Affiliate Disclosure Examples: What the FTC Guides Require

When you earn money if someone buys through your link, the FTC's Endorsement Guides say that connection should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, because knowing about it could affect the weight a reader gives your recommendation Source [1]. The Guides' own example is a blogger who reviews coffee makers independently but includes affiliate links and receives a share of each sale Source [1].

This is general information, not legal advice. The Guides are administrative interpretations of the law, and practices inconsistent with them may lead to corrective action by the Commission Source [1]. For the general rules on where and how to disclose, see our guide to the FTC influencer guidelines. This page goes through the situations that involve links and referrals.

Working out what to publish and when is the part Autonomah takes off a team that is going it alone, so the team only reviews and decides Source [3].

What the Guides ask of any disclosure

A material connection must be disclosed when it might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement and the audience would not reasonably expect it Source [1]. It can be a business, family or personal relationship, money, free or discounted products, early access, or the possibility of being paid or winning a prize Source [1]. A disclosure does not need every detail of the connection, but it must clearly communicate the nature of the connection enough for consumers to judge its significance Source [1].

"Clear and conspicuous" means difficult to miss and easy for ordinary consumers to understand Source [1]. On social media the disclosure should be unavoidable, and it should not be contradicted or mitigated by anything else in the communication Source [1].

Eight situations from the Guides

The table pairs each situation the Guides describe with what they say Source [1].

Where the line sits

The Guides also say where a disclosure fails. A disclosure only on a profile page is not clear and conspicuous, because people seeing a paid post could easily miss it Source [1]. A disclosure behind a link labeled "more" is not unavoidable when the endorsement is visible without clicking Source [1]. And relying on a platform's built-in disclosure tool does not work when the label is small, low in contrast, competes with other text and appears for only a few seconds Source [1].

The FTC's staff brochure for influencers, a page dated November 2019, adds practical advice. It says to place the disclosure with the endorsement message and not to mix it into a group of hashtags or links, and it says disclosures are likely to be missed at the end of a post Source [2]. The brochure was written before the Guides were revised, so read it with the current text above.

Wording to test

The Guides do not prescribe words. The brochure says simple explanations such as "Thanks to Acme brand for the free product" are often enough if placed where they are hard to miss, and so are "advertisement," "ad" and "sponsored" Source [2]. It says vague terms such as "sp," "spon" or "collab," and stand-alone terms such as "thanks" or "ambassador," should be avoided Source [2].

For links, the lines below are our suggestions, built on the principle in the Guides that the disclosure must communicate the nature of the connection Source [1].

The first column tells a reader what the connection is. The second either hides it or names the brand without saying what the relationship is.

A check before you post

This routine is ours, and the Guides do not prescribe it.

1. Does the post contain a link that pays you or your company when someone clicks or buys?
2. Is the disclosure in the post itself, in the first lines, and not on a profile page or behind "more"?
3. If the post is a video or a story, is it spoken or shown in the video?
4. Did you also get a free product, a fee or a prize? If so, the line has to cover that too.
5. If someone reposts or shares your post, does each version still carry the line?

When a campaign runs through experts' accounts, which the Pro plan includes in place of the company's Source [3], the disclosure line has to travel with each person's post.

How Autonomah does it

Autonomah is an artificial creative and advertising brain that thinks, creates and publishes each brand's advertising Source [3]. The affiliate arrangement itself, and what it pays, is information only the brand has. A change request on a missing disclosure line is how the team puts it right, and each correction guides the next proposals Source [3].

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to disclose affiliate links?

The Guides' example says the blogger's reviews should clearly and conspicuously disclose the compensation, because knowing about it could affect the weight visitors give the reviews Source [1].

What is the Amazon affiliate disclaimer?

The wording a particular affiliate program asks for is in that program's own rules, which this page did not read. The Guides ask for a clear and conspicuous disclosure of the compensation, whatever the program is Source [1].

Is "#ad" enough?

The brochure says it is fine, though not necessary, to include a hashtag such as #ad or #sponsored with the disclosure Source [2]. It also says not to mix the disclosure into a group of hashtags Source [2], so the line should stand on its own.