HALO Saying it is paid

Saying it is paid

Two things have to be true on every HALO post. They take about fifteen seconds and they are the two most common reasons a submission is sent back.

Check 1

The platform's own paid-partnership setting is on

Each platform has a built-in label. Turning it on tells the platform, which is what makes the post show up in its branded-content reporting — and that reporting is one of the ways HALO can verify your numbers without asking you for a screenshot.

Check 2

#ad or #sponsored in the first two lines

In the caption itself, at the top — not in a block of hashtags at the bottom, and not somewhere a reader has to tap more to see.

Why both, when the platform already has a label

This is the part that catches people out, so it is worth the paragraph.

The FTC's position is that responsibility for disclosing a paid relationship rests with the creator and the brand — not the platform, and it advises adding your own disclosure even where a platform offers a built-in tool, because there is no guarantee the platform's feature communicates the relationship clearly enough.

TikTok's own Branded Content Policy requires the toggle and does not require #ad. So a creator who follows TikTok's rules exactly can still fall short of the FTC's. Check 2 is that gap. It is not a HALO preference — it is the one that actually satisfies the regulator, and it is why we cannot waive it for anybody.

And it is not only the FTC. Three regulators on three continents have been asked the same question — is the platform's own label enough on its own? — and all three have said no, in almost the same words.

HALO's two checks are the rule those three arrived at separately. That is why they are not negotiable — not that HALO is strict, but that there is nowhere a creator could post where one of them alone would do.

Placement matters for the same reason. A disclosure at the end of a caption is, in the FTC's words, easier to miss — and on Instagram, where captions truncate, it should be visible without tapping more. Hence: first two lines.

Sources: FTC, The Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking · CCPC, Influencer advertising and marketing (Ireland) · Ad Standards, Influencer Marketing Disclosure Guidelines (Canada) · TikTok Branded Content Policy

Where the setting is

Each platform moves these menus around, so the link goes to their own instructions rather than a click path here that might be a version behind.

TikTok

In the posting screen, under Content disclosure and ads, turn on Disclose commercial content and choose Branded content — that is the option for promoting someone else. Your post carries a Paid partnership label.

TikTok's instructions →

Instagram

The feature is the paid partnership label, set on the post before you share it. Some accounts have to request access to branded content tools first — if yours has not got the setting, tell us and we will work around it rather than failing you later.

Instagram's instructions →

Facebook

The same Meta feature, called branded content, tagging the production as the brand partner.

Meta's instructions →

If your post is a video, say it as well as write it

This is advice, not a check. HALO's checks are the two above and we are not adding a third here — but the strictest regulator we could find asks for more on video, and you should know what it asks for.

Canada's Ad Standards wants the disclosure in the first 30 seconds, both on screen and out loud, repeated in longer pieces. Ireland's CCPC wants a clear visual label at the start. Both want it on every post about a campaign, not once — so if you cross-post the same cut to two platforms, it needs disclosing on both.

Four words at the top of a voiceover — "this one's a paid partnership" — covers you everywhere, costs nothing, and in practice audiences mind it far less than creators expect.

If you get it wrong

You keep your slot and you keep your ceiling. A submission that fails check 1 or check 2 comes back with which one and why, you fix the post, and you submit again. Most people get this wrong at least once and nothing is recorded against you for it.

The one thing that cannot happen is HALO approving it anyway. Both checks have to pass before money moves, on every submission, for everybody.

What HALO does not ask of you

We do not tell you what to say about the film. The caption text a production asks for has to appear, and the disclosure has to be at the top — the rest of the post is yours, in your voice. A production cannot require you to be positive about the film, and if one asks you to, tell us.

This page explains the rules HALO checks. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for the terms you agree to when you take a slot.