Every page you publish makes promises: in the headline, in the screenshots, in the star ratings, even in the countdown timer. In the United States and most other places, the basic rule is the same: advertising must be truthful, must not be misleading, and claims must be backed up before you make them.
This lesson draws on guidance and rules from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Other countries have comparable rules, often stricter. Specific requirements depend on your product, claims and location, and rules are updated. Use the linked FTC pages for current details. This is general education, not legal advice.
01The standard: truthful, not misleading, substantiated
Three ideas from FTC guidance explain most advertising rules:
Notice that a technically true sentence can still mislead. "Over 10,000 downloads!" is deceptive if 9,900 of them were free-trial installs that never opened the app and you imply paying customers. Look at the whole impression, not each sentence.
02Claims, puffery and promises
Not every upbeat statement needs proof. Regulators distinguish between kinds of statements:
| Kind | Example | Needs evidence? |
|---|---|---|
| Puffery | "The best coffee in town!" "Our designs are stunning." | Generally no: vague, subjective exaggeration that reasonable people do not take as a measurable fact. But the more specific it becomes, the less likely it is puffery. |
| Objective claim | "Loads 2x faster than the leading plugin." "Used by 5,000 teams." | Yes. You need data you can show, before you publish. |
| Comparison | "Cheaper than [Competitor]." | Yes, and the comparison must be fair and current. |
| Results or earnings claim | "Students make $3,000 a month." | Yes, strongly. These are high-risk, and typical results matter (see below). |
| Health, safety, financial claims | "Lowers anxiety." "Pays off debt faster." | Stricter proof is expected. Avoid unless you are qualified and have strong evidence. |
| Promise or guarantee | "Money-back guarantee." | The terms must be clear, and you must honor them. |
Puffery or a claim that needs proof?
03Reviews and testimonials
Reviews are persuasive because strangers trust other customers more than sellers. That makes them a regulatory focus. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, announced in August 2024, bans several practices that businesses of any size can fall into. In summary, it prohibits:
- Fake or false reviews and testimonials, including ones that misrepresent the reviewer's experience or do not reflect real experience. This includes AI-generated fake reviews.
- Buying positive or negative reviews, and offering compensation or incentives conditioned on a particular sentiment.
- Undisclosed insider reviews, such as reviews by employees, owners or relatives that do not clearly disclose the relationship.
- Company-controlled "independent" review sites that pretend to be neutral.
- Review suppression, including threats or intimidation to stop honest negative reviews or to get them removed.
- Buying or selling fake social media followers, views or likes to misrepresent influence for commercial purposes.
The FTC can pursue civil penalties against those who knowingly violate the rule, and platforms may remove violators independently. Rules and enforcement continue to develop, so check the FTC's page for the latest.
- Ask real customers for honest feedback after they have used the product. Don't pre-write it.
- Show the good and the mixed. A page with only perfect scores looks suspicious.
- Do not edit testimonials to change their meaning. If you shorten one, keep it accurate.
- Get permission before using a customer's name or photo in marketing.
- If you offer a free product, discount or perk for a review, say so and do not condition it on being positive.
- Respond to negative reviews calmly and offer to fix the problem. Never threaten reviewers.
- If you have no reviews yet, say you are new.
04Endorsements, affiliates and disclosures
If you recommend a product and have a material connection to the seller, that is, something that might affect how much weight people give your recommendation, you need to disclose it. Under the FTC's Endorsement Guides (updated in 2023), material connections include:
- Payment or commissions, including affiliate links
- Free or discounted products or services
- Early access, gifts or other perks
- Business, family or employment relationships
The key requirement is that the disclosure be clear and conspicuous: placed where people will see it, in plain language, and understandable. Burying it in a block of hashtags, behind a "more" button, or in a separate page is not enough.
