Instagram asks celebrities nicely to label sponsored posts; hints it will ask less nicely later

Instagram is asking celebrities and others with significant numbers of followers to use a new ‘Paid partnership’ label to identify sponsored posts.

At present, the company is merely requesting that influencers to do this, but its statement hints that it will take a stronger line later.

As more and more partnerships form on Instagram, it’s important to ensure the community is able to easily recognize when someone they follow is paid to post content.

In the coming months, we’ll also be launching an official policy and enforcement for creators to follow based off Facebook’s current practices.

While Instagram may consider the label voluntary for now, Re/code notes that it is already an FTC requirement for influencers to identify paid content, whether through this tag or a hashtag. FTC rules require celebrities to ‘clearly and conspicuously disclose their relationships to brands.’ The organization recently wrote to 35 celebrities to remind them of this requirement.

If you’re an influencer and want to take advantage of the new tag, you can select Advanced Settings at the bottom of the caption area, select Branded Content and then Tag Business Partner.

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