What are the rules for paying an influencer to post about my product?

Written by Dante, who built Prep66, PrepAMT and Ancestorii

A post you paid for, or gave a gift or any other incentive for, must say plainly that it is advertising, in the UK and in the US. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says so in its guidance for brands, even if you do not control the content or ask for anything in return. The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Endorsement Guides count free or discounted products whether or not an endorsement is required in return. Both countries hold the brand responsible as well as the creator. The CMA's short guide for businesses says the CMA and the courts can fine a trader up to 10% of worldwide turnover. This page is not legal advice.

What the regulators say, in their own words

Even if your business doesn't control the content or ask content creators for anything in return: all ads must be labelled as ads.

CMA, Social media endorsements: guidance for brands, updated 28 August 2025

Both brands and influencers are responsible for ensuring that ads are obviously identifiable, so both need to ensure that the ads they create can be easily distinguished from the influencer's independent posts.
Because the term "sponsored" is open to varied interpretation, we advise against using this label to refer to advertising.

Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Executive, on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) site, Recognising ads: Social media and influencer marketing, 6 August 2026

Material connections can include a business, family, or personal relationship. They can include monetary payment or the provision of free or discounted products (including products unrelated to the endorsed product) to an endorser, regardless of whether the advertiser requires an endorsement in return.
Advertisers are subject to liability for misleading or unsubstantiated statements made through endorsements or for failing to disclose unexpected material connections between themselves and their endorsers.

FTC, Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR 255.5(a) and 255.1(d)

Starting a post with "Ad:" or "Paid ad" or "#ad" or "Advertising:" or "Advertisement" would likely be effective.

FTC staff, FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, June 2023

What that means if you have just launched

Free access to your product is payment. The CMA's guidance for creators counts money, commission, discounts, loans and gifts of any product, digital content included, however many followers the creator has.
Say how to label it before anything is posted. The CMA's guidance for brands says to send clear instructions with every gift. FTC staff say to tell creators how to disclose and what they can and cannot say about the product.
Use "Ad" at the start. Both countries accept it. "Sponsored" is a term the FTC's guide for influencers lists as often enough, and a word the CMA says to avoid.
Check what goes up. The same CMA guidance says to check the content yourself and have a wrong label corrected promptly, and that you are at risk if you keep working with a creator who repeatedly fails to label.
Only real use. The FTC's guide says a creator cannot talk about their experience with a product they have not tried.
Friends, family and staff count. The CMA's guidance for creators says a post promoting a brand the poster works for, or one that they, their family or their friends own, must be labelled as advertising.
A commission link or code makes the post an ad too. The ASA's advice says so. See Referrals and affiliates.

The UK against the US

Each cell is read from the pages linked above and from the ASA and CAP guide for influencers, a PDF on that page.

Question	UK	US
Who sets the rule	The CMA under consumer law. The ASA under the CAP Code, whose rule 2.1 says marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such.	The FTC under the FTC Act. Its staff say the Guides themselves do not have the force of law, and that practices inconsistent with them may bring enforcement.
When a post must be labelled	Any payment, gift or other incentive, asked for or not, or a personal or commercial tie to the brand.	A tie that might affect the weight of the endorsement and that the audience would not expect: payment, free or discounted products, family, work.
Must the brand control the content	Not for consumer law. Where the brand paid in some way and had some editorial control, final approval included, the ASA can also act under the CAP Code.	No. A free product counts whether or not a post is required in return.
Labels to use	"Ad", "Advert", "Advertising" or "Advertisement", at the very beginning.	"Ad", "Advertisement" or "Sponsored", or plain words such as "Thanks to Acme brand for the free product", where they are hard to miss.
Labels to avoid	"Sponsored", "spon", "gifted", "collab", "aff", "affiliate", "thank you", a brand tag alone, a discount code alone.	"sp", "spon" and "collab", and "thanks", "ambassador" or "Gifted" on their own.
The platform's own label	May be enough if it is upfront, clear and prominent. If unsure, add "Ad".	Do not assume it is good enough. Use it in addition to your own disclosure.
Who is responsible	The brand, the creator and any agent. An ASA ruling names both brand and creator.	The brand and the creator. An advertiser may be liable even when the endorser is not.

