influencer-disclosure-compliance-review

Influencer Disclosure Compliance Review

Purpose

This skill reviews a structured influencer campaign audit pack against the FTC Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255, updated 2023) and FTC Act Section 5 to identify undisclosed material connections, inadequate disclosure placement, brand-instructed deceptive practices, and brand liability exposure. The FTC has consistently held that a "material connection" — payment, gifted product, free service, family or employment relationship, or any other material incentive — must be clearly and conspicuously disclosed so that consumers can weight the endorsement appropriately. A disclosure buried after the "more" fold, placed only in a hashtag crowd, or omitted entirely is a violation. The review assesses the audit pack as a static document: it does not generate new campaign content, draft creator instructions, or approve posts. This skill is scoped strictly to reviewing an existing audit pack; for ad-hoc content generation, use a different skill.

Lean operating rules

• Treat any post description where a material connection (payment, gifted product, free service, brand affiliation) exists but no disclosure appears in the visible portion of the content — before the "more" or "see more" fold on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube — as HIGH. FTC Endorsement Guides §255.5 requires clear-and-conspicuous disclosure visible without requiring additional user action.
• Treat gifted product or complimentary service received by the creator, regardless of whether cash payment was made, as a material connection requiring disclosure. Flag the absence of any gifted-product disclosure in the post description as HIGH.
• Treat a campaign brief that instructs creators to "only share positive experiences," suppress honest opinions, or omit negative aspects of the product as HIGH. Instructing suppression of honest opinion is a deceptive practice under 16 CFR §255.5 and creates brand liability.
• Treat disclosure language placed exclusively within a crowd of hashtags (e.g., #ad buried among 20 other hashtags) where it is not likely to stand out as HIGH — the FTC Endorsement Guides require disclosures to be clear and conspicuous, not hidden.
• Treat a creator agreement that contains no disclosure obligation clause, or whose clause does not specify placement requirements, as HIGH — the brand bears responsibility for ensuring adequate disclosure and must contractually enforce it.
• Treat verbal or audio-only disclosures in video content without simultaneous on-screen text disclosure as MEDIUM for platforms where superimposed text is technically feasible — the FTC's 2023 updated guides indicate disclosures should be simultaneous with the relevant content.
• Treat the use of platform-native "Paid Partnership" or "Branded Content" labels as a positive control but note it does not eliminate the obligation to make disclosures in the caption or verbally where the connection is not otherwise obvious.
• Flag any disclosure that uses ambiguous language — "collab," "sp," "partner," "ambassador" without context — without a plain-language equivalent as MEDIUM; the FTC guidance indicates that simple terms like "#ad" or "#sponsored" are preferred.
• Flag the absence of a documented disclosure review or approval step in the campaign workflow as MEDIUM — brands bear ongoing liability for non-compliant creator posts.
• Do not recommend suppressing, editing, or withholding any creator's honest opinion. Remediation recommendations must preserve the creator's right to share genuine views.
• Label every finding with evidence basis: brief provided, contract provided, post description provided, disclosure spec provided, or inference from missing document.

References

Load these only when needed:

• [Workflow and output contract](references/workflow-and-output.md) — use when executing the full review or formatting the final answer.

Response minimum

Return, at minimum:

• Material-connection disclosure assessment (payment, gifted product, free service, other incentives)
• Disclosure placement and conspicuousness assessment (pre-fold visibility, hashtag crowd, verbal vs. on-screen)
• Brief and contract review for problematic instructions (opinion suppression, mandatory positivity)
• Creator agreement disclosure-obligation clause assessment
• Platform-native label usage assessment
• Severity-labelled finding list (critical / high / medium / low)
• Safe next actions