Clipping disclosure: what's safe?
A clear #ad, #sponsored or #{brand}partner tag at the start of the caption plus the app's paid partnership label is the market standard. An on-video label on top is the safest. Of 1,502 clipping briefs we read over the 90 days to 27 Oct 2026, 7% ask for at least the standard and 89% state no disclosure.
- BRIEFS READ
- 1,502
- STANDARD OR SAFER
- 7%
- NONE STATED
- 89%
Not legal advice. Check local rules with counsel.
Three tiers
Our view of where regulators, the apps and the market stand, from safest to not enough. The FTC asks for a disclosure that is clear and conspicuous and in the content itself, the UK's ASA for an upfront label such as #ad. Each line links the page it stands on.
Super safe
Under 1% of the briefs we read ask for all three.
- A disclosure on the video itself, such as a burned in "Ad" or "Paid partnership" label or text overlay that stays on screen for the whole clip.
- The app's own paid partnership label: TikTok's content disclosure setting, Instagram's Paid partnership label, YouTube's paid promotion box.
- #ad or #sponsored at the start of the caption, before any other hashtag.
Safe, the market standard
6% of the briefs we read ask for a clear tag or the app's label.
Not enough
4% of the briefs we read ask only for this, and 89% state no disclosure at all.
Tiers by niche
The share of briefs in each niche that ask for each tier, niches with 5 or more briefs read.
| Niche | Briefs | Super safe | Standard | Not enough or none |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other | 664 | under 1% | 7% | 93% |
| Music | 348 | 0% | under 1% | 100% |
| UGC and apps | 187 | 1% | 11% | 89% |
| Gambling | 106 | 0% | 6% | 94% |
| Gaming | 82 | 0% | 12% | 88% |
| Crypto trading | 54 | 0% | 4% | 96% |
| Film and TV | 54 | 0% | 11% | 89% |
| Sports | 44 | 0% | 5% | 95% |
| Podcasts | 41 | 0% | 15% | 85% |
| Streams | 30 | 0% | 3% | 97% |
| Brand ads | 5 | 0% | 20% | 80% |
Political clipping reports
Political campaigns hired clippers in 2026, and the reporting on them shows what goes wrong when paid clips are not labelled. The cases span parties and countries.
- May 2026: CalMatters reported that a California governor candidate's campaign paid at least eight influencers more than $123,000, that one labelled the video a paid partnership while others did not or deleted it, and that the state's political regulator opened an investigation after a complaint. California has required paid political posts to be disclosed since 2024.
- May 2026: Taylor Lorenz showed a Los Angeles mayoral candidate's two paid clipping campaigns, whose rules asked clippers to copy a required disclosure into each caption word for word.
- May 2026: Digiday set out the case for clipping, low cost and scale, and against it, pay that rewards the most extreme clips, and noted that unlabelled paid clips can break the apps' terms and FTC rules.
- September 2026: The Atlantic reported a Latvian company running a political clipping program for US politics whose instructions to clippers carried no disclosure rule.
- September 2026: The New York Times, republished by The Philadelphia Inquirer, found more than 100 creators paid to post political content, few of them disclosing it, and noted that such content is rarely marked as paid and that in most cases the law does not require it.
Method
The tiers are our assessment of the market, backed by the sources each line links. The shares count every brief linked to a public campaign live over the 90 days to 27 Oct 2026, by what it asks for: super safe needs an on-video label, the app's label and a clear tag, the standard a clear tag or the app's label. Not legal advice.
Common questions
What is the safest way to disclose a paid clip?
An "Ad" label on the video for its whole length, the app's paid partnership label and #ad at the start of the caption. Under 1% of the 1,502 briefs we read ask for all three.
Is #{brand}partner enough to disclose a paid clip?
When it leads the caption and the word partner is in it, it is the market standard, with the app's label. 2% of 1,502 briefs ask for one.
Is #sp or #collab enough to disclose an ad?
No. The FTC and the ASA call them unclear. 93% of the briefs we read ask for less than the standard or nothing.