How a brand checks a creator before it pays

Why the check got stricter

AI can now make a face, a voice, a feed and a follower count. So a careful marketer starts from doubt and asks for proof before paying. Regulators moved the same way: in August 2024 the US Federal Trade Commission adopted a rule that bans buying or selling fake followers or views, such as those from a bot or a hijacked account, when the buyer knew or should have known they were fake and used them to look more influential for business.

The four questions behind every check

These are the same four parts a Few Found reviewer checks before marking a creator Verified. Have an answer ready for each.

1. Are you real, and are these channels yours? Link every channel to one page that names you, and link that page back from each channel.
2. Is the audience real, and where is it? Keep recent screenshots from your own analytics dashboards: top countries, age range and reach. A brand trusts the platform’s numbers more than a third-party estimate.
3. Have you delivered for a brand before? For each past job, write down the brand, the month, what you made and a link to it. Ask one brand contact whether they would confirm it if asked.
4. What does it cost, and on what terms? Write down your rates, what each includes, how long a brand may reuse the content, and how you mark paid posts.

Disclosure: the rules a brand will ask about

A brand that pays you shares the risk if a post hides it, so expect to be asked how you disclose. The rules differ by country. This is a summary of each source, not legal advice.

• United States (FTC): disclose any financial, employment, personal or family relationship with a brand, and free or discounted products count as financial. Put the disclosure in the post itself, where it is hard to miss, not only in your bio or behind “more”. Words such as “ad” and “sponsored” are fine. Do not talk about your experience with a product you have not tried.
• United Kingdom (ASA and CAP, with the CMA): it must be obvious from the start that the content is an ad. Their guide recommends a clear “Ad” label upfront, and advises against labels such as “sponsored”, “gifted” or “collab” on their own.
• India (ASCI): the Advertising Standards Council of India introduced guidelines for influencer advertising in May 2021. Read them on the ASCI site if your audience is in India.
• If your audience crosses borders, an “Ad” label at the very start of the post fits both the US and the UK guidance above.

Answer it all in one link

Every answer a marketer has to chase is a reason to pick someone else. Keep them together: your channels, niche and country, audience range, past brand work and rates. That is what a Found page holds. A Found page is free, and a person at Few Found checks it is real before it goes live. When you want your audience checked from your analytics too, Few Found Verified does that, and never asks for your login.

Channels: [links to each]
Audience: [range], mostly in [countries], from my own analytics on [date]
Recent brand work: [brand, month, what I made, link]
Rates and reuse: [rate, what it includes, how long the brand may reuse it]
How I disclose: [for example, “Ad” at the start of every paid post]
Check me: [your Found page link]

Sources

Every rule above was read against these on 6 Nov 2026. Rules change: check the source before you rely on it.

1. US Federal Trade Commission, Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials, 14 August 2024.
2. US Federal Trade Commission, Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, November 2019.
3. Advertising Standards Authority and Committee of Advertising Practice (UK), with the CMA, Influencers’ guide to making clear that ads are ads, October 2026, fourth edition.
4. Advertising Standards Council of India, Influencer resources and guidelines for influencer advertising, Guidelines introduced May 2021.