X Launches Paid Partnership Labels to Kill Sponsor Hashtags

On Monday, social media platform X launched a new “Paid Partnership” label for creators to flag sponsored posts directly, ensuring regulatory compliance and boosting authenticity without relying on outdated hashtags. This native tool allows influencers to clearly distinguish commercial agreements from organic recommendations, offering audiences a more transparent browsing experience.

Aligning with Federal Advertising Regulations

Native disclosure tags are already a standard industry practice. Meta-owned Instagram introduced similar features years ago following a 2017 warning from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which mandated that influencers “clearly and conspicuously disclose” any financial backing or sponsorships from brands. Instagram has since expanded these tools, even allowing creators to run Partnership Ads within comment sections.

Until now, creators on X lacked integrated disclosure tools. This forced them to manually append clunky, often overlooked hashtags like #ad or #paidpartnership to their copy to remain compliant with consumer protection laws.

How the New Content Disclosure Feature Works

The update introduces a “content disclose” toggle within the post composer. Activating this setting applies a clean “Paid Partnership” tag directly below the published content. To accommodate fast-paced workflows, X also allows creators to apply this label retroactively if they forget to toggle it on before publishing. According to Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, the feature balances creator business needs with platform trust.

“While we want to encourage people to build their businesses on X, undisclosed promotions hurt the integrity of the product and lead people to distrust the content they read on X,” Bier wrote in a post announcing the rollout.

X’s Ongoing Battle for Creator Loyalty and Platform Integrity

The feature arrives as X continues its uphill battle to attract top-tier creative talent. While the platform has rolled out financial incentives—including ad-revenue sharing, direct creator subscriptions, and payouts for viral impressions—it still struggles to compete with video-centric giants like YouTube and Instagram. By eliminating the need for hashtags, which have largely fallen out of favor with modern audiences, X is modernizing its ad experience to match competitor standards.

This update aligns with other recent platform changes aimed at curbing manipulation. Last week, X restricted its API to prevent automated, programmatic replies unless the original author explicitly quoted or mentioned the replying account. This restriction targets spam networks using Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate fake user engagement, a tactic often used by bad actors to mimic authentic customer reviews under sponsored creator posts.