How to disclose ads on every platform

When a brand pays you, gives you something or pays you commission, you are advertising, and the people watching have a right to know. Saying so plainly keeps their trust, and it's the law where most of your audience lives.

The rule in one line

Put “Ad” at the start of every caption, title or message that promotes a brand you earn from, and switch on the platform's own paid-partnership tool as well wherever it has one. In a video, show it on screen and say it at the start.

“Ad” is short, every audience understands it, and it's the label the UK's advertising regulators prefer. Write it in the language your audience reads.

Where it goes on each platform

• Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest: “Ad” at the start of the caption, and the “Paid partnership” label switched on.
• TikTok: “Ad” at the start of the caption, and the branded-content setting switched on.
• YouTube: “Ad” at the start of the title, “Includes paid promotion” ticked in the video's details, and the label said or shown at the start.
• X, Threads, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Telegram: “Ad” at the start of the post or message; there's no tool to rely on.
• Snapchat: “Ad” on screen, large enough to read.
• Blogs, newsletters and podcasts: “Ad” before the first mention of the brand or the first link, not at the bottom.

The full guide for every platform, with the rules in the US, the UK and the EU, is on the disclosure page.

What doesn't count

• A label at the end of a long run of hashtags, or after “more”.
• Abbreviations and vague tags on their own: #sp, #spon, #collab, a brand's own hashtag, “thanks to”, or “gifted” when you're also paid.
• A note in your bio only, or a discount code on its own.
• The platform's tool on its own, without the word in the caption. Use both.

Honest content is part of it

Say only what you really think about things you've really used. Never invent a review, a result, a screenshot, a discount or an audience number, and never pretend a product is yours when it isn't.

What we do, and what's yours to do

• Every share text we make for you starts with the label, and if you edit it the label stays.
• Brands can't ask you to drop the label: text that tells creators to hide it is refused when a brand writes it.
• What you post is yours to get right. If content breaks the disclosure policy we may pause your links and, for a confirmed breach, withhold earnings from that content, always with a reason and a way to appeal.