The FTC's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255, revised June 29, 2023) are the one federal rule that applies to every NIL post in every state. The idea is simple: an audience is entitled to know when a recommendation is paid.
When you must disclose
Any "material connection": money, free product, a fee for a video, a share card you were given, a relationship the audience would not expect. NIL33 Champions are paid, so every placement discloses. Ambassadors are unpaid, and say "unpaid ambassador" so nobody has to wonder.
How
- Unavoidable. Not buried in a "more" fold, not the twelfth hashtag. First line, on screen, or spoken.
- Video. On screen long enough to read, and said out loud if you are talking to the camera.
- Stories and short clips. A text overlay that stays up.
- Tags and "silent" placements count. Tagging a brand in a photo is an endorsement.
- Every post. Not once a month.
Words that work
"Paid partnership with UnyKorn LLC." "#ad." "Unpaid ambassador for NIL33." The platform's paid-partnership tool. What does not work: "sp", "collab", "thanks to", a tag alone.
What the advertiser has to do
The 2023 revision makes the company responsible for monitoring its endorsers. That is why the NIL33 portal has a placement log: you paste the URL, the platform, and the disclosure you used, and UnyKorn checks it. It protects you as much as us.
What you may never say
That funds can be recovered, any success rate, "bank", "insured", "licensed", "guaranteed", any token or price talk, or an honor the league's records do not show. The approved lines are in the kit.