Safety Norms: Influencer, Affiliate and Partnership Marketing

1Purpose, Scope, and Safety Principles

This document applies to every campaign in which a brand, agency, creator, affiliate or partner promotes a product or service through social media posts, videos, live streams, newsletters, blogs, podcasts, product reviews, discount codes or tracked links. It covers planning, contracting, content creation, publication, measurement, payment and closure of partnerships.

The core principle is that promotion must be honest, lawful and respectful of the people who see it, appear in it, or share data for it. Where a norm conflicts with a commercial target, the norm prevails. Mandatory rules use the word must; recommendations use the word should.

• Mandatory: every campaign must have a written brief, a named approver and a stored copy of the final approved content.
• Recommended: treat any content that could influence a health, financial, safety or family decision as high risk by default.

2Roles, Competence, and Accountability

Brand marketing leads own the campaign brief, approval of claims and final sign-off. Agencies and partnership managers coordinate contracts, deliverables and disclosure checks. Creators and affiliates are responsible for their own content, for disclosing material connections clearly, and for following platform rules. Legal, compliance and privacy staff review high-risk claims, data sharing and rights clearances.

Competence means that people approving claims understand the product evidence, that creators understand disclosure and their platform policies, and that anyone handling personal data has completed data protection training required in their jurisdiction. Authority to approve health, financial, child-directed or safety-related content must be held only by named, qualified reviewers.

• Mandatory: name one accountable approver for each campaign before content production begins.
• Mandatory: no one may approve a claim they cannot substantiate with evidence on file.
• Recommended: keep a short role matrix in the campaign file showing who approves, who publishes and who monitors.

3Course-Specific Hazards and Risk Assessment

Hazards in this field are mainly harms to people and organizations rather than physical injuries, although some activities carry physical risk. Examples include deceptive endorsements that mislead buyers, unsubstantiated health or safety claims, undisclosed paid relationships, misuse of a person's image or voice, unauthorized use of third-party music, footage or photos, and collection of follower or customer data without a lawful basis.

Physical and workplace hazards also arise. Creators may film stunts, demonstrate products involving heat, sharp tools, electrical devices, food or supplements, travel to unfamiliar locations, or attend live events with crowds. Risk should be rated by likelihood and severity, for example low, medium or high, and recorded before work starts.

• High risk: health, medical, financial, child-directed or safety-critical product claims. Requires legal and subject-matter review before publication.
• High risk: content involving minors, sensitive locations or stunts. Requires written guardian consent where legally required and a qualified safety supervisor on site.
• Medium risk: giveaways, discount codes and affiliate links that may appear misleading or deliver unexpected costs.
• Medium risk: user generated content or licensed assets without verified permissions.
• Low risk: general lifestyle posts with no product performance claims, still subject to disclosure rules.
• Mandatory: repeat the risk assessment whenever the brief, platform, audience or product changes.

4Preventive Controls and Safe Work Practices

Preventive controls work best when built into the contract and workflow rather than added at the end. Briefs should state approved claims, prohibited claims, required disclosure wording and product facts that must be included. Creators should receive a written brief and a claims list, and should submit drafts for review before posting where the contract provides for this.

Disclosure must be clear, prominent and placed where the audience will see it before deciding to act. A disclosure buried in a long caption or hidden among hashtags is not adequate. Where a platform offers a paid partnership label, use it, but do not rely on the label alone if the content still needs a written disclosure within the post or video.

• Mandatory: disclose every material connection, including free products, commissions, gifts, family relationships and ongoing ambassador fees.
• Mandatory: do not state or imply that a creator uses or has tested a product they have not used.
• Mandatory: do not publish performance claims, before and after results, or health benefits unless substantiated by evidence held on file.
• Mandatory: do not invent reviews, testimonials, follower numbers, sales figures or engagement metrics.
• Mandatory: do not use fake accounts, bots, purchased engagement or undisclosed incentives to manipulate ratings or comments.
• Mandatory: do not run giveaways that break platform rules or local promotion and lottery requirements. Verify these with the relevant authority.
• Recommended: maintain a claims register listing each approved statement and its evidence reference.
• Recommended: keep affiliate links transparent, avoid cloaking that hides the destination where platform rules prohibit it, and test every link and code before launch.
• Recommended: check posts again after publication to confirm disclosures remain visible and that edits have not changed the claims.
• Recommended: where a creator is asked to promote a product in a sensitive category, pause and request legal review before filming.