Clear
- "Ad:" or "Paid partnership" at the start of the post
- "I earn a commission if you buy through this link" next to the link
- "Gifted by the brand" stated near the recommendation
- A disclosure in the video itself, spoken and shown, not only in the description
Not clear
- A vague hashtag like #sp, #collab or #partner that the audience may not understand
- Disclosure buried among a pile of hashtags
- A "commissionable link" label, which the FTC has said is not clear enough for affiliate links
- A disclosure only on a different page
Responsibility is shared: advertisers, endorsers (such as influencers) and intermediaries can each be liable. If you pay people to promote your product, give them clear disclosure instructions and monitor what they post.
05Earnings and results claims
"I made $10,000 in a month" and "Our students earn six figures" are among the most scrutinized claims in online business. Regulators worry about them because they depend on a buyer's hope.
- If you show results, they must be real and you must be able to document them.
- Cherry-picking the best outcome implies it is typical. If it is not, a footnote such as "results not typical" is generally not enough on its own. You should tell people what results to generally expect if the impression would otherwise mislead.
- A lifestyle photo (a rented sports car, a beach laptop) can imply income on its own. Net impression applies to images as well as text.
- Do not claim, or imply, that a product will make money without real evidence that most buyers can.
Instead of "Make $1,000 in your first week!", try: "This course teaches how to set up and sell a digital product. In our first cohort of 42 people, 9 made at least one sale in the first 60 days and the median revenue was $0. Results depend on effort, skill and market conditions." That might sell fewer courses. It also sells to the right people and builds trust that lasts.
06Urgency, scarcity and pricing
Persuasion is allowed. Manufactured pressure is not. These are common tactics that cross the line:
- Fake countdown timers that reset for every visitor.
- False scarcity: "Only 3 left!" when stock is unlimited.
- Fake reference prices: "Was $199, now $49" when it was never sold at $199.
- Hidden or surprise fees added at checkout. Show the total price early.
- Hard-to-cancel subscriptions. In the U.S., the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA) generally requires clear disclosure of terms and a simple way to cancel for online "negative option" sales. Regardless of the exact rule, make cancelling as easy as signing up.
- Guilt-trip buttons like "No thanks, I don't care about my success."
Honest urgency is fine: a real deadline for a real cohort, a real limited run, a real end date for a discount. If you can explain the reason plainly and truthfully, it is honest.
07Write it honestly: rewrite practice
Pick the honest rewrite
08Your claim audit
Audit a page you plan to publish
Choose a real or imagined page. List the factual claims it makes, how you would prove each, and your honest version if you cannot.
| Claim I want to make | Evidence I have | Honest version |
|---|---|---|
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09Check your understanding
Lesson 6 quiz
10Key terms
Go deeperComparative claims and competitors
Comparing yourself to competitors is allowed if it is truthful and fair. Compare like with like, use current information, and be able to prove it. Do not disparage competitors with unsupported statements, which can raise defamation and unfair competition concerns on top of advertising rules. Naming a competitor also touches trademark rules covered in Lesson 5.
Go deeperOutside the United States
Many countries have consumer-protection and advertising rules at least as strict as the FTC's, and some require extra disclosures (for example, clear pricing and cooling-off rights). If you sell to people in another country, their rules can apply. Check the local consumer authority and the platforms you use.
Key takeaways
- Advertising must be truthful, not misleading and substantiated before you publish it.
- Judge by net impression: images, omissions and layout count as much as words.
- Reviews must be real. Fake, bought or conditioned reviews, suppression and fake followers are prohibited under the FTC rule.
- Disclose material connections (payments, affiliate links, gifts) clearly and close to the recommendation.
- Earnings claims need real, documentable evidence and honest context about typical results.
- Use honest urgency: real deadlines for real reasons, with clear total prices and easy cancellation.
Official sources and further reading
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This lesson is general education, not legal advice. Laws and platform rules differ by place and change over time. For a specific situation, talk to a qualified professional and read the terms of each platform you use. Last reviewed 2026-11-02.