AI content labels on social media: what each platform requires

Rules differ in detail, but they share one idea: viewers should know when something that looks or sounds real was made or changed by AI. The table summarises what each platform's own help pages said when we checked them. Rules in this area change often, so check the linked page before relying on a detail.

Sources: Instagram Help Centre: Label AI content on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026; Meta Transparency Centre: Labeling AI content, checked 15 October 2026; TikTok Support: About AI-generated content, checked 15 October 2026; YouTube Help: Disclosing use of GenAI content, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Content credentials, checked 15 October 2026; Pinterest Help: Gen AI labels, checked 15 October 2026; X Help Center: Authenticity, checked 15 October 2026

Meta requires you to label content that has photorealistic video or realistic-sounding audio that was digitally generated or altered, including with AI, and you must add the label before you share it. Its examples of content that needs a label include a realistic video of people walking around an outdoor market, a song with AI-generated vocals and a reel narrated with a realistic AI voiceover. A cartoon-style landscape video doesn't need one.

Meta doesn't require you to label images made or altered with AI, but images will still be labelled if its systems detect AI generation. Content made with Meta's own AI tools may be labelled automatically, and content carrying industry-standard signals that it was created with AI will be labelled too. Meta says there may be penalties if you don't label content as required.

Meta's Transparency Centre says it shows these labels as "AI info" across Facebook, Instagram and Threads, applying them when it detects industry-standard AI image indicators or when people disclose that they are uploading AI-generated content. Our guides on labelling AI content on Instagram and on Threads walk through each screen.

1. Instagram post or reel: while creating it, switch on the toggle next to Add AI label.
2. Instagram story: share the photo or video to your story, tap Options, tap Label AI, then switch on Add AI label.
3. Whole profile: if the account itself is AI-generated, go to Edit profile and switch on AI-generated profile.

Sources: Instagram Help Centre: Label AI content on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026; Meta Transparency Centre: Labeling AI content, checked 15 October 2026

TikTok requires creators to label all AI-generated content that contains realistic images, audio and video, and encourages labelling content that is completely generated or significantly edited by AI. It counts as significantly edited when real footage is changed so the main subject is shown doing or saying something they didn't, or is altered beyond recognition, as with a face swap.

TikTok may apply an automatic "AI-generated" label when you use its AI effects or upload content with Content Credentials attached. Once an automatic label is applied, you can't remove it. TikTok says turning on the AI-generated content setting won't affect a video's distribution as long as it doesn't break the Community Guidelines.

Some AI content isn't allowed even with a label, including fake authoritative sources or crisis events, public figures shown endorsing something, and the likeness of under-18s or of adult private individuals used without their permission.

1. Photo: tap Add post, capture the photo, tap Post settings and turn on AI-generated content.
2. Video: tap Add post, record or upload, tap Next, tap More options and turn on AI-generated content.

Source: TikTok Support: About AI-generated content, checked 15 October 2026

YouTube requires creators to disclose AI-generated or altered content that seems realistic: a real person shown saying or doing something they didn't, changed footage of a real event or place, a realistic scene that never happened, or AI-generated music as the main focus of a video. You answer the AI disclosure question in YouTube Studio when you upload.

Plenty of everyday AI use needs no disclosure. YouTube lists beauty filters, colour and lighting fixes, background blur, help drafting scripts, outlines, titles or thumbnails, caption creation, idea generation, upscaling, audio repair, cloning your own voice for voiceovers and clearly unrealistic animation. It says disclosing AI content won't by itself limit a video's audience or its eligibility to earn money, but creators who repeatedly fail to disclose may face penalties including content removal or suspension from the YouTube Partner Program. Our YouTube AI disclosure guide covers the upload screen in detail.

Source: YouTube Help: Disclosing use of GenAI content, checked 15 October 2026

LinkedIn uses the C2PA standard. Images and videos that are cryptographically signed with Content Credentials show a C2PA icon, and clicking it shows whether AI was used, the app or device, who created it and who issued the credential. In select countries, when you upload media without valid credentials, you can self-attest that it was made with AI. LinkedIn says the feature is being made available gradually and that it can't yet identify and label all AI-generated content.

Pinterest checks image metadata against the IPTC standard and uses classifiers to detect AI content. When it detects AI generation or modification on an organic Pin, an "AI modified" label appears at the bottom-left of the close-up view. Content owners can also indicate that a Pin was generated or modified with AI. If you think a label is wrong, Pinterest says to contact its support team to appeal.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Content credentials, checked 15 October 2026; Pinterest Help: Gen AI labels, checked 15 October 2026

X's authenticity policy doesn't describe a labelling switch. Instead, it forbids sharing synthetic or manipulated media as authentic when it is deceptively altered in a way that could cause widespread confusion on public issues, affect public safety or cause serious harm, including media of a real person that has been fabricated or simulated with AI. Sharing manipulated media in non-deceptive ways is allowed.

The same policy bans fake personas, which can include AI-generated profile photos used to deceive people. For a business, the practical step is simple: if an image or video on X is AI-made and could pass as real, say so in the post text.

Source: X Help Center: Authenticity, checked 15 October 2026

You don't need to memorise every platform's wording. One house rule covers almost every case: if AI made or changed something that looks or sounds real, label it on every platform, and say so in the caption on platforms without a switch. Labelling is also a trust signal for customers who would feel misled if they found out later.

Keep the original files your AI tools produce. Many tools attach metadata that platforms read to apply labels, and screenshots or re-saves can strip it, which is another reason to label manually.

Zolyp, which we make, writes and designs posts for you to review, and nothing goes live until you approve it, so the approval step is where you decide whether a visual needs an AI label on each platform. Its Brand Brain keeps your tone, colours, logo and banned topics, and it publishes to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Threads. Lite is $9 a month per brand if you only want to schedule posts you make yourself; the plans that create posts start at $29 a month, with a 3-day free trial.