How to Disclose Your Affiliation on Reddit

The short answer

To disclose your affiliation on Reddit, say plainly who you are in the same post or comment where you mention the product, before or right next to the recommendation. One sentence is enough: "I'm the founder of Product, so I'm biased."

Reddit's rules ask you to be authentic and not to mislead people. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expects a connection that readers would not expect, such as working for the company, to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. Below are the rules in their own words, short templates for common situations, and where to put the line so people actually see it.

What Reddit's rules say

As of 2026-10-16, two of the platform-wide Reddit Rules apply directly when you talk about something you are connected to. Rule 5:

“Be authentic. You don't have to use your real name, but do not intentionally mislead others or impersonate an individual or entity in a deceptive manner.”

And Rule 2:

“Participate authentically in communities where you have a personal interest, and do not spam or engage in disruptive behaviors (including content manipulation) that interfere with Reddit communities.”

Recommending your own product while letting readers assume you are an unconnected user is the kind of thing Rule 5 is about. The rules page does not give a required wording for disclosures, so the templates below lean on FTC guidance for that part.

The same page says each community also has its own rules, enforced by its moderators, and asks you to abide by them. A disclosure does not make a post acceptable in a community whose rules do not allow it, so read the rules of the subreddit first.

What the FTC says about material connections

The FTC's Endorsement Guides are in 16 CFR Part 255. Section 255.5(a) covers a connection between the person making a recommendation and the seller that might materially affect how much weight readers give it, and that readers would not reasonably expect. In that case:

“…such connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.”

The same paragraph says material connections "can include a business, family, or personal relationship," as well as payment or free products. It also says a disclosure does not need every detail, but it "must clearly communicate the nature of the connection sufficiently for consumers to evaluate its significance." That is why "I'm affiliated" is weaker than "I work there": it does not say what the connection is.

One of the examples in 255.5 reads a lot like Reddit. An employee of a home robot manufacturer posts in an online community's discussion board about robotic products, promoting the employer's new product, without telling anyone where they work. The regulation says the poster should clearly and conspicuously disclose the relationship, and that the employer should train employees and, where it directed the posts or has reason to know about them, monitor them.

Section 255.0(f) defines clear and conspicuous as "difficult to miss (i.e., easily noticeable) and easily understandable by ordinary consumers," and adds that on social media or the internet "the disclosure should be unavoidable."

There is also a separate rule on reviews, 16 CFR Part 465. Section 465.5(a) makes it an unfair or deceptive practice for an officer or manager of a business to write a consumer review of the business or its products without a clear and conspicuous disclosure of their relationship to it.

Disclosure templates you can adapt

The FTC's own Q&A, FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, says:

“The FTC doesn't mandate the specific wording of disclosures.”

So these are starting points, not magic words. Words in italics are placeholders: swap in your own details, keep the sentence short, and only use the ones that are true for you.

1. Founder or co-founder: "I'm the founder of Product, so I'm biased. Here's how it handles this."
2. Employee: "I work at Company, which makes Product." Or, inside the recommendation itself: "My employer's tool, Product, does this."
3. Agency, PR firm or contractor: "My employer is paid to promote Product." This wording comes straight from the FTC Q&A's section on agency employees.
4. Answering a "which tool should I use?" thread: "Disclosure: I built Product. It fits use case; if you need other need, Other Tool may suit you better."
5. Your own post asking for feedback: "I'm the developer of Product and I'd like honest feedback onspecific thing." Put it in the first line, not at the end.
6. You got the product free: "Company gave me this for free to try."
7. Affiliate link: "That's an affiliate link; I earn a commission if you buy through it."
8. Friend or family: "Full disclosure: a friend of mine runs Company." The FTC Q&A lists friendship, family and employment among the connections that can need a disclosure.

One wording to avoid: a bare "#employee". The FTC Q&A says:

“Consumers will likely not understand "#employee" to mean that the person is an employee of your company.”

It suggests that "I work for XYZ" is better understood, and that saying "my company's" or "my employer's" in the body of the message is clearer still.

Where to put the disclosure

Wording matters less than placement. The FTC Q&A puts it this way:

“A disclosure is more likely to be seen if it's very close to, or – even better – part of, the endorsement to which it relates.”

Applied to Reddit:

• Put it in the same comment or post as the mention. Someone who lands on a single comment from search or a shared link sees only that comment.
• Do not rely on your username or profile. The FTC Q&A says "Listing your employer on your profile page isn't enough," because people who just read what you post won't get that information.
• Do not leave it for a reply further down. On disclosing in the comments under a post, the Q&A says "A disclosure in the comments to a post is easily avoidable and thus not clear and conspicuous."
• Put it near the top. The Q&A says a disclosure in the middle or at the end of a post is easier to miss, especially at the end of a long post or mixed in with links.
• Repeat it each time. Every comment that mentions the product needs its own line, since each one may be read on its own.

What this guide does not cover

This guide covers how to say who you are. It does not cover whether a given subreddit allows promotion at all, Reddit's paid advertising products, or laws outside the US. The FTC material above is US federal guidance and regulation as of 2026-10-16, and this is not legal advice; if the stakes are high, ask a lawyer.

Agent Agency is software that learns your product from a link and runs AI agents that promote it in online communities.