The numbers

None of these pages says what a creator charges.

Up to 10% of worldwide turnover. The fine the CMA's short guide for businesses says the CMA and the courts can set, under changes in force since 6 April 2025. It lists hidden advertising on social media among the practices that are always banned.
12 months. The ASA and CAP guide expects disclosure throughout any ongoing relationship and in relevant content for 12 months after (page 4). The guide dates from 23 March 2023, and its page says an update for the 2024 consumer law is to come.
A few months. FTC staff say it would probably be reasonable to monitor a creator for at least that long after sending a free product, and set no fixed period.
No US sum. FTC staff name none. They say an order can require money to go back to consumers, and that civil penalties are possible for a company that had already received a Notice of Penalty Offenses on endorsements.

The platforms' own labels

YouTube's help page on paid promotion says a creator must tick the paid promotion box, after which YouTube shows viewers a disclosure message for 10 seconds at the beginning of the video, and that the law may require more. TikTok's Branded Content Policy, in effect from 31 August 2026, says a creator must turn on the commercial content disclosure toggle for gifted products, paid posts, commission and brand ambassador work.

Meta's own pages on Instagram's paid partnership label could not be read for this page, so nothing is said of them here. Paying a platform to show a post is a separate channel: see TikTok Ads and Meta Ads.

How Sami uses it

Sami ranks influencers and paid posts against the other channels for your product and says why they are in or out. A post you pay for is a paid step, so it comes after the free methods and gets one week if your product is bought on the page.

AskSami never posts anywhere for you, never spends your money and never writes to your code. You do those things yourself. Nothing Sami says about these rules is legal advice. What a post cost and the signups it brought become dated records, and signups and payments are tied to their source where the snippet in your product recorded one.

Questions people ask

Do I have to disclose if I only sent a free product and asked for nothing?

Yes, in both countries. The CMA's guidance for brands says any content posted as a result of a free gift must be labelled as an ad, even if you do not ask for anything in return. The FTC's guide for influencers tells creators to disclose even if they were not asked to mention the product.

Is #gifted or #sponsored enough?

Not in the UK: the CMA's guidance for creators lists both among words to avoid. In the US, the FTC's guide for influencers lists "sponsored" among terms that are often enough, and FTC staff say "Gifted" by itself, with no brand named, is likely to be ambiguous.

Who is responsible if an influencer does not label the post, me or them?

Both. The ASA's advice says the brand and the influencer are both named in a ruling. FTC staff say that if enforcement becomes necessary their focus will usually be on advertisers.

I am in the UK. Do the US rules apply to my posts?

They can. The FTC's guide for influencers says US law applies to a post from abroad if it is reasonably foreseeable that the post will affect US consumers.

Sources

Competition and Markets Authority, Social media endorsements: guidance for brands, updated 28 August 2025. Read on 8 October 2026.
Federal Trade Commission, in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, 16 CFR Part 255, published 26 July 2023, shown as up to date on 6 October 2026. Read on 8 October 2026.
Competition and Markets Authority, What businesses need to know about unfair commercial practices, updated 3 December 2025. Read on 8 October 2026.
Advertising Standards Authority and CAP, Recognising ads: Social media and influencer marketing, 6 August 2026. Read on 8 October 2026.
Federal Trade Commission, FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, June 2023. Read on 8 October 2026.
Competition and Markets Authority, Social media endorsements: guidance for content creators, updated 3 September 2025. Read on 8 October 2026.
Federal Trade Commission, Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, November 2019. Read on 8 October 2026.
Advertising Standards Authority and CAP, Influencers' guide to making clear that ads are ads, third edition, 23 March 2023. Read on 8 October 2026.
Committee of Advertising Practice, CAP Code, section 2: Recognition of marketing communications. Read on 8 October 2026.
YouTube Help, Add paid product placements, sponsorships and endorsements. Read on 8 October 2026.
TikTok, Branded Content Policy, published 4 August 2026, effective 31 August 2026. Read on 8 October 2026.

Checked on 17 October 2026. Every rule, price and figure on this page was read on the page it links to, on the day shown beside it above. They change, so open the source before you rely on one.