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What New FTC Disclosure Rules Mean For Influencers
The Federal Trade Commission has set its sights on influencers once again. Starting in December, expanding on their new round of disclosure guidelines from 2023. The guidelines went into effect in 2024 and the FTC has put out a series of letters, press releases and blog posts, attempting to tighten the standard for what has to be disclosed for sponsored social media posts. This comes after years of controversies related to content creators and brand partnerships, cryptocurrency endorsements and unregulated blank on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. So what do these new guidelines mean for influencers in the U.S.?
Federal regulators have sent a clear message to brands and creators: disclosure rules in influencer marketing are not optional. On December 22nd, the FTC announced that it had sent warning letters to 10 companies regarding potential violations related to the agency’s new Consumer Review Rule, related to potentially “fake or false consumer reviews, consumer testimonials, or celebrity testimonials.” Fines could be up to $53,088 per violation. Legal analysis by the law news publication The National Law Review earlier this month emphasized that disclosures in social media remain a central enforcement focus, particularly as content moves fluidly across feeds, stories, and short-form video. Essentially the FTC wants someone to be able to tell if a post is sponsored or an ad when they scroll past it.
For years, many creators relied on brand tags, brief in-content references or hashtags blended into a long caption to signify a sponsored or partnered post. Regulators are signalling that they are increasingly skeptical of those approaches, especially when those notices are easy to miss and easy to potentially misinterpret. Platforms are also responding, with YouTube, Instagram and TikTok labeling branded or promotional content in the past few years. Additional layers to sponsorship exist as well. An article by daily Legal news outlet JD Supra made clear that disclosure is not limited to obvious ad reads with scripts provided by a brand. A creator who casually praises a product while participating in a broader paid partnership may still need to disclose that relationship. The focus is on context that would matter to viewers, not on how formal the arrangement looks behind the scenes.
The placement of where you disclose that a post has been sponsored is also an issue. With shorts on social media, a disclosure that appears only in the description field can easily go unseen, especially when videos are reposted or embedded elsewhere. Regulators have signaled that disclosures should appear within the content itself in a way that stands out, whether spoken in the video or displayed as readable on-screen text. If viewers are unlikely to see it, it is unlikely to satisfy the standard. A related, recent study on tobacco marketing found that influencers were one of the main groups who failed to disclose business relationships with tobacco companies, noting that “influencer-related posts lacked proper FTC-mandated disclosures of financial relationships”.
Livestreaming adds another layer of complexity. Audiences join and leave at different points, and many viewers skip the opening minutes of a broadcast. A single disclosure at the beginning of a two-hour stream may not reach a significant portion of the audience. Recent guidance suggests that repeating disclosures during the stream, or maintaining a visible on-screen notice, is a more reliable approach. The expectation reflects how live content is actually consumed rather than how it might look on paper.
The practical effect of these developments is easy to understand. For creators, when money, free products, or commissions are involved, being straightforward is a legal requirement, even if the post is styled as a casual recommendation. The current round of warnings suggests regulators are less concerned with punishing technical mistakes and more focused on patterns that make paid influence look organic. If sponsorship is part of the business model, it has to be visible in the content itself.
