The brand wants to run ads through my account. What exactly am I agreeing to?

A brand asks for permission to “boost” your post, run partnership ads or advertise through your handle. That can mean anything from promoting one approved post for seven days to creating new ads that look like you published them.

Treat account access, content rights and advertising claims as separate decisions. A content licence does not automatically answer which controls the brand receives inside a platform.

Translate the request into an access map

Ask the brand or agency to demonstrate the exact permission screen and name the account receiving access.

Use the platform’s delegated permission tools. Do not send your password, recovery code or session cookie. If a requested workflow requires full login access, stop and ask for a safer documented method.

Read the contract beside the platform permission

The agreement should identify the content, usage, edits, media, territory, term and payment. Check whether paid advertising is included or only organic reposting. Look for rights to sublicense to an agency, create derivatives, use your name and likeness, or continue campaigns after the commercial relationship ends.

If your face or voice may be synthetically changed or reused in new material, use the creator AI-rights worksheet. Permission for one filmed post is not a blank cheque for replicas.

Decide who approves claims and edits

Ask who supplies the product claims, captions and landing page; who checks substantiation; and whether you see each materially different ad before launch. Record an emergency takedown contact for an incorrect, unsafe or out-of-date claim.

For advertising affecting US consumers, the FTC’s influencer guidance says material brand relationships should be obvious and disclosures should be hard to miss. It also warns creators not to rely only on a platform’s disclosure tool. Other countries and platforms have their own rules.

The contract should not force you to make a statement about experience you did not have or evidence you have not seen. Brand approval does not make an inaccurate endorsement truthful.

Price the permission, not only the original post

Paid use can create value and risk beyond producing the content. Discuss:

• the initial creation fee;
• paid-media usage by platform and duration;
• territory and audience size;
• variations, editing and refreshes;
• exclusivity that limits other work;
• renewal and extension pricing;
• a reporting or screenshot requirement when the campaign ends.

Avoid “in perpetuity on all media” by accident if the commercial plan is a six-week social campaign. If the brand needs flexibility, define an extension method and price rather than leaving duration invisible.

Use an offboarding checklist

At the end:

1. record the agreed campaign end;
2. stop active ads using your identity;
3. revoke the brand and agency permissions;
4. confirm which organic posts may remain;
5. save final reporting and payment records;
6. check that reusable audiences, edited assets and synthetic material are handled as agreed.

Adapt this question before approving access:

Please identify the exact platform permission, account receiving it, approved posts, permitted edits, campaign dates, territories and placements. Confirm that spend is charged to the brand’s ad account, no password access is needed, I approve materially different versions before launch, and access plus active ads using my identity end on [date].

The safest useful agreement is not “the brand may advertise.” It is a small map of what it may do, where, for how long and with which controls.