FTC Disclosure refers to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's requirement that endorsers — including influencers, affiliates, and brand ambassadors — clearly and conspicuously disclose any material connection (paid, gifted, employed, or otherwise compensated) when making product endorsements on social media.
The legal basis is Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices in commerce. The agency's "Endorsement Guides," first issued in 1980 and updated repeatedly through the 2010s and 2020s, translate that standard into practice: tags like 🏷️#ad, 🏷️#sponsored, or 🏷️#paid-partnership must be visible without clicking "more," must appear before the linked content, and must be in language the average reader would understand.
Enforcement has been concentrated on platforms and brands rather than individual creators, but the rule applies regardless of channel — feed posts, stories, livestreams, podcasts, and AI-generated endorsements all fall under the same disclosure logic. The principle is structural: when a recommendation is paid, the audience has a right to know.