Influencer Marketing
Disclosing influencer advertising the right way
Disclosure is not a formality at the end of production. It decides whether a partnership is safe from warning letters, which is why it belongs in the briefing.
The most common question in a first campaign call is not which creator fits. It is whether influencer advertising buys you a legal problem. The reassuring answer is that the rules are manageable. It only gets uncomfortable when disclosure is treated as the last step before a post goes live.
This guide sums up when a post counts as advertising, what the label should look like and who carries the risk. It does not replace legal advice, but it prevents the mistakes we see most often in practice.
Updated on 9 August 2026
Contents
- Three rule sets, one goal
- When a post counts as advertising
- How to label correctly
- The language question in bilingual posts
- Five mistakes that keep happening
- Who is liable: creator, brand or agency
- Checklist before publishing
- FAQ
Three rule sets, one goal
In Germany, several rule sets apply to influencer advertising at the same time. They all pursue the same goal: the audience should be able to tell whether it is seeing a personal recommendation or a paid message.
The Act against Unfair Competition addresses the commercial purpose of a post. If that purpose is not made recognisable and can influence a commercial decision, an unfair commercial practice is close at hand. Warning letters in this area usually come from competitors or trade associations.
The Interstate Media Treaty looks at the same question from the perspective of broadcasting and telemedia law. It requires advertising to be recognisable as such and separated from the rest of the content. The state media authorities are responsible here; they publish their own guidance for creators and can pursue breaches on their own initiative.
The Digital Services Act adds the platform side. Among other things, it requires commercial communication on platforms to be recognisable. In practice that means the platform's own disclosure tools are not an optional extra but part of expected practice.
For day to day work, the legal boundaries between these rule sets matter less than their shared consequence. If there is any consideration involved, you label the post. Full stop.
When a post counts as advertising
The trigger is the consideration. It does not have to be money and it does not have to be large. What matters is whether the post pursues a commercial purpose that is not obvious to the audience.
| Situation | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Fee paid for a post | Always required |
| Free product the creator may keep | Required |
| Discount, voucher or special terms | Required |
| Invitation to a trip, meal or event | Required |
| Affiliate link or commission code | Required |
| Self-bought product shown without any arrangement | Usually not required |
| Advertising your own products or services | Must be recognisable as such |
The last row is often overlooked. Promoting your own offer is also a commercial purpose. On a company profile that is usually clear from context; on a personal profile with its own brand it is not always.
The most common grey area is the unsolicited product sample. If it is shown, a lot speaks in favour of disclosure, because the delivery itself is already a consideration. If in doubt, label it. An unnecessary label has never harmed anyone; a missing one has.
How to label correctly
Three properties decide whether a label holds up: it has to be clear, permanent and visible from the start.
Clear means an unambiguous term is used. In German-language posts those terms are Werbung or Anzeige. Words like cooperation, partner, sponsored, ad or a simple thank you to the brand are not considered clear enough, because they can obscure the commercial character.
Permanent means the label stays visible for as long as the post exists. A note that disappears from a story after two seconds does not meet that requirement.
Visible from the start means the label can be seen without an extra action. A note at the end of a long caption that only appears after tapping "more" is too late.
On the individual platforms that plays out as follows. On Instagram and TikTok, the note belongs at the beginning of the caption, in addition to the platform's paid partnership label. On reels and short videos it also belongs in the frame, because many viewers never open the caption. In stories it belongs on every single segment of the partnership, not only on the first one. On YouTube it belongs in the visible part of the description and in the first seconds of the video, alongside the paid product placement setting.
The platform's own label alone is usually not enough. It is displayed with varying prominence depending on the view and is not reliably visible in every situation.
The language question in bilingual posts
In the Turkish-speaking community, many creators produce bilingually or exclusively in Turkish. That raises a question standard guides rarely cover: which language should the label be in?
What matters is that the audience being addressed understands the note. Anyone producing a post in Turkish for an audience in Germany should therefore not rely solely on a German term that part of the audience may not place. The safe option is a double label: the German term together with its Turkish equivalent.
That doubling costs a few characters and removes an argument before it starts. We put it into every briefing.
Five mistakes that keep happening
First: only tagging the brand. A tag in the image or an at sign in the text does not replace a label.
Second: hiding the note in a cloud of hashtags. A disclosure between twenty other hashtags at the end of the text is not clearly recognisable.
Third: labelling a story only once. Every segment is viewed on its own and therefore has to be recognisable on its own.
Fourth: English terms in German-language posts. Ad and sponsored are not the safe choice in a German post.
Fifth: forgetting downstream use. If the post is later run as an advertisement or reused on the brand's own channels, the requirements continue to apply there and the usage rights have to be agreed explicitly.
Who is liable: creator, brand or agency
The uncomfortable answer is that all three may be. The creator is the sender of the post and carries direct responsibility for how it appears. The brand benefits from the advertising and can be held responsible as the client. The agency owes its client proper delivery, and that includes a briefing which reflects the requirements.
That is exactly why we settle disclosure in the contract rather than in a message shortly before publication. The briefing names the concrete format, the approval round checks it, and only then does a post go live. Once that flow is set up, the question never has to be answered case by case again.
How we run this inside campaigns is described on our page about influencer marketing for the Turkish audience.
Checklist before publishing
- Is an unambiguous term in the first visible area of the post?
- Is the platform's paid partnership setting switched on?
- For video and reels, is the note visible in the frame as well?
- Does every story segment of the partnership carry its own note?
- Does the language of the label match the language of the post?
- Is it clear whether the post will later be used as an advertisement?
- Has the brand approved the post before publication?
FAQ
Is the paid partnership tool enough on its own? Usually not. It is an important building block, but it is displayed differently depending on the view. A written note inside the post remains the safe option.
Does a small product also have to be disclosed? Yes. The value of the consideration is not a free pass. What matters is that a consideration exists at all.
What applies to an affiliate link without a fixed arrangement? A commission model is a consideration. The post therefore has to be labelled, even without a campaign behind it.
How long does the label have to stay visible? For as long as the post is available. If a post is edited later, the label stays part of it.
Does this also apply to posts in Turkish? Yes. The requirements follow the audience in Germany, not the language of the post. A double label is the safe solution here.
This article reflects our own practice and is not legal advice. For a binding assessment of individual campaigns, please consult a law firm specialising in media and competition law.