viewers still think you are expressing genuine opinions. If the brand or an AI tool is feeding you talking points, disclosures and truthfulness still apply. |
| AI-generated reviews on your site or store | The FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule bans fake or misleading reviews and testimonials and allows civil penalties for violations. That includes reviews from people (or AIs) who never used the product. (Federal Trade Commission) |
| Synthetic voice or avatar “endorsing” a product | If it looks/sounds like a real person endorsing something, endorsement rules and right-of-publicity issues still apply; it can’t be used to fake reviews or celebrity testimonials. (Alston & Bird) |
You don’t have to explain which words came from AI. You do have to:
- Tell people when an endorsement is paid or incentivized, and
- Avoid publishing AI-generated reviews or testimonials that are fake, misleading, or from non-customers. (Federal Trade Commission)
📺 Platform Rules: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok
On top of the law, platforms layer their own rules. They all converge on:
- Use the built-in disclosure tools, and
- Follow local advertising laws (like the FTC rules).
YouTube
- Creators must use the “contains paid promotion” checkbox for product placements, sponsorships, or endorsements. When you do, YouTube shows a disclosure at the start of the video. (Google Help)
- This does not replace your FTC disclosure — you still need clear verbal or on-screen disclosures, especially if the brand is integrated throughout the video. (Federal Trade Commission)
Instagram & Facebook
- Meta defines “branded content” as creator content that features or is influenced by a business partner in exchange for value. (Instagram Help Centre)
- Branded content posts must use the paid partnership/brand tag (Branded Content Tool). (Instagram Help Centre)
- Many brand programs and third-party guides recommend still adding “ad”, “sponsored”, or “paid partnership” in the first lines of the caption, above the fold. (help-influence.later.com)
TikTok
- TikTok requires creators promoting a brand, product, or service to turn on the “content disclosure” setting (disclose commercial content). Posts that don’t may be limited or removed. (TikTok Support)
- Best practice is using both the in-app toggle and clear #ad/#sponsored style wording in the video or caption. (Influencer Intelligence)
Platform toggles help, but the FTC has been explicit: platform tools alone are not a safe harbor if your actual disclosure is unclear or hidden. (Federal Trade Commission)
📌 What “Clear And Conspicuous” Actually Means
Creators often ask: Where do I put it? How big? Which words?
Here’s how regulators describe it in practice:
| ✅ Good Disclosure | ❌ Weak / Risky Disclosure |
|---|---|
| “This video is sponsored by X.” spoken early and shown on-screen. | Only a tiny logo or “Special thanks to X” at the end. (Federal Trade Commission) |
| “I earn a commission if you buy through these affiliate links.” near the links. | “Support the channel” with no explanation that links are commission-based. (Federal Trade Commission) |
| “Thanks to X for sending this to me for free.” clearly in the description and/or video. | Just tagging the brand, no words about sponsorship or gifting. |
| #ad or #sponsored in the first few words of the caption. | Burying #ad at the end of 20 hashtags; or using ambiguous tags like #collab #sp #partner. (Federal Trade Commission) |
Key principles from the FTC’s guides and Q&A: (Federal Trade Commission)
- Place disclosures where people will actually see or hear them, without clicking “more.”
- Use plain language, not legalese or insider abbreviations.
- On video, use both audio and visual wherever possible (good for accessibility, too).
- On short-form vertical content, put disclosure early and not only as a fleeting overlay.
🧪 AI-Generated Reviews, Testimonials & “Social Proof”
Many creators now run their own stores or SaaS, or get asked by brands to “help with reviews.”
The FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule makes some things explicitly illegal: (Federal Trade Commission)
| 🚫 Prohibited Practice | Example In The AI Context |
|---|---|
| Selling, buying, or using reviews from someone who never used the product | Having a language model generate “customer reviews” out of thin air. |
| Reviews that materially misrepresent experience | Prompting AI to fabricate detailed, positive experiences to fill out your product page. |
| Fake celebrity testimonials | Using AI-generated images, video, or text implying a celebrity endorses you when they don’t. |
| Suppressing negative reviews while showcasing only positive ones | Moderating or algorithmically filtering only for five-star reviews while claiming reviews are “unfiltered.” |
If you’re a creator helping brands “optimize social proof,” this matters. You don’t want your name anywhere near:
- AI-written fake reviews,
- Paid-for five-star testimonials that aren’t labeled,
- Synthetic “customers” or “experts” who don’t exist.
Civil penalties can attach for knowing violations — and the FTC has warned that both advertisers and individual endorsers can share liability. (www.hoganlovells.com)
🧭 Practical Checklist For Creators & Affiliate Marketers
You can turn this into a table or card in your content workflow.
| ✅ Do This | 🚫 Avoid This |
|---|---|
| Always disclose money, gifts, commissions, or employment when you talk about a product. | Assuming “everyone knows I’m sponsored” so you don’t need to say it. |
| Use clear words: “ad”, “sponsored”, “paid partnership”, “affiliate link”. | Relying only on ambiguous tags like #sp, #collab, or tagging the brand without any disclosure. |
| Place disclosures early and prominently, in speech and in text. | Hiding them in the last line of a long description or in a fast, tiny overlay. |
| Turn on platform paid promotion / branded content tools and still add your own disclosure. | Assuming platform toggles alone make you compliant with advertising law. (Federal Trade Commission) |
| If you use AI to help draft scripts, keep the message truthful and aligned with your real experience. | Letting AI fabricate experiences or claims you know you can’t stand behind. |
| If you host reviews or testimonials, ensure they’re from real customers, label incentivized ones, and don’t hide negatives. | Using AI or ghostwriters to create fake reviews, or “cleaning up” your ratings by removing all bad ones. (Federal Trade Commission) |
At the end of the day, the rule is simple:
If a viewer would care that you’re getting paid or rewarded, tell them — clearly, up front, and in plain language.
Do that consistently, and you’re not just staying on the right side of regulators. You’re also building exactly what brands actually pay for: trust that survives the next algorithm change.