FTC Disclosure Rules for Influencers in 2026: #ad, Gifted Posts and Paid Partnership Labels

FTC disclosure rules for influencers come down to one test: if a brand gave you anything, or you have a personal, family or work tie to it, tell your audience clearly in the post itself. Three moves cover it: start the caption with #ad or a plain thank-you for the free product, say it and show it in the first seconds of a video, and switch on the platform’s paid partnership label. Payment, free or discounted product, trips, perks and affiliate commissions all count, and the FTC gives no dollar threshold for every situation. A product you bought yourself from a brand you have no relationship with needs no disclosure.

Gifted products need a disclosure. That applies when you agreed to post in exchange for product, when an unsolicited PR package arrives and you choose to feature it, and when a brand that has paid you or sent you product before appears in your content again. Instagram requires its Paid Partnership label when you are compensated in any form, including gifted product and free trips, and TikTok’s Branded Content Policy, effective August 31, 2026, counts gifted products and commissions as branded content.

Placement matters as much as wording. Put the disclosure in the first line of the caption so it shows before the more cut-off, not in your bio or a block of hashtags at the end. In video, show it on screen and say it out loud near the start, repeat it through livestreams, superimpose it on Stories, and put a paid-link note right next to any affiliate link. Disclose in every post and in the same language as the post.

Plain words work: Ad, #ad, Sponsored, Paid partnership with the brand, or Thanks to the brand for the free product. The FTC calls sp, spon and collab vague, says a bare thanks or a bare ambassador or partner tag is ambiguous, and notes that tagging a brand is an endorsement rather than a disclosure. Brand-specific tags such as BrandPartner are clearer. The guide includes copy-ready caption templates for paid, gifted, unsolicited, affiliate, ambassador and family-tie posts, plus spoken and on-screen lines for video, Stories and livestreams.

FTC disclosure hashtags that work are the plain ones placed first. The FTC’s FAQ says #ad, Ad:, Advertisement or Paid ad at the start of a post would likely be effective, and that #ad covers free product as well as payment. Sponsored by the brand is clearer than a bare sponsored tag, and Gifted by the brand should be enough when free product is all you received. Tags such as sp, spon, collab, ambassador, partner, comped and hosted are vague or ambiguous. For the paid partnership label, turn on Add paid partnership label in the Instagram app; on TikTok, turn on Disclose commercial content and choose Branded content.

Use the platform label and your own words together. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube each ask for their label, and the FTC’s 2023 update to its Endorsement Guides says a built-in disclosure tool might not be adequate on its own; its FAQ says a clear disclosure rests with the influencer and the brand, not the platform. If a label will not show, check your account type, update the app, confirm the brand’s exact handle and check whether the product category is restricted. Your own written and spoken disclosure works either way.

Disclosing every time is worth it for practical reasons. A clean disclosure gives the brand nothing to chase or fix, and TikTok says commercial content posted without its disclosure setting may not be eligible for the For You feed. On Aurelia, the wording is settled before you film: your take-home pay, with Aurelia’s fee already taken out, the product and the usage rights are shown before you apply, and your brief and the agreement you sign come with the disclosure line already written, so you never have to guess it. This is general information, not legal advice.