TikTok is changing how commercial content disclosures are enforced. Beginning September 1, 2025, TikTok will enact tighter guidelines on commercial content in the US. The Bazaarvoice team is here to help break down what that means for content creators and the brands that partner with them.
What’s changing with TikTok?
Accounts that post videos detected to contain commercial content without proper disclosure will receive an in-app notification within 2-3 hours of posting. If the content isn’t properly disclosed or the request isn’t appealed within 24 hours, the content could be ineligible for the For You feed and experience limited reach.
Image provided by TikTok: Commercial Content Disclosure Enforcement partner guide
How do I know if my content is considered commercial content by TikTok?
TikTok has the following definitions for commercial content:
- Branded Organic Content is content promoting a brand, product, or service on TikTok that includes promoting yourself or your own business.
- Branded Content is content promoting a brand, product, or service on TikTok that includes promoting a third-party brand or its products or services in exchange for payment or any other incentive.
How must commercial content be disclosed?
To adhere with TikTok’s new content disclosure guidelines, creators must turn on the “Disclose commercial content” toggle and select “Branded Content” before publishing the content. Branded business accounts should also turn on the toggle, but must select “Your brand”.
If the content isn’t properly disclosed within 24 hours, it could be removed from the For You feed, which will limit its reach on TikTok.
Image from TikTok
How does the disclosure appear on content?
The disclosure is a “Promotional content” label on Branded Organic Content and a “Paid partnership” label on Branded Content. In both cases, the label will appear in the lower-left corner of the video.
Image from TikTok Creator Academy
How is Bazaarvoice responding to the change?
At Bazaarvoice, our mission is to make shopping radically transparent and to protect the authenticity of the content that shoppers rely on. TikTok’s Commercial Disclosure and Paid Marketing guidelines align with this commitment, reinforcing the principles we have championed for over 20 years.
Bazaarvoice views the updates to TikTok’s Community Guidelines as a catalyst for more transparent and trustworthy shopping experiences. These guidelines are an essential step in ensuring that the future of social is built on a foundation of authenticity, benefiting brands, creators, and, most importantly, consumers. We’ll continue to work with brands to help them navigate these evolving standards and protect their most valuable asset: consumer trust.
To ensure our clients can operate seamlessly and with full confidence utilizing TikTok, we are taking immediate action to align our technology and processes with these new requirements.
Bazaarvoice Sampling
Sampling programs on Influenster require members to add disclosures to social content via a hashtag. To adhere to TikTok’s policy, we’re adding additional requirements and providing member education, which will be built into all of Influenster’s in-app sampling campaign flows. To prepare members for this change and to ensure they take the necessary steps to add the required disclosures, we’ve messaged those who’ve opted into current campaigns with a TikTok task.
Bazaarvoice is actively working on a deeper integration through TikTok One APIs to automate disclosures for sampling. This will remove manual steps for Influenster members while guaranteeing their content is properly disclosed and eligible for the For You feed.
Bazaarvoice Vibe for Social Media Management
Beginning September 1, 2025, all video content scheduled to TikTok will, by default, automatically be marked as “Branded Organic Content” and you will see a “Promotional content” label applied. We are proactively handling this on your behalf to ensure your video content remains compliant with TikTok’s policy, safeguarding it from potential penalties and reach limitations.
Bazaarvoice Vibe for Creator Marketing
To maintain compliance with TikTok’s new disclosure rules, our integration with the TikTok One API automatically generates a unique campaign link for every creator. All they have to do is upload their video using this link within the TikTok app, and the required “Paid Partnership” label is automatically added.
If a Creator forgets to use the link, brands can easily request that their video be linked to the campaign directly from within Vibe. This ensures all your content is properly disclosed, which is crucial for maintaining eligibility on the For You feed and protecting your campaign’s performance and reach.
This automated, flexible workflow supports both new video uploads and the retroactive linking of existing content, which also simplifies the process for running Spark Ads and gives you access to more comprehensive performance data.
Will adding the required disclosures impact my video content’s performance on TikTok?
According to TikTok, this will not impact content performance. In fact, it might help.
In 2023, TikTok ran a study across 2 million TikTok videos to see if adding disclosures impacted performance. It found no change between the disclosed and non-disclosed content. In 20252, it ran an updated study that found the content with disclosures actually outperformed content without disclosures across total reviews, organic views, and organic engagement.
Sources: TikTok Marketing Sciences, [TCM Video Bias Experiment], conducted by TikTok Marketing Science team, 2023; Creative Experts Center internal analysis: Organic Creator Content Standard x Branded Content, Brand Ads (Spark, non-Spark), Brand Lift Studies, previous 6 months-1 year (2024-2025)