How to understand advertising and disclosure rules

To comply with UK law and maintain your audience's trust, you must clearly label any content that has been paid for, gifted, or contains affiliate links using prominent identifiers like #ad at the very beginning of your post, caption, or video description. Transparency isn't just a "nice to have"; it is a legal requirement enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Who sets the rules?

In the UK, two main bodies oversee how you talk to your audience about commercial relationships:

• The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority): They are the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media. They react to complaints and proactively monitor content to ensure ads are "legal, decent, honest, and truthful."
• The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority): They ensure that markets work well for consumers. They have the power to take legal action against creators who mislead their audience by hiding the fact they've been paid to endorse something.

What needs to be disclosed?

The golden rule is: if you have received any form of incentive to post, your audience needs to know. This includes:

Type	Description	Recommended Label
Paid Sponsorship	A brand pays you a fee to create content.	#Ad or Ad
Gifted Items	Products, services, or trips sent to you for free, even if you didn't ask for them.	#Ad (The ASA treats gifts as a payment in kind)
Affiliate Links	Links or discount codes that earn you a commission on sales.	#Ad or #Affiliate

Best practices for disclosure

The ASA and CMA are very specific about how you should disclose these relationships. Following these steps will keep you on the right side of the law:

1. Make it "Upfront": The disclosure must be visible before the user engages with the content. On Instagram, this means before the "more" button. On YouTube, it should be in the video itself and at the top of the description.
2. Use clear language: Use #Ad or AD. Avoid vague terms like "supported by," "made possible by," "collaboration," or "spon," as these don't clearly state that a commercial incentive was involved.
3. Don't hide it: Ensure the text isn't in a tiny font, a colour that blends into the background, or buried in a sea of twenty other hashtags.
4. Platform tools are not enough: While platforms like Instagram and YouTube have "Paid Partnership" toggles, the ASA often finds these insufficient on their own. You should still include a clear written disclosure.

Pro Tip: When in doubt, label it. If your audience would feel misled finding out later that you were paid or gifted a product, you should have disclosed it from the start.

How to stay compliant

The rules evolve as social media changes. To stay safe, bookmark the "Influencers' guide to making clear that ads are ads" provided by the ASA. This document provides visual examples of what to do and what to avoid across different platforms like TikTok, X, and Instagram. Regularly reviewing your older content to ensure it meets current standards is also a great habit to get into as your business grows.