Paid speech should say so.

1. Material connections are always disclosed

When a Crowdcasting Partner is compensated — in cash, equity, free product, discounts, credits or anything else of value — that connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously in the endorsement itself. Not in a bio. Not behind a "more" link. Not in a wall of hashtags at the bottom. In the post, where an ordinary reader will actually see it, before they act on it.

Our standard follows the Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255).

2. What partners are required to do

• Use plain language a normal person understands: "paid partnership," "I was paid to post this," "sponsored," "I received this free"
• Place the disclosure where it cannot be missed — at the start of a caption, spoken aloud in video, on-screen in visual content, not only in a platform's built-in tool
• Use the platform's paid-partnership tool in addition to, never instead of, a clear disclosure in the content
• Match the disclosure to the format: a video disclosure must be both audible and visible long enough to read
• Disclose in the same language as the endorsement

3. Reviews must be honest

• Reviews and testimonials must reflect genuine experience and honest opinion
• Partners do not review products they have not used
• Reviews are never required to be positive, and compensation is never conditioned on sentiment
• We do not create, buy, sell or broker fake reviews
• We do not suppress, hide or bury negative reviews
• We do not write reviews in the voice of customers who do not exist
• We do not use AI to fabricate consumer reviews or testimonials

Beyond being our policy, several of these practices are prohibited outright by the FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) and carry civil penalties. A client asking for them is asking us to break the law, and the answer will be no.

4. What clients are responsible for

Clients provide the claims and the substantiation behind them. Any factual claim a partner communicates must be truthful and supported by evidence the client supplies. An endorsement cannot be used to make a claim the client could not lawfully make directly. Clients also identify any disclosures their industry or regulator requires, and we build those into the campaign.

5. Testimonials on this site

Any testimonial or result shown on this Site reflects the experience of that specific person or business. Individual results vary, and a testimonial is not a promise that you will achieve the same outcome. Where a testimonial comes from someone with a material connection to Crowdcasting, we say so alongside it.

6. Performance and earnings claims

Crowdcasting does not guarantee sales, revenue, profits, customer acquisition or any specific campaign result for clients, and does not guarantee opportunities, earnings or results for partners. Language describing what campaigns are designed to do describes method and intent, not outcomes.

7. Platform rules apply too

Every platform has its own rules for sponsored content, incentivized reviews and promotional activity, and those rules apply on top of the law and on top of ours. Partners are required to follow them. Where a platform prohibits an activity, we do not run it there.

8. Reporting a violation

If you see content promoting a Crowdcasting client that appears undisclosed, dishonest or misleading, tell us. Email rcarrel@crowdcastinginc.com with a link and a short description. We investigate every report, and violations result in removal from campaigns and forfeiture of compensation for the affected activity.

Contact

Questions, requests or notices under this document go to:

Crowdcasting Inc.
2219 Main Street #389
Santa Monica, CA 90405
rcarrel@crowdcastinginc.com