Free tools/Influencers
Influencer ad disclosure checker for the UAE and Saudi Arabia
Paste a creator's caption and check whether a paid, gifted or affiliate post says clearly that it is an ad: the right words, in the right place, with the platform's own label and the advertiser permit checked as well.
Free, no sign-up, and it runs in your browser
- No advertising label
The UAE's media law asks every ad to say explicitly and clearly that it is advertising, and Saudi rules ask for it before the ad. Start the caption with إعلان or Ad.
- "thanks to" is not enough on its own
The UAE's guidance names "in cooperation with" and "thanks to" as not enough, and the FTC and UK regulators say the same of #spon, #collab, #ambassador and #gifted. Add إعلان or Ad.
The caption, labelled
The label goes first, in the caption’s language. Take out “thanks to” or #collab-style tags if they were standing in for it.
Before it goes live
- Turn on Instagram's own label
Instagram's policy asks for the branded content tool (shows "Paid partnership"), with the brand tagged on paid and gifted posts.
- UAE: an advertiser permit
The creator needs the National Media Authority's advertiser permit (required since 1 February 2026), with the permit number shown on the profile. Visiting creators need a visitor permit through a licensed agency.
- Restricted products
Tobacco and vapes cannot be promoted in the UAE, even indirectly, and health products have needed Ministry of Health approval.
A check against the published rules and guidance listed below, not legal advice. For a campaign with real exposure, ask a lawyer in the country it runs in.
What it does
In the UAE, Federal Decree-Law 55 of 2023 (Article 20) requires every advertisement to show, explicitly and clearly, that it is advertising. The only official wording comes from the former National Media Council: إعلان, إعلان مدفوع or مادة إعلانية (#ad, #advertising or #paid_ad), placed at the start of the caption rather than lost among hashtags, spoken and written in video, and in the first frames of a story. In Saudi Arabia, the media regulator's rules for Mawthooq holders ask creators to state clearly, in writing or aloud and before the ad, that it is advertising content, and the Ministry of Commerce requires online ads to say they are advertising.
The checker reads a caption against those rules for the country, platform, kind of deal and format you choose. It looks at the wording and where it sits, reminds you of the platform's own disclosure setting (Instagram's branded content tool, TikTok's commercial content disclosure, YouTube's paid promotion box and the rest), and asks about the UAE advertiser permit, required since 1 February 2026 for paid and unpaid promotion. Where Gulf regulators say nothing about a word such as Sponsored, #spon or #collab, it follows the US FTC and the UK CMA and ASA, and tells you that guidance is not Gulf law. It runs in your browser.
How to use it
- Choose the country, the platform, and whether the post is paid, gifted or affiliate.
- Say whether it is a post, a story or a video, then paste the caption.
- Go through the flags: wording that is missing or vague, a label hidden among hashtags, the platform setting and the permit.
- Correct the draft before it is published and keep a copy of what was approved. Under the UAE's media law, labelling is every advertiser's duty, the brand's included.
Questions, answered
What label does the UAE require on a paid post?
The law (Article 20 of Federal Decree-Law 55 of 2023) says every ad must make clear, explicitly, that it is advertising, but it does not prescribe a particular word. The only official wording on record is the former National Media Council's: إعلان, إعلان مدفوع or مادة إعلانية, or in English #ad, #advertising and #paid_ad, placed first in the caption instead of among other hashtags. A line such as "in cooperation with" or "thanks to" does not satisfy it by itself.
What does Saudi Arabia require?
Two sources apply. For Mawthooq holders, the General Authority for Media Regulation's rules require a clear statement, written or spoken, before the ad begins, that the content is advertising. Separately, the Ministry of Commerce requires online ads to identify themselves as advertising. Neither one prescribes a specific word or hashtag.
Does a gifted product need a label?
It does. The UAE's guidance calls for a clear label whenever a brand has provided anything, whether cash or goods, and the UAE advertiser permit applies to promotion whether or not money changes hands. The major platforms' policies also count free products and trips as branded content.
Is the platform's Paid partnership label enough?
Turn it on, since every platform's policy asks for it on paid and gifted content. It is not a substitute for words, though: no regulator in the Gulf has called it sufficient alone, and regulators in the UK have said Instagram's version might not be. Keep a written label in the caption as well.
What are the penalties?
UAE: according to the law firm Afridi & Angell, Cabinet Resolution 42 of 2025, which sets the penalties under the media law, allows fines of up to AED 100,000 for advertising without a permit. Saudi Arabia: the E-Commerce Law provides for fines of up to SAR 1,000,000, and in 2022 the Ministry of Commerce penalised 24 advertisers, with failure to disclose ads among the reasons.
What about the rules I have read on other sites?
You may see it claimed that the UAE approves four hashtags (#ad, #sponsored, #gifted and #paidpartnership), that the label must appear in the first three seconds of a video, that the UAE fines AED 50,000 per post, or that Saudi Arabia requires #إعلان. None of these could be found in the laws, the regulators' own publications or any law firm's reading of them as of September 2026, only repeated on marketing blogs, so the checker does not apply them.
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