As the founder of a talent management company, it’s usually taboo to bring up sponsored posts that aren’t flagged as #sponsored or #ad. I was thinking about this the other day, when I remembered that in 2017, the FTC started sending warning letters to creators and celebrities about transparency around sponsored posts. Since then, brands and agencies have started taking disclosures more seriously. One thing I’ve noticed over the last couple of years is that celebrities and creators are paying no attention to this, while the FTC has the impossible task of trying to enforce its guidelines.
What Has The FTC Done In The Past?
After digging into what the FTC has actually done, there are a few examples. In July 2026, the FTC took action against supplement brand Vanilla Chip over deceptive health claims, fake reviews, and fake social media profiles run by bots. The FTC also took action against Teami, a detox tea company, in 2020 over deceptive health claims and influencers who failed to properly disclose their relationships with the brand.
The internet is an ever-evolving landscape that’s difficult to keep up with, even for me as a basement-dwelling doomscroller. Clipping continues to grow, and more than a hundred million videos are uploaded to social media every day. The sheer volume of posts makes it harder to track and enforce everything. I’ve linked the FTC’s guidelines here.
Source: Influencer Guide, FTC
Is It Even Possible to Solve This?
The FTC has tried to keep up with how fast the internet was changing by updating its endorsement guidelines in July 2023 to include more recent internet trends. That was three years ago, and it only takes me a few minutes of scrolling on TikTok to find an undisclosed sponsorship with thousands of views. Then there are the Rainbet trend videos on TikTok, where creators jokingly pull up the gambling app in the middle of their videos (this isn’t sponsored, but it blurs the lines). Thankfully, consumers are now a lot smarter, so they know when they’re being advertised to, but it’s still on creators to disclose sponsored content.
There’s no single number for how many sponsored posts go up across social platforms each year, but CreatorIQ confirms over 21 million tracked influencer campaign posts annually across major brand networks. The actual number is much higher. Is it actually realistic for the FTC to continually monitor all of the branded content going up each day?
I’m not sure it is, and I’m also unsure how this even gets solved in the future. Additionally, if I’m an artist and none of my friends or competitors are disclosing sponsored posts, what incentive do I have to do it? Isn’t it just going to suppress my post and make it feel cringe?
The Big Takeaway
The rules around sponsorship disclosures were written for a very different internet. Today, there are millions of pieces of content uploaded every day, making it nearly impossible for the FTC to enforce every violation. The line between organic content and paid promotion is also getting blurrier, making me wonder if these rules need to evolve with the internet.
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