5Personal Safety, Privacy, Rights, and Workspace Safeguards

Creators and staff can face harassment, doxxing, stalking and unsafe filming conditions. Campaigns should avoid publishing home addresses, routines, school names, children's faces without consent, or live locations until the subject has left. Creators must be able to decline unsafe locations or stunts for a documented safety reason without losing contractual standing.

Consent and rights must be recorded. Written releases should cover each person shown, each use, duration, territory where relevant, and any use of voice or likeness in paid advertising. Music, photography, fonts and footage need licenses that match the intended use. Personal data, including audience analytics, email lists and shipping details, should be processed only for the stated purpose and shared through approved, secure channels.

• Mandatory: obtain signed releases before filming identifiable people or using their images in paid promotion.
• Mandatory: do not share follower or customer personal data with partners unless a lawful basis and a written data processing agreement exist.
• Mandatory: store contracts, releases and license files in access-controlled folders with named owners.
• Mandatory: use multi-factor authentication on brand and creator accounts, and never share passwords by email or chat.
• Recommended: monitor comments and direct messages for threats throughout active campaign periods, with escalation contacts set in advance.
• Recommended: run a workspace check before filming, covering trip hazards, lighting, electrical equipment, and crowd control at live events.

6Incident Reporting, Escalation, and Response

An incident includes a misleading post, a data breach, a copyright claim, a platform takedown, a safety threat, an injury on set, or a public backlash over a claim. Near misses, such as a disclosure that was almost omitted or a link that nearly pointed to the wrong offer, should also be reported so that controls can improve.

Immediate actions come first. If anyone is in danger, contact local emergency services. If a person is threatened online, preserve evidence, restrict the account's access, and use the platform's reporting route. Do not confront harassers. Legal and communications leads decide on corrections, takedowns and public statements. Corrections should be made promptly and visibly, and removed content should be preserved in the record unless legal counsel advises otherwise.

• Mandatory: report any suspected misleading claim, unauthorized image use, data incident or threat to the accountable approver within the same working shift.
• Mandatory: pause paid promotion of content found to be inaccurate until it is corrected and re-approved.
• Mandatory: contact emergency services for injuries, fire, medical emergencies or immediate threats to life.
• Recommended: keep a contact sheet with platform support, legal counsel and cybersecurity contacts.
• Recommended: conduct a short review after each serious incident and record the root cause and corrective action.

7Records, Training, Inspection, and Review

Records prove that controls were applied. Keep the brief, approved claims, disclosure evidence such as timestamped screenshots, releases, licenses, contracts, data agreements and performance reports according to local retention rules. Retention periods vary by jurisdiction, so confirm them with legal counsel.

Training should be provided before the first campaign and refreshed when rules or platform policies change. Monitoring should check a sample of published posts against the checklist, review affiliate payouts for unusual activity, and review complaints. Continuous improvement means updating this document and local procedures after each incident, audit or significant regulatory update.

• Mandatory: complete training on disclosure, claims, privacy and platform policies before approving or publishing content.
• Recommended: audit a sample of live posts in each campaign cycle and log the findings.
• Recommended: review this document during each planning cycle and after any incident.
• Recommended: confirm current requirements with competent authorities or qualified professionals, since guidance differs by jurisdiction.

Implementation checklist

• Name one accountable approver and confirm claim evidence before production begins.
• Complete a risk assessment and record every high-risk element.
• Use clear, prominent disclosures in every post with a material connection.
• Confirm that no unsubstantiated, health-related or fabricated performance claims appear.
• Obtain signed releases and verify licenses for all images, music and footage.
• Limit personal data sharing and use only secure, approved channels.
• Test links, codes and giveaway terms, and confirm they meet platform and local rules.
• Monitor comments and messages for threats and report them immediately.
• Keep contracts, approvals, disclosure evidence and corrections on file.
• Review the campaign after launch and update procedures with lessons learned.