YouTube Affiliate Link Disclosures: What the FTC Actually Requires

Andrew Pierce ·
affiliate marketing youtube ftc disclosure legal compliance

YouTube Affiliate Link Disclosures: What the FTC Actually Requires

If you use affiliate links on YouTube, you’re legally required to disclose that relationship to your viewers. This isn’t optional. It’s not a best practice. It’s a Federal Trade Commission requirement that applies to anyone earning commissions from product recommendations in the United States, and similar rules exist in the UK, EU, Canada, and most other markets.

Despite this, a huge number of YouTube creators either don’t disclose at all or do it in a way that doesn’t actually meet the requirements. The rules aren’t complicated, but there’s a lot of confusion about what counts as adequate disclosure and where it needs to appear.

Here’s a straightforward breakdown of what you actually need to do.

The FTC’s position is simple: if you have a financial relationship with a company and you recommend their product, your audience needs to know about that relationship before they act on your recommendation.

For YouTube affiliate marketing, this means: if clicking a link in your description earns you a commission, viewers need to know that before they click the link.

The key word is “before.” A disclosure buried at the bottom of a 20-line description that viewers see after they’ve already clicked your link doesn’t satisfy the requirement. The disclosure needs to be clear, conspicuous, and close to the recommendation.

What Wording Counts as Adequate Affiliate Disclosure?

The FTC doesn’t prescribe exact wording. They care about whether the average viewer would understand that you have a financial incentive. Plain language works. Legal jargon is not required and is actually discouraged because most viewers won’t understand it.

Good disclosure language:

  • “This video contains affiliate links — I earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.”
  • “Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase.”
  • “I’m an affiliate for [Brand] — if you use my link below, I’ll earn a commission.”
  • “The links in this description are affiliate links. I get paid a small percentage if you buy through them.”

Inadequate disclosure:

  • “Thanks to [Brand] for sponsoring this video” — Sponsorship and affiliate marketing are different things. A sponsorship disclosure doesn’t cover affiliate links.
  • “#ad” or “#affiliate” alone — Hashtags in a video description are easy to miss and don’t clearly explain the nature of the relationship.
  • “See description for details” — This isn’t a disclosure, it’s a redirect. The disclosure needs to be where the viewer will actually see it.
  • Nothing at all — Obviously doesn’t meet the requirement.

Where Should You Put Affiliate Disclosures on YouTube?

You need disclosures in multiple places: verbally in the video and in writing in the description. This is where most creators go wrong — they put a disclosure somewhere, but not where it matters.

In the video itself (most important)

If you verbally recommend a product and direct viewers to a link in the description, disclose the affiliate relationship verbally in the video. This doesn’t need to be a big production. A natural mention works:

“I’ll drop my affiliate link in the description — I do earn a small commission if you buy through it, but it doesn’t cost you anything extra.”

Say this near the point where you mention the product, not at the very end of the video. The FTC’s guidance is that the disclosure should be close to the recommendation, not separated from it by minutes of other content.

In the description (required)

Include a written disclosure in your video description. The most effective placement is near the top — ideally above or immediately below your affiliate links, not buried at the bottom.

🔗 The camera I use (affiliate link):
https://your-affiliate-link.com

Disclosure: Some links above are affiliate links. I may earn a
commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase.

If all your affiliate links are grouped together, a single disclosure statement covering all of them is fine. You don’t need to label each individual link separately, though doing so is even better:

🔗 Camera (affiliate): https://link.com
🔗 Microphone (affiliate): https://link.com
🔗 Tripod (affiliate): https://link.com

In a pinned comment (helpful but not sufficient alone)

A pinned comment disclosure is visible and can reinforce your description disclosure, but it shouldn’t be your only disclosure. Not all viewers read comments, and the FTC expects the disclosure to be close to the affiliate links themselves, which are in the description.

Use a pinned comment as a supplement, not a replacement.

What Are the Most Common Affiliate Disclosure Mistakes?

Putting the disclosure below the fold

YouTube descriptions show only the first 2-3 lines before the viewer has to click “…more.” (For a full breakdown of description structure, see our guide to managing affiliate links in YouTube descriptions.) If your disclosure is on line 15 of your description, most viewers will never see it. The FTC has explicitly stated that disclosures need to be visible without requiring the viewer to take additional action (like clicking “show more”).

If your affiliate links are above the fold, your disclosure should be too. If your links are below the fold, the disclosure should appear immediately before or after the links.

Using vague language

“Thanks for supporting the channel!” is not a disclosure. It doesn’t tell viewers that specific links earn you money. Be explicit about what happens when they click your link.

Only disclosing for sponsored content

Some creators disclose when they have a paid sponsorship but not when they use affiliate links. Both require disclosure. The FTC doesn’t distinguish between getting paid directly by a brand and earning a commission through an affiliate program — both are material connections that affect the viewer’s evaluation of your recommendation.

