What it means
An FTC Disclosure is a clear and conspicuous statement telling the audience that the publisher may earn a commission from links. Required by the US Federal Trade Commission (with equivalents elsewhere), proper disclosure protects both the affiliate and the brand from regulatory action.
An FTC disclosure tells readers that a creator earns a commission when they buy through certain links. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission treats affiliate relationships as a "material connection" that a reasonable person would want to know about before trusting a recommendation. The rule applies to blogs, videos, podcasts, emails, and every social platform, because the standard is honesty about incentives rather than the medium carrying the message.
Placement and wording decide whether a disclosure actually counts. Regulators expect it to be clear and conspicuous, meaning it sits close to the relevant link, uses plain language such as "I earn a commission," and does not hide inside a wall of hashtags, a collapsed "more" button, or a footer nobody scrolls to. Vague tags like "#sp" or "#collab" are widely viewed as inadequate because ordinary readers do not decode them.
The consequences of skipping disclosure fall on both the affiliate and the brand. The FTC can issue warning letters, pursue civil penalties, and name companies in enforcement actions, and advertisers routinely push liability downstream through contracts that require compliant disclosures. Beyond legal exposure, undisclosed paid endorsements erode audience trust, which is the asset that makes affiliate content valuable in the first place.
Legitimate affiliates build disclosure into their workflow rather than treating it as an afterthought. They place a short statement above the fold or before the first monetized link, repeat it where it is easy to miss such as in a long video description or a pinned comment, and keep the language consistent across channels. Following the FTC's published endorsement guides, and any stricter platform rules, keeps content compliant as formats change.
Key points
- Required whenever a paid or commissioned link appears
- Must be clear, conspicuous, and near the link
- Vague tags like #sp are not enough
- Non-compliance risks FTC penalties and lost trust
- Applies across blogs, video, social, and email
Example
A YouTuber reviewing headphones adds "Some links below are affiliate links, so I earn a commission if you buy" as the first line of the video description and says it aloud early in the video. Because the notice is visible before viewers click and stated in plain language, it satisfies the FTC's clear-and-conspicuous standard.