Affiliate Disclosure Policy

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255) require anyone promoting a product they have a material connection to (including affiliates earning commissions) to disclose that connection in a way the ordinary consumer would notice and understand. Failure to disclose is a violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act and can expose both the affiliate and Cyborg to enforcement action.

Under FTC 16 CFR 255.5, Cyborg is required to (a) advise our affiliates of their disclosure obligation, (b) monitor their promotional activity, and (c) take corrective action when an affiliate fails to comply. This policy is how we meet obligation (a). Your responsibility is to follow it.

You must disclose your material connection to Cyborg every time you publicly recommend, review, or otherwise promote a Cyborg product, including but not limited to:

• Blog posts and articles
• Social media posts (X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, BlueSky, Mastodon, and any other platform)
• Video content, including descriptions and pinned comments
• Podcast episodes, including show notes
• Newsletters and email broadcasts
• Webinars, livestreams, and conference talks
• Paid advertising creative (Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok, native, and any other platform)
• SMS, DM, or one-to-one messages that recommend Cyborg
• Forum posts, Reddit, Discord, Slack communities, and similar surfaces

The same standard applies regardless of audience size, regardless of whether the post is paid or organic, and regardless of whether the post links to your affiliate link or not. If you are recommending Cyborg in any public-facing way, the disclosure is required.

A compliant disclosure is clear, conspicuous, and placed where the audience will see it before they decide to click through or act. The FTC’s guidance is that the disclosure should be hard to miss, in plain language, and located near the recommendation it relates to.

Acceptable disclosure formats include:

• “#ad” or “#sponsored” at the start of a social post (not buried in a wall of hashtags at the end)
• “I earn a commission if you sign up through this link” or “Cyborg is an affiliate partner of mine” near the recommendation
• “Affiliate disclosure: I receive a commission from Cyborg Marketing if you become a customer through my link” as a sentence in the body of a blog post, ideally above the first link
• A spoken disclosure at the start of the relevant segment in a podcast or video, in addition to a written disclosure in the show notes or video description
• “Sponsored” or “Paid partnership” labels on social platforms that offer them (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) used in addition to the in-content disclosure

The following are not acceptable:

• “#sp”, “#aff”, “#partner”, or other abbreviations the FTC has specifically called out as ambiguous
• Disclosure buried below a “Read more” fold, in fine print at the bottom of a long page, or in a separate page the audience would have to navigate to
• A generic site-wide footer disclosure as the only signal (acceptable as a backup; not acceptable as the only disclosure on the specific post or video)
• Disclosure that is the same color as the background, in a font size noticeably smaller than the surrounding copy, or otherwise visually de-emphasized
• Disclosure in a language the audience does not read (if you are posting to an English-speaking audience, disclose in English)

If you run paid ads that promote Cyborg, the disclosure must appear in the ad creative itself, not only on the landing page the ad clicks through to. Use the “Paid partnership” or “Sponsored” labels offered by the ad platform where available, and include an in-creative disclosure (“Affiliate offer from Your Name” is one acceptable form).

Affiliates must not make any claim about Cyborg products, pricing, results, methodology, or company history that is not present on cyborg.marketing or has not been provided to you in writing by Cyborg. In particular, you must not:

• Promise a specific dollar revenue lift, lead-volume increase, or conversion-rate improvement to your audience
• Imply that Cyborg is endorsed by, partnered with, or affiliated with any third-party company, public figure, or platform unless we have confirmed that relationship to you in writing
• Quote prices that differ from the current published pricing on cyborg.marketing
• Represent yourself as an employee or official spokesperson for Cyborg
• Use unauthorized screenshots of Cyborg products that contain confidential pricing, customer data, or proprietary functionality

Cyborg conducts periodic reviews of affiliate-promoted surfaces. We may search for affiliate-link traffic sources, social mentions, and other public references. We may ask you to send us links to your active promotional content for spot review. We may also receive reports from customers or third parties.

If we identify a compliance gap, we will reach out and ask you to correct it. Common gaps we ask affiliates to fix include missing disclosures, ambiguous abbreviations (“#aff” instead of “#ad”), disclosures buried below the fold, and unsupported claims about results or pricing.

Failure to comply with this policy is a material breach of the Affiliate Program Agreement and can result in any of the following at Cyborg’s sole discretion:

• A written warning and a request to correct the issue within a defined window (typically 7 days)
• Suspension of your affiliate dashboard access until the issue is resolved
• Forfeiture of unpaid commissions earned during the period of non-compliance
• Immediate termination of your affiliate participation
• Indemnification claim under the Affiliate Program Agreement if Cyborg incurs any liability as a result of your non-compliance

The FTC publishes plain-language guidance on disclosure obligations. We recommend reviewing:

• “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers” (FTC, available on ftc.gov)
• “.com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising” (FTC, available on ftc.gov)
• The full text of 16 CFR Part 255 (the Endorsement Guides)

If you are not sure whether a specific promotional piece complies, ask before you publish. Email legal@cyborg.marketing with the draft and we will review it within two business days. Asking is free. Fixing a compliance failure after the fact is not.