Sponsored Post Disclosure Checker (#ad)

About the Sponsored Post Disclosure Checker (#ad)

Paste a sponsored caption, choose the countries your audience is in — India, the United States, the United Kingdom — and the platform, the format and what you got from the brand. The checker finds the disclosure labels in the caption, says which ones each country’s guidance accepts, checks where the label sits (at the start, behind “more”, at the end or lost among hashtags), and lists the extra rules for Stories, videos, live streams and audio — with a link to the guidance for every point.

The rules differ more than people expect: ASCI in India accepts “Collaboration” and “Sponsored”, the US FTC calls “collab” vague, and the UK guide advises against “Sponsored” and “Gifted” altogether. “Ad” at the very start works in all three. This is a checklist based on the published guidance, not legal advice.

Common uses

• Checking a brand collaboration caption before it goes live.
• Agencies reviewing creators’ posts for India, US and UK audiences at once.
• Explaining to a creator why #sp or #collab is not enough.
• Keeping a dated record of the check with the downloadable report.

Labels each country’s guidance accepts

• India — ASCI: the permitted labels are Advertisement, Ad, Sponsored, Collaboration, Partnership, Employee, Free Gift and Affiliate, or a platform disclosure tool, in English or in the language of the advertisement. The checker recognises the word for “advertisement” in Hindi (विज्ञापन), Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Punjabi, Odia and Urdu, and Hindi प्रायोजित (sponsored). Department of Consumer Affairs (“Endorsements Know-hows!”, under the CCPA’s 2022 guidelines): “advertisement” or “ad”, “sponsored”, “paid promotion” or “paid”, and “XYZAmbassador” on platforms with little space; separate disclosures are to be made apart from platform tools.
• US — FTC: “advertisement”, “ad” and “sponsored” (a hashtag such as #ad is fine), “Thanks to [brand] for the free product”, and on short platforms “AcmePartner” or “Acme Ambassador”. Avoid “sp”, “spon” and “collab”, and a stand-alone “thanks” or “ambassador”.
• UK — CMA and ASA: #Ad, #Advert, #Advertising, #Advertisement or #AdvertisementFeature (the # is optional). The guide advises against “Sponsored”, “Sponsorship”, “Spon”, “Sp”, “Gift/Gifted”, “Collab”, “Affiliate/Aff/Af/Afflink”, “PR”, “In association with”, “In partnership with”, “Thanks to [brand]”, “Supported by”, “brandambassador” and similar.

Where the label goes

All three say the label must be hard to miss and seen first. ASCI and the FTC both say disclosures are likely to be missed if they appear only in a bio or profile, at the end of a post, or anywhere people have to click “more”, and that a disclosure must not be mixed into a group of hashtags or links. The UK guide asks for the label “at the very beginning” — at the start of the text, in a title or thumbnail, or on the image, whatever people see first. The checker treats a label in the first line as fine for India and the US but asks you to move it to the very start for the UK.

Stories, videos, live streams and audio

• Stories and pictures without text: superimpose the label on the picture or video (FTC, ASCI, Department of Consumer Affairs); label every story in a series (UK).
• How long on screen (ASCI, for pictures and videos posted without accompanying text): at least 3 seconds for videos of 15 seconds or less, a third of the length for videos under 2 minutes, and the whole section where the brand is mentioned for longer videos.
• Videos: put the disclosure in the video itself, not just the description, and say it as well as show it (FTC, Department of Consumer Affairs); make it clear from the start, not part-way through (UK).
• Live streams: repeat it periodically (FTC); announce it at the beginning and the end, and add it to the caption if the recording stays up (ASCI); keep it displayed throughout the stream (Department of Consumer Affairs).
• Audio and podcasts: announce it at the beginning, at the end and around every break (ASCI).

What counts as a connection with the brand

Money is only one kind. The FTC’s Guides (16 CFR 255.5) include free or discounted products — even unrelated ones, and whether or not an endorsement was required — early access and the chance to win a prize. ASCI lists free products “with or without any conditions attached including those received unsolicited”, discounts, gifts, trips, hotel stays, media barters, awards and family or employment relationships, and the CCPA’s guidelines require such a connection to be “fully disclosed”. The UK guide adds affiliate links and codes, your own products and those of family and friends, and asks you to keep disclosing for 12 months after a relationship ends.

Health and finance influencers in India

Since ASCI’s addendum, influencers who give advice or make claims about banking, financial services, insurance, or health and nutrition must hold the relevant qualification — for example SEBI registration for investment advice, or a medical, nursing or nutrition qualification for health advice — and show it prominently: on screen or as the opening remark in videos, and at the start of text posts. Tick The post gives health or financial advice to add this to the checklist.

Limitations

• It checks the caption text only; it cannot see labels drawn on an image or spoken in a video — those are in the checklist for you to confirm.
• It does not understand context: a sentence such as “this is my own honest view” does not replace a label, and an unusual way of writing a label may be missed. A one-word label inside a sentence (“I saw this ad”) is not counted as clear — set it apart, for example “Ad:” at the start — and words inside web addresses are ignored.
• Guidance and platform tools change; check the linked sources before you rely on a result.
• Other rules can apply too — platform policies, sector regulators such as SEBI, and laws in other countries. This is not legal advice.

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