Answer in brief
UGC, or user-generated content, is material ordinary users publish: reviews, photos, unboxing videos. Marketers also use the word for paid videos that creators film in the same home-made style for ads. Reusing the first needs the author's permission; the second is advertising and has to be disclosed under platform rules and advertising law.
UGC means content made by users, not by the brand
People ask what is UGC when the term turns up in a marketing plan. Wikipedia gives the plain answer: user-generated content is content generated by users of the internet, such as images, videos, audio, text and testimonials. For a business it is the review under a product, the photo of your parcel, the clip of someone opening the box. The brand did not make it and often did not ask for it.
The article cites three features the OECD used to describe such content: it is publicly accessible, it takes some creative effort, and it is made outside professional routines, often with no expectation of payment. The third feature matters most in marketing. Once a brand pays the author and tells them what to say, the content has left the original meaning of the word.
Paid UGC-style videos: the second meaning of the term
In advertising the word has picked up a second meaning. Brands hire creators to film short videos that look like a customer's own: a phone camera, a kitchen, a person talking about the product in everyday words. The trade calls them UGC videos or UGC-style ads. They are commissioned, partly scripted and paid for, and many run as ads from the brand's own page.
Wikipedia describes UGC creators as people who share content based on personal experience and typically do not collaborate with specific brands, while influencers make branded content through sponsorships and paid partnerships. A paid UGC-style video borrows the look of the first and the business model of the second. Customer content raises a question of permission; paid content, one of disclosure. A scripted video passed off as a spontaneous review is simply hidden advertising.
Where customer content works, and where it stops working
On a marketplace product card, buyers' photos and reviews show what a studio picture cannot: how a jacket sits on an ordinary person, the real colour, the size of the box next to a hand. The seller's job is to make reviewing easy and answer criticism calmly. On a landing page the same material becomes proof next to the offer. It works when it is specific: a name, a city, what was bought and what happened.
In social ads, short vertical videos of a person talking to camera fit the feed, because they look like the posts around them. Paid creator videos are mostly used here, in several versions with different opening lines and faces, to see which one people watch to the end. The product still has to be clear: a mood clip with the product somewhere in the background advertises the creator, not the business.
There are hard limits. Meta's branded content policies prohibit promoting tobacco, drugs, weapons, payday loans and multilevel marketing, among other things, and restrict alcohol, financial products, cosmetic procedures and weight loss. TikTok's branded content policy lists medical institutions, cosmetic clinics, weight loss products and professional services such as legal services among prohibited industries.
What Meta, YouTube and TikTok require from paid creator posts
Meta's Branded Content Policies for Facebook and Instagram define branded content as content that features or is influenced by a business partner for an exchange of value, such as money or free gifts. It may only be posted with the branded content tool, which the creator uses to tag the brand with the brand's prior permission. Creators must also follow applicable laws on disclosing the commercial nature of a post. Video title cards are not allowed in the first three seconds.
YouTube's help page asks creators who feature sponsorships, endorsements or other commercial relationships to select the paid promotion setting in the video details, which adds a disclosure label at the beginning of the video. The creator and their partners, the page says, are responsible for complying with all applicable legal requirements. It points to regulators such as the FTC in the US, the ASA in the UK and the DGCCRF in France.
TikTok published a new Branded Content Policy on 4 August 2026, effective from 31 August 2026. It covers content that promotes or reviews a third-party brand in exchange for payment or any other incentive, gifted products and affiliate commissions included. The creator must switch on the commercial content disclosure toggle, and TikTok then labels the post. The product must be clear from the video or caption, without sending viewers to a profile or a link. Read the current version of each page before a campaign.
Disclosing paid endorsements under US and UK rules
In the United States the reference is the Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides, revised in 2023. The FTC's question-and-answer page says that when an endorser was paid or given something of value, such as free products, people need to know about that connection. The disclosure should catch attention and sit where viewers are unlikely to miss it. A platform's built-in tool is no guarantee of that, and the FTC says it is always best to add your own disclosure.
Customer reviews have their own rule. The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule went into effect on 21 October 2024, and courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations. The rule does not ban incentives for reviews, as long as there is no express or implied requirement that they express a particular sentiment. The FTC also calls testimonials advertising messages by definition: a business that puts them on its own website is disseminating them, not merely hosting them.
