Influencer and endorsement disclosure: the FTC, the UK, the EU and the Gulf permits

This piece is general information, not legal advice. It informs the decisions behind every creator campaign: does this post need a label, what must it say, who is responsible, and does the creator need a permit to post it?

• The principle Marketing must be recognisable as marketing⁵. When a creator has a material connection to a brand, people must be told, clearly and up front².
• United States The FTC's Endorsement Guides, revised in June 2023, ask for disclosures that are hard to miss, and its 2024 rule bans fake reviews and fake indicators of influence^3, 4.
• United Kingdom The ASA asks for an upfront "Ad" label⁵; since April 2025 the CMA can fine directly for unfair practices, including concealed incentivised reviews^6, 7.
• European Union Consumer law already applies; the planned Digital Fairness Act names influencer marketing as a target⁸, and France has its own 2023 law⁹.
• The Gulf The UAE requires an Advertiser Permit, mandatory since 1 February 2026¹¹; Saudi Arabia requires a Mawthooq licence for creators who earn from advertising¹³.

The influencer marketing primer covers how the discipline works and what it costs; this piece covers the rules.

A disclosure is owed whenever there is a connection the audience would not expect and that could affect how they judge the endorsement. The FTC lists financial, employment, personal and family relationships, and counts free or discounted products as well as payment². The UK test is whether the brand paid, in money or in kind, and had some control over the content; if so, it is an ad and must be labelled as one⁵.

Two traps are worth naming. Affiliate links are a connection, because the creator earns when people buy; see affiliate marketing. Employees posting about their employer are also connected, which matters for employee advocacy programmes.

Rewarded reviews, reposts and virtual creators. When a brand rewards customers for reviews or for content it then reposts (UGC), the reward is a connection too², and the FTC's 2024 rule bans paying for reviews on condition that they say something positive or negative⁴. The 2023 revision of the FTC's Guides also makes clear that virtual influencers, computer-generated characters, are covered just as human ones are³. If a creator uses AI to make a post, the same disclosure duties apply to the result.

The FTC's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising were revised in June 2023. They are not law in themselves: they explain how the FTC applies the FTC Act's ban on deceptive practices³. The revision says disclosures on social media should be unavoidable, treats tags in posts as possible endorsements, and addresses virtual influencers, fake reviews and advertising to children³.

The FTC's guidance for creators turns this into practice²:

• put the disclosure in the post itself, not only in a bio, a profile page or behind a "more" link;
• use plain words such as "advertisement", "ad" or "sponsored";
• in a video, say it and show it; in a live stream, repeat it;
• do not endorse a product you have not tried, and do not make claims the brand could not prove.

Brands are not off the hook. The FTC's answers to common questions say advertisers should have reasonable programmes to train and monitor the people who endorse for them, and that a platform's built-in disclosure tool may not be enough on its own¹. Its rule announced in August 2024 bans fake reviews and testimonials and the buying or selling of fake indicators of social media influence, such as bot followers, and allows civil penalties against knowing violators⁴. Disclosure is one part of a wider rule on endorsements; see influencer disclosure.

The ASA's guide for influencers, written with the CMA, asks for a clear and prominent label such as "Ad", placed up front so that people know it is an ad before they engage, without needing to click⁵. It also covers affiliate content and notes that it will be updated for the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024⁵.

That Act changed the stakes. Since 6 April 2025 the CMA can decide for itself that consumer law has been broken and impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover, without going to court first⁷. The Act's list of banned practices includes submitting or commissioning fake reviews and reviews that hide the fact that they were incentivised, and it reaches content creators, including bloggers, influencers and streamers, as well as the businesses that hire them⁶.

EU consumer law already treats hidden advertising as unfair. The European Commission's review of that law in October 2024 named misleading marketing by influencers as one of the problems still to address, and the European Parliament lists influencer marketing among the issues for a planned Digital Fairness Act⁸. Check whether the proposal has been tabled before planning on its content. Some member states have gone further: France's 2023 law gives commercial influence a legal definition, confirms that advertising rules apply to it and defines influencer agencies⁹.

In the Gulf, disclosure sits on top of a permission to advertise at all. Check the current rules with the regulator before each campaign.

United Arab Emirates. The Media Council launched the Advertiser Permit in 2025 for individuals who publish promotional content on social media, paid or unpaid¹⁰. After an extension to 31 January 2026, holding a valid permit has been mandatory since 1 February 2026^11, 12. The permit is free for the first three years for citizens and residents; visitors who want to post promotional content need a Visitor Advertiser Permit through a licensed agency, valid for three months and renewable once¹². Since December 2025 the regulator has been the National Media Authority¹².

Saudi Arabia. Creators who earn income from advertising on social media need a Mawthooq licence from GCAM^13, 14. Non-Saudi residents apply through set routes, and advertisers based outside the Kingdom may use only licensed individuals inside it to show their products or services¹³. Promoting your own work on your own account does not require the licence¹⁴.

Egypt. We found no separate influencer licence in the sources reviewed, but Egypt's consumer protection law defines "advertiser" broadly enough to include promotion through digital media, so a sponsored post is an advertisement under it¹⁵. See advertising standards and self-regulation for the rest of that law.

An illustrative case, not a real company. A sportswear brand hires six creators for a launch: two in London, two in Dubai, one in Riyadh and one US creator who will film a visit to Dubai.

1. Contract Every agreement names the disclosure wording, its placement and the claims allowed, and gives the brand the right to require a fix.
2. London "Ad" goes first in the caption and on screen in the video⁵; the creators review the product honestly and do not post or commission reviews elsewhere⁶.
3. Dubai The brand checks that both creators hold a valid Advertiser Permit¹¹; the US creator needs a Visitor Advertiser Permit through a licensed agency before posting from the UAE¹².
4. Riyadh The brand checks the creator's Mawthooq licence¹³.
5. United States The US creator's posts at home use plain words in the post, not only the platform's partnership tag^1, 2.
6. Monitoring A named person checks every post within a day of publishing and logs fixes.

• Hiding the label in a pile of hashtags, a bio or the end of a long caption^2, 5.
• Relying only on the platform's toggle. It may not be enough by itself¹.
• Forgetting gifted product and affiliate links, which are connections too².
• Letting creators make claims you could not prove. The claim is still yours; run it through your claims register.
• Skipping the Gulf permits, which apply to visiting creators as well as residents¹².
• No monitoring. A missing label found by a regulator is worse than one found by you¹.

Before the next creator campaign:

1. Put the checklist in the brief and the contract: the creative brief template and the agency brief template both have room for it.
2. Keep a creator register: name, market, permit or licence number and expiry, posts and their checks.
3. Add the permit check to the launch checklist, with time for visitor permits.
4. Prepare for a complaint with the crisis communications checklist.
5. Brief the team using the influencer hub and the content and social hub.

• United States: the FTC's guidance for influencers² and its answers to common questions¹; Davis Wright Tremaine on the 2023 revision³; the FTC on its fake-review rule⁴.
• United Kingdom: the ASA's influencer guide⁵; CMS on the fake-review ban⁶ and Freshfields on the CMA's powers⁷.
• Europe: the European Parliament on the Digital Fairness Act⁸; the French ministry on the 2023 law⁹.
• The Gulf and Egypt: WAM¹⁰, Gulf News¹¹ and Pinsent Masons¹² on the UAE permit; Arab News¹³ and Clyde & Co¹⁴ on Mawthooq; Chambers on Egypt¹⁵.
• Next in this track: consent for email, SMS and messaging; earlier: data protection for marketers.