Undisclosed sponsored posts: only 1 in 4 trusts creators to always disclose
A Morning Consult survey for Business Insider shows only a quarter of US adults believe creators always reveal when a post is paid. Here is what the numbers say, why this weighs on the price of your next sponsored deal, and how to disclose properly in Brazil under CONAR's new guide.
Undisclosed sponsored posts: only 1 in 4 trusts creators to always disclose
Only a quarter of adults in the United States believe creators always say when a post is paid, according to a Morning Consult survey of about 2,000 people for Business Insider, released this November. If you live off sponsorships, that changes the math: disclosing a sponsored post is no longer a legal footnote, it is part of what the brand buys when it hires you.
The numbers are American. But the message reaches Brazil through two channels: CONAR's guide, revised in 2026 and already in force, and the automatic label YouTube announced for the coming months.
What did the survey find?
Distrust is higher among older people, but tolerance for hidden sponsorships is higher among younger ones. The numbers below are in Tubefilter's summary, which cites the original report:
- 1 in 4 US adults believes creators reveal the partnership every time they promote a paid product.
- 53% of baby boomers say creators "rarely or never" disclose sponsorships clearly. Among Gen Z, it is 21%.
- A majority in every age group thinks disclosure should be mandatory.
- Those who think it should not be mandatory: 12% of boomers, 18% of Gen X, 22% of millennials and 23% of Gen Z.
Business Insider had already heard the other side. In a creator survey by SheSpeaks, 14% admitted they do not always reveal the partnership, and 18% said that in the past year a brand explicitly asked them not to say the post was paid.
That last number bothers me the most. Almost one in five creators heard from whoever pays the bill that the advertising should look like opinion.
Why does this hit your wallet?
Because trust is the product the brand is buying. If the audience already assumes you hide sponsorships, every recommendation you make is worth less, including the ones that are not paid.
The data point that closes the loop came from the industry itself in August. In CreatorIQ's State of Creators report, with 5,095 creators, only 15% said they fully trust sponsored content from other creators when buying. Asked what builds trust, they named talking about a product's pros and cons (25%), a long-term partnership (22%) and clear disclosure right at the start (13%). And 46% of them depend on sponsorships for most of their income.
In other words: creators distrust their peers' sponsored posts, and audiences distrust everyone. Whoever can prove they are transparent stands out from the pack.
Who wins and who loses from this distrust?
The most exposed are those who build the whole profile on sponsorships with no context. Emily Steele, CEO of the creator marketing platform Hummingbirds, put it to Business Insider this way: why would a follower trust you if everything you post looks paid? In Brazil, that is the profile of one free gift unboxing after another, without a single line of personal opinion.
The brand that asks to hide it loses too. It buys reach that can turn into a complaint at CONAR.
Ahead is the creator who discloses and still gives a real opinion, because removing the "is this paid?" question lets the audience look at what matters: whether the product is any good. With long partnerships this weighs even more: if the same brand shows up for six months, with the label and with criticism when it is warranted, the audience understands it is a relationship, not a rented face.
What has CONAR required in Brazil since 2026?
The short answer: visible disclosure right away, preferably with the network's own tool. The Guide to Marketing and Advertising by Digital Influencers (published by CONAR, Brazil's advertising self-regulation council) was updated in May 2026, and the summary by the law firm Cescon Barrieu lists the points that change your routine the most:
- Disclosure has to be conspicuous and easily noticeable, without requiring people to tap "see more" or open the caption.
- Native tools, such as the paid partnership label, are the main recommendation. As an alternative, clear terms like "publicidade" or "publi" (the Portuguese words for advertising and sponsored).
- "Partnership" or "in collaboration with" alone may not be enough. "#ad" in English has to be assessed according to how the audience understands it.
- Gifted products are not the same as advertising, but the relationship that led to the mention has to be clear.
- Affiliate is advertising: earning per click or sale does not change the nature of the content.
- Editorial control by the brand is no longer a requirement. If there is a commitment between the parties, it can be advertising even with total freedom for you to create.
- Brand and agency have to guide, monitor and correct. Disclosure is a shared responsibility, as we already explained in the guide to clipping championships for brands.
Underneath the guide is the law: article 36 of Brazil's Consumer Defense Code requires that advertising be identified "easily and immediately" as such.
Will YouTube label it on its own?
It may, but the feature has yet to arrive. In September, YouTube renamed the "Paid Product Placement" feature to "Branded Content" and announced that, in the coming months, automated systems will detect undisclosed branded content in newly uploaded videos and may apply the paid promotion label in the creator's place. The company made clear that the creator remains responsible for legal requirements.
The announcement does not say which countries get the detection first, and there is no confirmation for Brazil yet. If detection works as announced, a hidden sponsorship in a new YouTube video may show up labeled anyway, only without you having chosen how.
What to do on your next sponsored post
- Always turn on the native tool. Paid partnership on Instagram, "Branded content" on TikTok, "Branded Content" on YouTube. CONAR recommends the platform's own tool before any other form of notice.
- Say it up front, in your own voice. "This is a sponsored post from brand X" in the first seconds of the video, and "ad" at the start of the post description. Nothing hidden behind "see more".
- Put disclosure in the contract. One line is enough: "the content will be identified as advertising using the platform's native tool". If the brand asks you to remove that line, you already know who you are negotiating with.
- Talk about what is not perfect. It is what the market itself points to as the biggest trust builder. One honest downside conveys more trust than ten compliments.
- Paid clips and affiliate too. The new guide treats as advertising anyone who earns from clicks, sales or other performance metrics, and in my reading, someone who clips for a campaign and is paid per view falls within that. It applies to the product launch clip, to the clip with a TikTok Shop link and to Black Friday, which lands a little over two weeks from now.
- Swap the music. A video with a commercial partnership label has to use the network's commercial music library, as we showed in the piece on music in clips. Forgetting this gets the audio muted after publishing.
If you schedule posts through Cut.Pro, the TikTok publishing form already includes the "Disclose video content" switch, with the options "Your brand" and "Branded content". With the second one on, the video goes out with the "Paid partnership" label, and that choice cannot be changed after publishing. Check it before scheduling, not after.
My take: transparency became a pricing argument
I look at this survey as someone who negotiates contracts. For years, disguised advertising was sold as more efficient: it looked like opinion, so it converted better. That argument has aged. The audience already distrusts, and in Brazil CONAR tightened the text this year.
Those who treat disclosure as a quality seal arrive at the table with something extra to show: a clean track record, an audience that knows what is paid and keeps buying, a partnership that renews. CONAR's guide asks brands to be careful in choosing whom they hire and makes disclosure a shared responsibility. From there, I would expect advertisers' legal teams to start looking at your old posts before signing.
The catch: the survey numbers are from the US and they measure perception, not sales. You cannot promise that disclosing a sponsorship increases conversion. What you can say is that hiding it has become more expensive and easier to get caught.
If you are building your price list for the end of the year, use the guide to how much to charge as a base and include disclosure as part of the service, not as a favor.
