Using Customer Content in Marketing? Know These FTC Rules First

Customer reviews, testimonials, photos, and creator posts can strengthen user-generated content marketing for a small business, but reusing them can trigger FTC disclosure rules and separate content-rights issues. The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Review Rule has been enforceable since October 21, 2024, covering practices including fake reviews, sentiment-based review incentives, undisclosed insider reviews, and certain efforts to suppress negative feedback.

Enforcement is continuing. In July 2026, the FTC finalized an order against TruHeight after alleging that the company used reviews written by employees and offered customers free or discounted products in exchange for five-star reviews. The order bars deceptive review practices and requires greater transparency around endorsements.

How to reuse customer content

A public social media post is not automatically available for unrestricted commercial reuse. A native share or embed uses a platform’s built-in functionality. Downloading a customer’s photo or video and republishing it on a website, email, ad, or another account is a separate use.

Photography and other original visual works can receive copyright protection, and the appropriate rights holder may need to authorize reuse. Businesses should also check current platform terms before republishing customer content outside native sharing tools.

Permission to reuse a post may not resolve separate rights involving people, music, trademarks, or other material appearing in it.

How to document UGC permission

For content reused beyond a native share, keep a permission record identifying the creator, original post, approved channels, permitted edits, attribution requirements, compensation, and any limits on duration or geography.

The FTC does not require this particular recordkeeping process. Keeping the record makes it easier to confirm what reuse was actually authorized.

FTC rules for reviews and testimonials

Businesses cannot create or buy fake reviews or testimonials, including AI-generated reviews presented as coming from nonexistent people or reviews that misrepresent whether someone actually used a product or service.

A business also cannot condition an incentive on particular review sentiment, such as offering a discount only for a five-star review. Other review incentives may be permissible under FTC rules, but disclosure requirements and stricter platform policies can still apply.

The rule also restricts certain undisclosed reviews involving company insiders, including officers, managers, employees, agents, and immediate relatives.

When UGC disclosures are required

Paid creator posts and other influencer marketing endorsements are also addressed by the FTC’s Endorsement Guides. Material connections can include payments, free or discounted products, employment, or personal and family relationships. Required disclosures should appear with the endorsement where consumers are unlikely to miss them.

Businesses should vet agencies and reputation-management vendors because outsourcing review solicitation does not necessarily shield a company from responsibility for deceptive practices carried out on its behalf.

4-step UGC compliance checklist

Before publishing customer or creator content, check four things:

• Content source: Is it an organic post, customer review, incentivized review, or paid endorsement?
• Use method: Are you sharing it natively or republishing the asset somewhere else?
• Evidence: Is reuse permission documented, along with any incentives or compensation?
• Disclosure: Would customers easily understand any relationship between the business and the person endorsing it?

Businesses should not use unfounded legal threats to force negative reviews offline. Separately, the Consumer Review Fairness Act generally restricts form-contract terms that prohibit or penalize consumers for posting honest reviews.

Before publishing customer content, verify its source, secure the necessary reuse rights, disclose material relationships when required, and make sure every review or testimonial reflects a genuine experience.