What is sponsored-deal registration?

Sponsored-deal registration is the industry’s term for placing a sponsored post through a platform’s official brand-deal platform, or flagging it with the platform’s own tool, so the platform knows it is commercial content. It happens on the platform’s side and runs alongside the legal duty to label advertising.

Also known as: Branded content registration, Sponsored post registration, 商业合作报备

Updated September 30, 2026

Sponsored-deal registration and advertising labels are two different things: the first happens in a platform’s official brand-deal platform or labeling tool, the second is a legal requirement. Article 14 of China’s Advertising Law requires advertising to be identifiable, so consumers can tell it is advertising;⁠¹ Article 9 of the Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising requires content that promotes goods or services through knowledge sharing, experience posts or reviews with a purchase link attached to be clearly marked 广告 (“advertisement”).⁠² The detailed labeling rules in China, the US and Canada are in how a sponsored post must be labeled; the Chinese platforms’ official brand-deal platforms are on the platforms page. In Chinese, registration is 商业合作报备 (shāngyè hézuò bàobèi).

What are the equivalent tools on North American platforms?

TikTok’s Branded Content Policy requires content that promotes a third party’s brand, product or service in exchange for payment or another incentive to be posted with the commercial content disclosure setting turned on.⁠³ Meta has separate branded content policies for content that features, or is influenced by, a business partner for an exchange of value;⁠⁴ such content carries the “Paid partnership” label.⁠⁵

What are the equivalent tools on North American platforms?

Further reading