FTC rules for online ads, influencers, reviews & email
US Federal Trade Commission business guidance on truthful advertising: the Endorsement Guides FAQ for influencers and brands, the Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, native advertising, .com Disclosures for digital ads, advertising FAQs for small businesses and the CAN-SPAM email compliance guide. For marketers, agencies, creators and e-commerce teams selling to US consumers. Curated by Kopik from public sources: Federal Trade Commission (US public domain).
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Free account requiredAnswers are written by a language model solely from this base's documents, with numbered sources. They can be wrong and aren't legal, medical or financial advice: check the sources before any important decision.
This assistant answers questions about US Federal Trade Commission guidance on advertising: influencer and endorsement disclosures, consumer reviews, native advertising, digital disclosures and commercial email. It is meant for marketers, agencies, creators and e-commerce teams who sell to US consumers and want a quick, sourced answer. Every answer comes from public FTC business guidance, including the Endorsement Guides FAQ, the Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule Q&A, the .com Disclosures guide and the CAN-SPAM compliance guide.
Influencers and the material connection
If you endorse a product on social media, the FTC expects your message to make it obvious when you have a "material connection" with the brand. That covers personal, family or employment relationships, and financial ones such as being paid or receiving free or discounted products or services.
Financial relationships are not limited to money: if you got anything of value to mention a product, disclose it, even if you think your evaluation is unbiased. Tags, likes, pins and similar ways of showing you like a brand also count as endorsements.
If you are simply talking about a product you bought and like, with no brand relationship, you do not need to state that you have no relationship. When posting from abroad, US law applies if it is reasonably foreseeable that the post will affect US consumers.
Influencers are responsible for making these disclosures themselves and should not rely on others to do it. They also cannot talk about a product they have not tried, praise a product they found terrible, or make claims that would require proof the advertiser does not have.
Where and how to disclose on social media
The disclosure should sit with the endorsement itself. FTC staff warn that disclosures are likely to be missed if they appear only on a profile or About Me page, at the end of posts or videos, behind a "more" click, or mixed into a group of hashtags or links.
In a video, the disclosure belongs in the video and not only in the description, ideally in both audio and on screen. In a live stream, it should be repeated periodically. On image formats such as Instagram Stories, it should be superimposed on the picture long enough to be read.
Plain words work: "advertisement", "ad", "sponsored" or "Thanks to Acme brand for the free product". Avoid vague terms such as "sp", "spon", "collab", or a stand-alone "thanks" or "ambassador". A platform's built-in disclosure tool may not be enough on its own.
Truth in advertising: deceptive, unfair, unproven
Under the FTC's approach, ads must be truthful and not deceptive, advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims, and ads cannot be unfair. An ad is deceptive if it contains a statement, or omits information, that is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably and is material to their decision to buy or use the product.
The FTC looks at the ad from the point of view of the reasonable consumer, considers both express and implied claims, and checks whether the advertiser had a "reasonable basis" before the ad ran. Health and safety claims generally need competent and reliable scientific evidence.
The FTC pays closest attention to health or safety claims and to claims that consumers would have trouble evaluating themselves. Subjective claims such as "tastes great" receive less attention.
Disclosures that work in digital ads
The .com Disclosures guide asks advertisers to place required information as close as possible to the claim it qualifies. Preferably, ads should be designed so that scrolling is not needed to find a disclosure; when it is, text or visual cues such as "see below for important information" should invite consumers to scroll.
When a hyperlink leads to a disclosure, the link should be obvious, labeled to convey the importance and nature of the information, styled consistently and placed near the claim. In a space-constrained ad, the disclosure should be incorporated into the ad whenever possible.
Frequently asked questions
Will the FTC check my ads before they run?
No. FTC staff cannot clear ads in advance. The agency publishes guidance on advertising specific kinds of products and on advertising online to help businesses comply on their own.
Are letters from satisfied customers enough to support a claim?
No. Statements from satisfied customers usually are not sufficient to support a health or safety claim or any other claim that requires objective evaluation. A money-back guarantee is not a substitute for substantiation either.
How should an affiliate marketer disclose commissions?
Disclose the relationship to the retailer clearly and conspicuously, for example "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post." The closer the disclosure is to the recommendation, the better. If you review products in videos and add affiliate links in the description, disclose in the videos and near the links.
Do employees need to disclose when they promote their employer's products?
Yes, when their posts or shares could be seen as promoting the company's products. FTC staff note that "#employee" alone is unlikely to be understood; wording such as "my company's" or "I work for XYZ" is clearer.
What must a brand do to monitor the influencers it pays?
Advertisers need reasonable programs to train and monitor the people who promote them, scaled to the risk of consumer harm. FTC staff list four elements: explain what can and cannot be said about the products, explain exactly how to disclose the connection, periodically search what network members are saying, and take action on questionable practices.
What remedies can follow a deceptive ad?
Remedies have included cease and desist orders, civil penalties, consumer redress such as refunds, and corrective advertising. A company under such an order may have to pay a fine of $53,088 per day per ad if it violates the law again.
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