Influencer disclosure checker
Paste a caption and see whether a paid, gifted or affiliate post is labelled as advertising the way the UAE’s and Saudi Arabia’s rules ask: the right words, in the right place, with the platform’s own label and the creator’s permit checked too. Free, no sign-up.
- No advertising label
The UAE's media law asks every ad to say explicitly and clearly that it is advertising, and Saudi rules ask for it before the ad. Start the caption with إعلان or Ad.
- "thanks to" is not enough on its own
The UAE's guidance names "in cooperation with" and "thanks to" as not enough, and the FTC and UK regulators say the same of #spon, #collab, #ambassador and #gifted. Add إعلان or Ad.
The caption, labelled
The label goes first, in the caption’s language. Take out “thanks to” or #collab-style tags if they were standing in for it.
Before it goes live
- Turn on Instagram's own label
Instagram's policy asks for the branded content tool (shows "Paid partnership"), with the brand tagged on paid and gifted posts.
- UAE: an advertiser permit
The creator needs the National Media Authority's advertiser permit (required since 1 February 2026), with the permit number shown on the profile. Visiting creators need a visitor permit through a licensed agency.
- Restricted products
Tobacco and vapes cannot be promoted in the UAE, even indirectly, and health products have needed Ministry of Health approval.
A check against the published rules and guidance listed below, not legal advice. For a campaign with real exposure, ask a lawyer in the country it runs in.
What each country and platform asks
| Rule | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| UAE media law | Every ad must include something that explicitly and clearly shows it is advertising (Federal Decree-Law 55 of 2023, Art. 20). | Decree-Law 55 of 2023 |
| UAE wording and placement | إعلان, إعلان مدفوع or مادة إعلانية (#ad, #advertising, #paid_ad), at the start, not among many hashtags; spoken and written for video; first frames of a story. "In cooperation with" or "thanks to" alone is not enough. From the former National Media Council, the only official wording there is. | CMS on the 2018 guide, Al Khaleej on the 2020 circular |
| UAE advertiser permit | Required since 1 February 2026 for paid and unpaid promotion, with the permit number shown on the profile. Visitors apply through a licensed agency. | The National, National Media Authority |
| Saudi Arabia | Say before the ad, in writing or aloud, clearly, that it is advertising content (the media regulator's rules for Mawthooq holders). Online ads must say they are advertising (Ministry of Commerce). | Al Eqtisadiah, Asharq Al-Awsat |
| Instagram and Facebook | Branded content, including gifts, uses the branded content tool with the brand tagged. | Meta |
| TikTok | Turn on the commercial content disclosure setting; covers gifts, affiliate links and ambassadors. | TikTok |
| Snapchat | Paid or gifted content uses the Paid Partnership tag. | Snap |
| YouTube | Tick the paid promotion box for branded content. | YouTube |
| X | The Paid Partnership label, launched March 2026, covers gifts and affiliate links. | X |
| The Brand partnership setting, for posts made in return for value. |
Where the Gulf rules are silent
No Gulf regulator rates words like “Sponsored”, #spon or #collab. For those the checker follows the regulators that have: the US FTC, the UK CMA and the UK ASA. That guidance is not Gulf law, and the checker says so where it uses it.
Claims we could not find in any official source
You may read elsewhere that:
- the UAE approves four hashtags (#ad, #sponsored, #gifted and #paidpartnership);
- the label must appear in the first three seconds of a video;
- the UAE fines AED 50,000 for each post;
- Saudi Arabia requires the hashtag #إعلان.
We found none of these in the laws, the regulators’ own publications or any law firm’s reading of them, only repeated on marketing blogs. The checker does not use them. Checked September 2026.
Disclosure is the agency's problem too
The UAE’s media law puts the labelling duty on every advertiser, not only the creator. Put the label, the platform tool and the permit in the brief and the contract (the influencer agreement template has the clause), check the draft before it goes live, and keep a record. The Gulf influencer rules guide covers permits in full.
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Try it freeCommon questions
What label does the UAE require on a paid post?
The media law (Federal Decree-Law 55 of 2023, Article 20) asks every ad to say explicitly and clearly that it is advertising, without naming one word. The only official wording comes from the former National Media Council: إعلان, إعلان مدفوع or مادة إعلانية, or #ad, #advertising and #paid_ad, at the start of the caption and not lost among hashtags.
What does Saudi Arabia require?
The General Authority for Media Regulation's rules for Mawthooq holders ask the creator to say, before the ad, in writing or aloud, clearly, that it is advertising content. The Ministry of Commerce also requires online ads to say they are advertising. Neither names a single required word or hashtag.
Do gifted products need a label?
Yes. The UAE's guidance asks for a clear label whenever a brand gave anything, in cash or in kind, and the UAE advertiser permit covers promotion with or without payment. Every major platform's own policy also treats free products and trips as branded content.
Is the platform's Paid partnership label enough?
Use it, because each platform's policy requires it for paid and gifted posts. But no Gulf regulator has said it is enough on its own, and UK regulators have said Instagram's label may not be, so keep a written label in the caption as well.
What are the fines?
In the UAE, the penalty rules under the media law (Cabinet Resolution 42 of 2025) allow fines of up to AED 100,000 for advertising without a permit, according to the law firm Afridi & Angell. In Saudi Arabia, the E-Commerce Law allows fines of up to SAR 1,000,000, and the Ministry of Commerce penalised 24 advertisers in 2022, among other things for not disclosing ads.