Creator posts, read against the FTC's own words
Paste one brand's posts. Each one is settled against the quoted text of the Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255, and the page prints two dollar figures it never adds together.
The two figures
Ceiling, posts the pack settled
$265,440
5 posts in scope × $53,088, 16 CFR § 1.98(d)
These two figures are never added.
Same arithmetic, posts it could not settle
$159,264
3 posts unresolved, each with its reason below
3 posts out of scope and 1 awaiting a declaration, counted in neither figure. The ceiling is arithmetic on a statutory maximum and predicts nothing; it assumes the FTC's penalty-offense authority reaches this brand, a fact the engine cannot see.
Paste one brand's posts
CSV, one post per row, up to 50. The posts do not leave your browser for this check, and it keeps working offline once this page has loaded.
The sample: ensign's 15 authored posts, read for northlight.
Add one post by hand
The columns the engine reads
- url
- The post's address. Tracking parameters fold away, so two links to one post count once.
- platform
- instagram, tiktok, youtube, x, facebook, threads, linkedin, pinterest, twitch, podcast or blog.
- published_at
- The date the post went up, as YYYY-MM-DD. A row without one is refused by name.
- caption, on_screen_text, transcript
- The three channels a disclosure can sit in. An empty channel is printed as not read, never as nothing found.
- connection
- paid, gifted, employment or none. Left empty, the post waits for a declaration and is counted in neither figure.
- platform_paid_label
- yes, no or unknown: whether the platform's own paid-partnership tool was on.
- handle, brand
- Who posted, and for whom. A brief reads one brand.
The posts, one line each
T in scope, U unresolved, F out of scope. The number in the margin is the post's place in your paste, after duplicate links fold into one.
Post 1, T, in scope for the ceiling: https://instagram.com/p/CxA1northlight
ftc-255-5-no-disclosure-in-any-channel
When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement, and that connection is not reasonably expected by the audience, such connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
Not read, no text supplied: on_screen_text, transcript
Post 2, T, in scope for the ceiling: https://tiktok.com/@deshawnmakes/video/7311220098
ftc-255-5-no-disclosure-in-any-channel
When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement, and that connection is not reasonably expected by the audience, such connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
ftc-255-5-gift-no-disclosure
If a significant minority of viewers are likely unaware that the influencer received the lathe free of charge, the woodworker should clearly and conspicuously disclose receiving it for free, a fact that could affect the credibility that viewers attach to the endorsements.
Post 3, T, in scope for the ceiling: https://reddit.example/r/woodworking/comments/1abc/best_planer
ftc-255-5-no-disclosure-in-any-channel
When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement, and that connection is not reasonably expected by the audience, such connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
ftc-255-5-employee-no-disclosure
Unbeknownst to this community, an employee of a leading home robot manufacturer has been posting messages on the discussion board promoting the manufacturer's new product. Knowledge of this poster's employment likely would affect the weight or credibility of the endorsements. Therefore, the poster should clearly and conspicuously disclose their relationship to the manufacturer.
Not read, no text supplied: on_screen_text, transcript
Post 4, T, in scope for the ceiling: https://instagram.com/reel/CyPaidLabel
ftc-255-5-no-disclosure-in-any-channel
When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement, and that connection is not reasonably expected by the audience, such connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
Post 5, U, the pack could not settle it: https://instagram.com/reel/CyToolOnly
ftc-255-5-platform-label-is-the-only-disclosure
When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement, and that connection is not reasonably expected by the audience, such connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.
- the only disclosure found is the platform's own paid-partnership tool. Whether that tool, standing alone, is difficult to miss and easily understandable under section 255.0(f) is a question about how one platform renders one label, and the Guides do not answer it.
Not read, no text supplied: on_screen_text, transcript
Post 6, U, the pack could not settle it: https://instagram.com/p/CzHashBlock
ftc-255-0-f-disclosure-in-trailing-hashtag-block
In any communication using an interactive electronic medium, such as social media or the internet, the disclosure should be unavoidable.
- the disclosure sits inside a trailing block of hashtags. Section 255.0(f) asks for a disclosure that is difficult to miss and, in an interactive medium, unavoidable, and the Guides do not settle whether a hashtag block clears that bar. Whoever settles it is looking at how the post renders on the device it was seen on.
Not read, no text supplied: on_screen_text, transcript
Post 7, T, in scope for the ceiling: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kz9CaptionOnly
ftc-255-0-f-disclosure-outside-the-endorsement-channel
If a communication's representation necessitating a disclosure is made through visual means, the disclosure should be made in at least the communication's visual portion; if the representation is made through audible means, the disclosure should be made in at least the communication's audible portion; and if the representation is made through both visual and audible means, the disclosure should be made in the communication's visual and audible portions.
Post 8, F, no row in the pack reaches it: https://instagram.com/p/D1NoConnection
ftc-255-5-material-connection
Post 9, U, the pack could not settle it: https://x.com/deshawnmakes/status/1799112233
ftc-255-5-material-connection
Verbal statements, tags in social media posts, demonstrations, depictions of the name, signature, likeness or other identifying personal characteristics of an individual, and the name or seal of an organization can be endorsements.
- connection was not declared for this post — the operator has not said whether one exists
Not read, no text supplied: on_screen_text, transcript
Post 10, F, no row in the pack reaches it: https://instagram.com/p/D2Disclosed
ftc-255-5-material-connection
Post 11, F, no row in the pack reaches it: https://instagram.com/p/OldPost2022
ftc-255-5-material-connection
Awaiting a declaration
https://tiktok.com/@saltandpinegoods/video/7399881122