Disclosing once and assuming it covers all videos

Each video needs its own disclosure. A disclosure in your channel’s About section or on your website doesn’t cover individual videos. The FTC requires disclosure in the same medium where the endorsement appears. If the affiliate link is in a video description, the disclosure needs to be there too.

Assuming small channels don’t need to disclose

The FTC requirements apply to everyone, regardless of channel size. There’s no subscriber threshold below which you’re exempt. Whether you have 500 subscribers or 5 million, if you’re earning affiliate commissions from links in your descriptions, you need to disclose.

Yes. The FTC is a US agency, but similar disclosure requirements exist in most countries:

UK: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) require clear disclosure of affiliate relationships. The standard is similar to the FTC — disclosures must be upfront, clear, and not hidden.

EU: The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive requires disclosure of commercial intent. Individual EU countries may have additional specific requirements.

Canada: The Competition Act and Ad Standards Canada require transparency about material connections.

Australia: Australian Consumer Law requires that commercial relationships be disclosed to avoid misleading conduct.

If your audience is international — which most YouTube audiences are — the safest approach is to follow the strictest applicable standard, which generally means clear, upfront disclosure in both the video and the description.

The FTC has the authority to take enforcement action, and affiliate programs can terminate your account. In practice, enforcement against individual YouTube creators has been limited — the FTC has focused more on larger influencer marketing campaigns and brands.

However, the risk isn’t just regulatory. Affiliate programs themselves often require disclosure in their terms of service. Amazon Associates explicitly requires affiliates to include a disclosure statement. Violating Amazon’s terms can get your Associate account terminated, which means losing all pending commissions and your ability to earn from the program.

Beyond compliance, there’s a practical business reason to disclose: trust. Viewers who discover undisclosed affiliate links feel deceived. They lose trust in your recommendations, they’re less likely to click future links, and they might call you out in comments — which is far more damaging than a simple disclosure statement would have been.

Transparency doesn’t hurt conversions. Research consistently shows that clear affiliate disclosures have little to no negative impact on click-through rates. Viewers understand that creators need to earn money, and most are fine with affiliate links as long as they know about them.

A Simple Template That Covers You

If you want a no-hassle approach that satisfies disclosure requirements across all major markets, use this template. Add it to your video description template so it’s included in every video automatically.

In the description (above or near your affiliate links):

Disclosure: Some links in this description are affiliate links. If you
purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no
additional cost to you. I only recommend products I genuinely use or
believe in.

Verbally in the video (near your product recommendation):

“I’ll put my link in the description — full disclosure, it is an affiliate link, so I do get a small cut if you buy through it. Doesn’t cost you anything extra.”

That’s it. Two sentences in your description, one sentence in your video. It takes almost no effort and eliminates any compliance risk.

Yes — your disclosure obligation doesn’t go away when your affiliate link breaks.

If a video description says “affiliate link below” but the link now goes to a dead page, the viewer has been told to expect a working affiliate link and instead gets an error. This isn’t a legal issue per se, but it contributes to viewer confusion and erodes the trust that your disclosure was supposed to build.

Maintaining your affiliate links isn’t just about revenue — it’s about keeping the implicit promise you make when you tell viewers “here’s my affiliate link for this product.” If the link doesn’t work, the entire disclosure-to-click-to-purchase chain breaks. (See our guide on how to find and fix broken affiliate links for practical steps.)

Keeping your links healthy and your disclosures accurate is part of the same job. Tools like Youfiliate handle the link monitoring side of this by scanning your descriptions and alerting you when affiliate links break, so you can fix them before viewers — or regulators — notice the disconnect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. The FTC requires you to clearly disclose any financial relationship with a company before viewers act on your recommendation. This applies to all YouTube creators in the US regardless of channel size, and similar rules exist in the UK, EU, Canada, and Australia.

Where exactly should the affiliate disclosure go in my YouTube description?

Place your disclosure above the fold (in the first 2-3 lines) or immediately next to your affiliate links. YouTube only shows the first few lines before the viewer clicks “…more,” so a disclosure buried at line 15 is essentially invisible. You should also disclose verbally in the video itself, near the point where you mention the product.

Is putting “#ad” or “#affiliate” in my description enough?

No. Hashtags alone don’t clearly explain the nature of the financial relationship. The FTC requires disclosures that make the average viewer understand you earn money when they click and purchase. Use plain language like “This description contains affiliate links — I earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.”

Yes. There is no subscriber threshold below which you’re exempt from FTC requirements. Whether you have 100 subscribers or 10 million, if you earn commissions from links in your descriptions, you need to disclose that relationship.

Can I put one affiliate disclosure on my channel page to cover all videos?

No. Each video needs its own disclosure. The FTC requires the disclosure to appear in the same medium as the endorsement. A blanket statement on your channel’s About page or your website does not cover individual video descriptions.