Affiliate Disclosure Rules: What the FTC Requires

What are the FTC affiliate disclosure rules?

The FTC affiliate disclosure rules say that if you get paid, or get anything of value, when people act on your recommendation, you must disclose that connection clearly and conspicuously, close to the recommendation itself. The rules come from the FTC’s Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255, revised in June 2023). A good affiliate disclosure is plain and specific, such as “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post”, and it sits where people cannot miss it, not only in a footer, bio or About page.

Below: the sources, what “clear and conspicuous” means, example wording, placement per platform, the 2024 fake reviews rule, and how it all applies to promoting offers or an offerwall. This is general information, not legal advice; if your business depends on endorsements, talk to a lawyer in your country.

Where the rules come from

Three FTC guidance documents and one binding rule, all checked on October 21, 2026:

The FAQ says “The Guides themselves don’t have the force of law”, but they show how the FTC applies the law against deceptive advertising, and a company that received a Notice of Penalty Offenses on endorsements could face “substantial civil penalties”. Treat them as the standard you will be judged by.

The two definitions that matter

An endorsement is any advertising, marketing or promotional message that people are likely to believe reflects the opinions or experience of someone other than the advertiser. A recommendation in a blog post, video, Discord or Telegram message counts, and since 2023 so can a tag on social media.

A material connection, under section 255.5, is any connection that might affect how much weight people give the endorsement and that they would not expect. It includes money, free or discounted products, and business, family or personal relationships, even if no post was required. It must be disclosed when “a significant minority of the audience” does not understand or expect it. Example 11 there is the affiliate case: a blogger who earns a share of sales through links should disclose it.

Does it apply if you are not in the US?

Often, yes. The FAQ says US law applies if it is reasonably foreseeable that your content will be seen by and affect US consumers.

What “clear and conspicuous” means

The 2023 revision added a formal definition in section 255.0(f): a disclosure must be “difficult to miss (i.e., easily noticeable) and easily understandable by ordinary consumers.” The rest of the definition gives five tests:

1. Same channel as the claim. Visual endorsement, visual disclosure; spoken endorsement, spoken disclosure; both, both. Saying and showing it at once is more likely to be clear.
2. It stands out. Size, contrast, location and time on screen should make it easy to notice and read; spoken disclosures need a normal volume and pace.
3. Unavoidable online. On social media and the internet, the disclosure “should be unavoidable.” The FAQ adds that a disclosure behind a hyperlink is easily avoidable, so it fails.
4. Not contradicted. Nothing else in the message may undercut it, such as “not sponsored” beside a paid link.
5. Judged by your audience. When an endorsement targets a specific group, “ordinary consumers” means members of that group.

The FAQ adds: disclose in the same language as the endorsement, and the amount does not matter. Whether you got $100 or $1,000, you can simply say you were “paid”.

Affiliate disclosure examples: good vs bad wording

Most failed disclosures use the right idea with the wrong words. Here is how the FAQ and Disclosures 101 rate common labels:

Disclosures 101 adds that you cannot talk about your experience with a product you have not tried, or call a product you think is bad great because you are paid. A disclosure does not fix a false review.

Where to put the disclosure on each platform

The general rule from Disclosures 101: place the disclosure with the endorsement message itself, where it is hard to miss. Disclosures that appear only on an About Me or profile page are likely to be missed, and the FAQ says a single disclosure on your home page is not enough, because visitors read individual pages.

Why the table looks like this

Each row follows an FTC point. A footer link to a disclosure policy is easy to avoid, so it fails. Viewers miss disclosures in a video description, and ones at the end more than at the start. On Instagram it should show without tapping “more”. Spoken endorsements need spoken disclosures, and Disclosures 101 says to repeat them during live streams for late joiners.

Discord and Telegram communities

Neither FTC page names Discord or Telegram, so apply the same principles. A channel description or pinned “we use affiliate links” message works like a bio: many members see a single post in a notification or a forwarded copy, never the pin. Put the disclosure in each promotional message, and make bots that post deals or offers add it to the embed text automatically. Our guides to affiliate marketing on Telegram and monetizing a Discord server cover the rest of each platform’s rules.

Platform tools: paid partnership labels

Built-in disclosure features help, but none moves the responsibility off you. Checked on October 21, 2026; menus change often.

• YouTube. YouTube’s paid product placement help page describes a “Paid promotion” box for videos and Shorts that adds a disclosure label at the start of the video, and says you and your partners remain responsible for legal requirements.
• TikTok. TikTok’s help article on the content disclosure setting says you must turn on the commercial content disclosure setting when you post content that promotes a brand, product or service. It shows labels such as “Paid partnership”.
• Instagram. Instagram has a Paid Partnership tool for branded content. The UK’s advertising regulator names it as a tool that can help distinguish ads from other content, alongside a clear label in the post.

The 2024 rule on fake reviews and testimonials

The Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials is binding law, not guidance, and it lets the FTC seek civil penalties against knowing violators. According to the FTC’s announcement, it prohibits:

• Fake reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones, that a business knew or should have known were fake.
• Pay or perks conditioned on a review being positive or negative.
• Undisclosed reviews by officers, managers or employees, and company-controlled “independent” review sites.
• Suppressing negative reviews with threats or false accusations.
• Buying or selling fake followers or views to misrepresent influence.

For a publisher: never reward users for positive reviews, never hide that you own or are paid by the winner of a “best of” page, and never buy followers to look bigger to sponsors. The app stores go further and ban incentives for any review, as Can you pay for app reviews? explains, and How to grow social media followers without fake ones covers the follower side.

Outside the US: UK rules in brief

In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says the rule is to “make clear upfront when ads are ads”, in each post. Its #InfluencingResponsibly guidance calls “#ad (or similar)” the clearest way to signal commercial content, says “#affiliate” or “#aff” is not likely to be enough on its own, and says a bio or past posts do not make a new post clear. Separately, the Competition and Markets Authority published fake reviews guidance on April 4, 2025, for legislative changes introduced that April. For other countries, check the local regulator.

How this applies when you promote offers or an offerwall

With an offerwall you earn when your users complete offers, which shapes how you promote specific offers and describe earnings.

Promoting a specific offer

A post such as “Try this game, it’s great” with a link that pays you per completed offer is an endorsement with a material connection. Disclose it in the post: “Ad: we earn when you complete this offer. You get 500 coins for reaching level 10.” Copy the requirements from the wall, not from memory, and only praise an offer you have actually tried. Offerwall vs affiliate links compares the two models.

Describing your earn page

Telling your own users “Earn coins by trying apps, games and surveys” on your own earn page is your own advertising, and it still has to be true. Say that offers come from third-party advertisers, that requirements vary, and that rewards are credited once the advertiser confirms completion. How to write an earn page that converts shows how to be clear and still persuasive, and Promoting your offerwall: allowed and prohibited ways has an honest vs misleading wording table.

Earnings claims

Section 255.2 of the Guides says an endorsement about a key attribute will be read as saying the endorser’s experience is what people will generally achieve. If it is not, the advertiser should clearly disclose the generally expected performance. So no rare wins presented as normal.

When your users post for you

Example 9 in section 255.5 covers someone who earns prize points for social media posts about an advertiser: the incentive should be disclosed, and the advertiser should make sure it is. If you reward users for sharing your site, give them disclosure text and require it. Never reward them for reviews, and do not pay people to click tracking links outside the wall, which is prohibited, as the traffic quality rules explain. New to offers? Start with CPA marketing for beginners.

Frequently asked questions