Influencer Ad Disclosure in Turkey: The 2026 Labeling Rules

Since 1 August 2026, every advertisement made through a social media influencer in Turkey must include one of two Turkish words: "Reklam" (advertisement) or "Tanıtım" (promotion). Next to that word there must be the advertiser's name or trade name, or one of the statements listed in the regulation, such as "Provided by @[advertiser]." Writing only "#collab" does not meet the requirement, and Instagram's "Paid partnership" label on its own is not a safe solution either, because it does not contain the words the regulation names.

These rules apply to advertising aimed at consumers in Turkey. If you are an international brand working with Turkish creators, or running campaigns for a Turkish audience, they apply to your content too.

What changed in Turkey's influencer advertising rules in 2026?

Since 2021, influencer ads in Turkey had been assessed under an influencer advertising guideline adopted by the Advertising Board on 4 May 2021. It required ads to be clear and distinguishable and gave label examples.

An amendment published in the Official Gazette on 1 July 2026 (issue 33297) added Article 23/A, titled "Advertisements made through social media influencers", to Turkey's Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices. It entered into force on 1 August 2026, turning the label's wording, placement and display into written rules. The regulation's wording now replaces the guideline's old label examples.

The same amendment also defines an influencer: a natural or legal person who promotes goods or services on social media on their own behalf or for an advertiser and turns that communication into any kind of benefit. The definition has no follower threshold.

Which posts count as advertising?

Article 23/A gives these examples of situations where the content must be clearly identified as advertising:

• Directing people to the advertiser's goods or services, or to the advertiser
• Receiving a benefit from the advertiser, such as money or free or discounted goods and services
• Sharing giveaway, contest or campaign content organized to promote the advertiser's product
• Posting in return for a benefit received for attending an event organized by the advertiser

The regulation ends the list with "in situations such as", so the examples are not exhaustive. The most commonly misunderstood case is gifted products: posting a product the brand sent for free falls under the second item even if no money changed hands. A discount code or product link in the post should also be treated as directing people to the advertiser under the first item.

How should the ad label be written?

The third paragraph of Article 23/A builds the label from two parts. The first is a mandatory word: "Reklam" or "Tanıtım". The second identifies the advertiser: either the advertiser's name or trade name, or one of these statements set out in the regulation (shown here in English translation):

• "Provided by @[advertiser]."
• "Thanks to @[advertiser] for sending me the products."
• "Thanks to @[advertiser]."

With an example brand name, a compliant disclosure line could look like this (the statements themselves are written in Turkish in the actual post):

• Reklam | Provided by @examplebrand.
• Tanıtım | Thanks to @examplebrand for sending me the products.
• Reklam | Example Cosmetics Inc.

So is "collaboration" enough? No. Terms such as "collab", "#ad", "#sponsored" or "partner" are not one of the two words the regulation names. If you want to use them, use them in addition to "Reklam" or "Tanıtım", not instead of it.

Where and how must the label appear?

The right word is not enough. The fourth paragraph of Article 23/A also describes how the label must be shown. The label and statement must:

1. Stand out from the post's colors and background, at an easily readable size.
2. Be visible the moment the user first sees the post, without scrolling or going to another area.
3. Come before any other tags or statements in the post and be clearly separated from them.
4. Be placed with the platform's interface in mind, so it does not overlap any text or icon.
5. Appear in every post if the content is spread across several posts, and be repeated in each post when ad content is published in different formats or quoted from one format into another.

Audio-only content, such as a podcast, has its own rule: at the start of the broadcast and before the ad, it must say that it "contains advertising/promotion about [advertiser]".

Applied to the main formats:

• Feed posts and Reels: First line of the caption, not below the "more" link, and on the image or video, clear of the area the Reels caption and buttons cover.
• Stories: On every frame, not only the first.
• YouTube and long-form video: On screen and out loud at the start, in the first line of the description, and again where a mid-video ad segment begins.
• Live streams: A label on screen throughout, said out loud when the ad segment starts.
• Reshares: Sharing a Reel to Stories or moving a video to another platform is a new post that needs its own label.

A mistake we see often is hiding the label in the hashtag pile at the end of the caption; the regulation requires it to come before other tags.

Are Instagram's "Paid partnership" label and YouTube's disclosure enough?

Instagram's branded content policies require organic branded content to tag the business partner with the "Paid partnership" label. The brand partner needs a professional account and must approve the first tagging request; until it does, the label appears without the brand name. Instagram also requires users to comply with applicable laws, including disclosures of commercial content.

On YouTube, creators tick the paid promotion box in YouTube Studio for videos that include product placement, sponsorship or endorsement. Viewers then see an automatic disclosure message for 10 seconds at the start of the video. YouTube also states that meeting local obligations on when, how and to whom paid promotion is disclosed is the responsibility of the creator and the brand.

Instagram's label does not contain the word "Reklam" or "Tanıtım", and YouTube's message shows only briefly at the start. So the safe approach is to use both: switch on the platform label, and also write the regulation's wording at the start of the caption and on the content itself.

What if you used AI, filters or a digital character?

The same amendment added a new paragraph to Article 18. If AI or other software was used in an ad in a way that could significantly affect consumers' economic behavior, or if the ad features AI-generated digital characters that cannot be distinguished from humans, this must be stated clearly, understandably and distinguishably. A paragraph added to Article 27 prohibits ads in which an AI-generated digital copy of a real person falsely gives the impression that the person used, experienced or recommends the product.

Some conduct rules from the 2021 guideline still matter: if effects or filters were used in an ad for a product, it must be clearly stated that the image was filtered; an influencer cannot recommend a product as if they had used it when they have not, and cannot give the impression of having bought a product that was gifted to them.

In practice, this means adding a second sentence after the label, stating that the image was edited with AI. We covered a current example of how AI-altered images can be used in influencer content in our Google Earth Nano Banana trend guide.

What is the brand responsible for?

Article 61 of Turkey's Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 treats promotion made without clearly stating that it is an advertisement as covert advertising and prohibits it, and it obliges advertisers, advertising agencies and media organizations to comply. The guideline also makes the advertiser responsible for informing the influencer about the rules, making an effort to ensure compliance and taking action against violations.

Under the law, the Advertising Board can order non-compliant ads to be stopped or corrected in the same medium, impose administrative fines and, where necessary, suspend an ad as an interim measure for up to three months; removing content or blocking access is also within its powers. The law sets fine limits separately according to the medium where the ad was published. Assess the risk for your own campaign with a lawyer.

On the brand side, these steps cover most of the risk:

• Write the exact wording to be used, by platform, into the brief and the contract. We listed the other clauses a contract needs in our influencer contract guide.
• Approve content from a screenshot before it goes live, checking that the label shows on the first screen.
• Approve Instagram's partnership request quickly.
• After publication, check stories, reshares and posts with discount codes too.

Pre-publication checklist

1. Is it advertising (payment, gift, link, giveaway or event)?
2. Does it contain "Reklam" or "Tanıtım" plus the advertiser's name or a regulation statement?
3. Is the label on the first screen, readable, before other tags and clear of interface icons?
4. Is it on every story frame and every reshare?
5. Is any use of AI, filters or digital characters stated?
6. Is the platform's partnership label on as well?

If you want to run campaigns with the brief, influencer selection and pre-publication checks handled together, see our influencer marketing service. This article is not legal advice; consult a lawyer about any post you are unsure of.