On December 19, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission published updated disclosure guidelines for influencer marketing that take effect April 1, 2026. And unlike previous updates that were mostly clarifications, these changes have teeth—including specific fines for non-compliance and platform-level responsibilities.
If you're running influencer campaigns, these new rules affect you. Here's everything you need to know and do before the deadline.
What Actually Changed
The core principle hasn't changed: When there's a material connection between an influencer and a brand (payment, free products, affiliate relationships, employment, etc.), that connection must be clearly disclosed to the audience.
What's new is how that disclosure must happen and who's responsible for ensuring compliance.
1. Platform-Native Disclosure Tools Are Now Mandatory
Previously, the FTC recommended using platform disclosure tools (like Instagram's "Paid partnership with" tag), but manual disclosures were acceptable. Under the new guidelines, if a platform offers native disclosure tools, you must use them.
This means:
- Instagram posts must use the "Paid partnership" tag
- YouTube videos must check the "Includes paid promotion" box
- TikTok content must enable the "Paid partnership" or "Promotional content" toggle
- Twitter/X posts about paid partnerships must use the Ads Disclosure feature
Text-only disclosures ("#ad" or "#sponsored") are no longer sufficient on platforms that offer built-in tools, even as a supplement. You need both.
2. Brands Are Now Explicitly Liable
Under previous guidelines, influencers were primarily responsible for disclosure. Brands were supposed to "instruct" influencers, but enforcement focused on creators.
The new rules make brands equally and explicitly liable for disclosure failures. If your influencer partner posts undisclosed sponsored content, your brand can be fined—even if you told them to include disclosure and they didn't.
This changes the compliance burden significantly. You can't just include disclosure requirements in your contract and hope for the best.
3. Required Disclosure Monitoring and Documentation
Brands must now:
- Monitor influencer posts for proper disclosure (you can't just trust it happened)
- Keep records of all disclosure instructions and influencer confirmations
- Document corrective actions taken when disclosure issues are identified
- Maintain these records for 3 years
In practice, this means you need systems in place—not just policies. Spreadsheets tracking every sponsored post, screenshots of disclosures, email confirmations from influencers, and documented follow-up on any compliance issues.
4. Clearer Rules on Gifting and Affiliate Relationships
The "free product" gray area just got clearer. Under the new guidelines:
- One-time unsolicited gifts: If you send a product to an influencer unsolicited with no expectation of posting, no disclosure required (but document that it was unsolicited)
- Ongoing free product relationships: If you regularly send free products to an influencer, even without explicit posting requirements, disclosure is required when they post about your brand
- Affiliate links: All affiliate relationships must be disclosed, even if the influencer doesn't earn commission on that specific post
- Discount codes: If an influencer receives compensation when others use their discount code, that's a material connection requiring disclosure—even if the influencer's post doesn't explicitly push the code
The principle: If there's any ongoing financial relationship of any kind, it needs to be disclosed.
5. Specific Penalties
Previous FTC enforcement was mostly warning letters. The new guidelines establish specific fine structures:
- First offense (per violation): Warning with 30-day cure period
- Second offense: $10,000-$50,000 fine per violation
- Repeated/willful violations: Up to $500,000 per violation plus potential criminal referral
Each post counts as a separate violation. So if you run a campaign with 50 influencers and none properly disclose, that's potentially 50 separate violations.
What This Means for Your Influencer Program
Let's translate regulatory language into operational reality.
Update Your Influencer Contracts
Your contracts need explicit language requiring:
- Use of platform-native disclosure tools
- Disclosure on every sponsored post, even if part of an ongoing relationship
- Notification to brand before posting so you can verify disclosure
- Correction of any disclosure issues within 24 hours of notification
- Indemnification for disclosure failures despite brand instruction
Many existing influencer contracts have basic disclosure clauses, but they're not specific enough for the new requirements. Get your legal team to review and update standard agreements before April 1.
Implement Pre-Publication Review
I know creators hate this, but given brand liability, you need to verify disclosure before content goes live—not after.
Options:
- Require influencers to send screenshots showing enabled disclosure tools before posting
- Use influencer platform tools that show disclosure status in draft content
- Implement a review stage in your workflow where you verify disclosure before content publishes
Yes, this adds friction. But a $50,000 fine adds more friction.
Set Up Ongoing Monitoring
Even with pre-publication review, influencers sometimes edit posts after they go live, removing disclosure tags. You need ongoing monitoring.