In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority's influencers' guide, third edition of 23 March 2023, counts any incentive, even one that is not money, as payment. It recommends labels that say plainly what the content is, such as #ad or #advert, and advises against vaguer words like gifted, sponsored or collab, or merely tagging the brand. Instagram's paid partnership label may be enough if it is upfront, clear and prominent. The creator and the brand are both responsible.
Marking online advertising in Russia, and what counts as an ad
Roskomnadzor explains that since 1 September 2022, under article 18.1 of the federal law on advertising, online ads in Russia have had to be marked and reported. The law defines an ad as information addressed to an indefinite circle of people and aimed at drawing attention to the advertised object and promoting it. The Federal Antimonopoly Service assesses whether a piece is an ad. Reports go through advertising data operators into the Unified Register of Online Advertising, where users can check an ad identifier, erid.
The antimonopoly service publishes illustrated examples. A maker's post about its own product on its own page is not an ad, while a post recommending someone else's product with a promo code and a shop link is. A single-topic blog review in the usual style, with no call to buy, link or promo code, is not an ad either, nor are product reviews in a dedicated section of a website. A creator video ordered to sell a product sits closer to the promo-code example, so check your own case with a lawyer.
Permission before reusing a customer's photo or video
A photo a customer posted is not free material. The US Copyright Office notes that a work is under copyright the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form, and registration is generally voluntary. Russia's Civil Code, article 152.1, adds a second layer: publishing and further using a person's image, including photos and videos, requires that person's consent. Its exceptions include images taken in public places that are not the main object of use, and a person who posed for payment.
In practice, ask before you repost, and ask in writing. Say where the photo will appear, on the site, in ads or on a marketplace card, for how long, and whether it may be cropped. Keep the reply with the original file. With a paid creator, the same questions go into the contract: channels, countries, how long the brand may run the video as an ad, and whether raw footage is included. These are general points, not legal advice.
Before a video runs, watch it as a stranger would. Every claim should be one you can prove. The disclosure should be visible upfront, and the label in the platform settings switched on. Everyone in the frame should have agreed to appear, and the product should be named on screen or aloud.
Collecting UGC yourself or ordering creator videos
Customer content is something a business can grow alone. Ask every buyer for a review at the right moment, make it easy to attach a photo, answer criticism in public and ask before reusing anything. It costs time rather than a production budget, but it grows slowly and nobody controls what people say. Paid creator videos are faster and controllable, which is exactly why they count as advertising.
If you order them, prepare a short sheet first: what the product does, for whom, which claims you can prove, which words are off limits, and which platforms and countries the videos are for. Decide who handles marking or disclosure and how long you need the rights. With that sheet, a studio such as VITON13 Studio can plan creators, scripts and versions. Either way, the honest answer to what is UGC stays the same: it is worth something only while viewers believe it.
Practical checklist
- Decide which kind of UGC you need: customer reviews and photos, paid creator videos, or both.
- Ask each customer in writing before reusing their photo, and note where and for how long you may use it.
- Check the current branded content rules of each platform you plan to use before the campaign starts.
- Make sure every paid video carries a clear upfront label and, for Russian audiences, is marked as an ad.
- Write the usage rights into the creator contract: channels, countries, term and access to raw footage.
Questions and answers
Is a UGC creator the same as an influencer?
Not quite. An influencer is paid for reach: their own audience sees the post. A UGC creator is usually paid for the video itself, which the brand often runs as an ad from its own account. Both are paid partnerships, so both need a disclosure.
Can a business repost a customer's Instagram photo of its product?
Only with the author's permission. A photo is protected by copyright from the moment it is taken, and a person shown in it may also have to agree to its use. Ask in writing, say where and for how long you will use it, and keep the reply.
Do paid UGC videos need an ad label if the brand posts them itself?
A video the brand pays for and runs to sell its product is advertising, whichever account it appears on. Disclosure rules and, in Russia, the marking of online ads apply to it as well. Read the platform's current policy and check your local rules before launch.
Can I give customers a discount in exchange for a review?
The FTC's reviews rule allows incentives for reviews as long as they are not conditioned on a positive or negative opinion. Rules differ by country and by marketplace, so read the platform's own policy and check your case before offering anything.
Which products are poor candidates for creator videos?
Categories the platforms prohibit or restrict in branded content, such as medical services, weight loss products or professional services on TikTok, and any product whose real use disappoints. Honest videos show weaknesses as clearly as strengths.