What a creator video may say in the UK, and where it may run
Britain is one of the most heavily self-regulated advertising markets in Europe, and since 2025 two regulators can act on a creator video: the ASA on the ad, the CMA on the practice, with penalties measured on turnover. These guides take the rules one category at a time, from the label on a gifted post to the products that cannot be advertised on a creator’s channel at all, and say in each case who answers for the sentence.
11 guides
Ad Labels Are Your Problem, Not the Brand’s
Most creators think the label depends on what they said about the product. It depends on what they received for it, and the obligation is personal.
Creator giveaways: the brand promotes, and it may be a lottery
Follow, like and tag is a free draw; buy to enter is a lottery unless a free route exists; a question anyone can answer is chance. What the video must show, who picks the winner, and what a creator should refuse.
Gambling and vapes: the audience is regulated, not the video
For betting, strong appeal is judged on the presenter's own profile and followers; for nicotine vapes there is no audience question, a paid online ad is prohibited outright, and the 2026 Act adds an offence not yet in force.
Green claims in creator video: one word, one proof, one enforcer
A creator says eco-friendly in three seconds. Since 6 April 2025 the CMA can fine the brand without a court, on turnover. What each environmental sentence costs to keep, and what to hand a creator instead of a list of banned words.
Health and beauty claims: the regime decides the sentence
In the UK what a creator may say about a supplement or a serum depends on the product's legal regime, and one sentence can move a cosmetic into the medicines regime. Register, six criteria, licence: who decides each sentence.
Less healthy food ads online: the payment test, not the video
Since 5 January 2026 a UK brand cannot pay for an online ad for an identifiable less healthy product, and a gifted product is a payment. The same creator video is lawful on the brand's account and unlawful on the creator's.
The alcohol rules are about who is in the frame, not about the bottle
A UK creator can lose an alcohol campaign over the age of a person in the background, and over an audience figure they never checked.
The Best Line in the Video Is the One You Will Have to Cut
In UGC you are not buying a video. You are buying sentences you did not write, and every one of them is now a claim you have to be able to stand behind.
The campaign runs six weeks. The video does not.
A brief asks for your child and the fee is good. The decision is not about the fee, it is about a person who could not be asked and will one day have a view.
UGC Advertising Disclosure Rules in the UK
The rule that catches brands out is not about money, and the ruling does not name the creator alone.
When a paid creator video becomes a review, and why it matters
Commissioning includes incentivising: a gifted product for an honest review video that hides the gift is a banned practice, and a brand republishing creator videos as customer reviews is a publisher of reviews.