Solutions:
- Use social listening tools to track all brand mentions from partners
- Weekly manual review of all influencer partner accounts
- Influencer management platforms with automatic disclosure verification
- Internal spreadsheet tracking every sponsored post with screenshot proof of disclosure
The monitoring doesn't need to be real-time, but it needs to be systematic and documented.
Document Everything
Create a compliance file for every influencer partnership containing:
- Signed contract with disclosure requirements
- Brief/email with specific disclosure instructions
- Influencer confirmation they understood disclosure requirements
- Screenshots of disclosed posts
- Any correspondence about disclosure issues and resolutions
If the FTC comes knocking, you need to show you took reasonable steps to ensure compliance. Good records are your best defense.
Revisit Your Gifting Strategy
If you run influencer gifting programs (sending free products to creators), clarify the expectations:
- Pure gifting with no posting expectation: Document that products were sent unsolicited with no expectation of posting. Keep records of who received what and when.
- Gifting with posting expectation: Treat this as a paid partnership. Include formal disclosure requirements, monitoring, and documentation.
The middle ground ("We're gifting products but hoping they post") is now legally murky. Pick a lane and document it clearly.
Train Your Team and Influencers
Everyone touching influencer campaigns needs to understand the new requirements:
- Internal teams need to know what to look for when reviewing content
- Influencers need clear guidance on how to use disclosure tools
- Agency partners need to align on compliance processes
Create a simple one-page guide showing exactly how to enable disclosure on each platform. Make it visual with screenshots. Include it in every influencer brief.
Platform-Specific Compliance Checklists
- Feed posts: Enable "Paid partnership with [Brand]" tag
- Stories: Use "Paid partnership" sticker or tag
- Reels: Enable paid partnership tag
- Additional "#ad" or "#sponsored" in caption still recommended but not sufficient alone
TikTok
- Toggle on "Branded content" disclosure when posting
- Brand appears in branded content disclosure settings
- "#ad" in caption is additional but not sufficient alone
YouTube
- Check "This video includes paid promotion" box in video settings
- Verbal disclosure in video recommended for videos over 10 minutes
- Disclosure in description is additional but not sufficient alone
Twitter/X
- Use Twitter's Ads Disclosure for promotional content
- "#ad" or "#sponsored" at beginning of tweet still required as backup
- Currently no native disclosure tool; clear text disclosure at beginning of post required
- "#ad" or "#sponsored" in first line before "see more" cutoff
Common Compliance Mistakes to Avoid
Assuming the platform tag is enough without verification: Platform tools sometimes glitch. Always verify the disclosure appears correctly to end users.
Only disclosing on some posts in an ongoing partnership: Every sponsored post needs disclosure, even if it's the 50th post with the same brand.
Using "partner" without "paid": "Partnered with [Brand]" sounds like disclosure but doesn't clearly indicate a paid relationship. Use "Paid partnership" or the platform tools.
Assuming affiliate disclaimers are sufficient: "I earn commission from links" isn't the same as "This is a paid partnership with [Brand]." Both are required when applicable.
Forgetting about owned channels: If you reshare influencer content on your brand channels, the disclosure must remain visible.
Timeline for Compliance
Now - February 15: Update contracts, brief templates, and internal processes
February 15 - March 15: Train team, notify existing influencer partners of new requirements, implement monitoring systems
March 15 - April 1: Audit all active campaigns for compliance, document everything, conduct final team training
April 1, 2026: New requirements in effect, enforcement begins
Is This Really That Big a Deal?
Honestly? For brands already running compliant programs, this is more administrative burden than fundamental change. The principles haven't shifted—transparency has always been the requirement.
But for brands that have been sloppy about disclosure, hoping influencers would just handle it, this is a wake-up call. The liability is now explicitly yours, and the penalties are real.
The good news: Compliance isn't complicated. It's mostly about systems and documentation. Use the platform tools, monitor your campaigns, keep good records. That's 90% of it.
The bad news: You can't ignore this. The FTC has been increasingly aggressive about influencer marketing enforcement, and these new guidelines give them clearer grounds for action.
Take the next two months to get your house in order. Update contracts, implement monitoring, train your team. It's not exciting work, but it's necessary—and it protects both your brand and the influencers you work with.
And frankly, proper disclosure isn't just about avoiding fines. It's about maintaining audience trust, which is the whole foundation of why influencer marketing works in the first place.
