Influencer whitelisting is when a creator lets a brand run paid ads that appear under the creator's name and profile picture rather than the brand's. On Facebook and Instagram, Meta handles it through partnership ads, which it used to call branded content ads: you give an advertiser content-level permission for particular posts or account-level permission for an ongoing relationship, and Meta says you can revoke either at any time.
Whitelisting, partnership ads and boosting
Whitelisting, sometimes called allowlisting or creator licensing, is the industry's word; partnership ads is Meta's product. Meta's overview of partnership ads on Facebook and Instagram describes ads that advertisers run with creators, brands and other businesses, with the partner's account, the advertiser's or both shown in the ad's header. To the person scrolling, the ad looks as if it came from you.
The older version of whitelisting involved adding the brand's people to your Facebook Page or Instagram account inside Business Manager, now Meta Business Suite, with permission to run ads. That route still exists, and it is the broadest one: Meta's page on removing partnership ads permission for employees and agencies says anyone with ads access to your accounts can run partnership ads without any explicit partnership ad permission. Boosting a post with your own money is a different thing again, and TikTok's nearest equivalent, Spark Ads, has its own mechanics in our guide to the TikTok Spark Ads code.
Four routes to ad access on Meta, narrowest first
Meta's pages on content-level permissions and partnership ad permission types describe the first three routes below; the fourth is ordinary business asset access.
| Route | How you grant it | What the advertiser gets | What ends it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boost toggle on branded content | Switch on Allow brand partner to boost for a post that tags the brand in the paid partnership label | Ads or marketing messages built from that one branded post | Stopping the live ads, then switching the toggle off |
| Partnership ad code | Switch on Get partnership ad code for a post, story or reel and send the code | Ads from that content, branded or not; Meta says a code can serve up to two advertisers at a time, and archiving Instagram content does not remove access | Turning the code off blocks new ads; each live ad must be stopped separately |
| Account-level permission | Accepting the advertiser's request in the Instagram or Facebook app or Partnership Ads Hub | Ads from your handle without existing content, ads from posts that tag the brand, and the option to include or exclude your custom audience | Revoking the partnership, which Meta says pauses ads that are running |
| Business asset access | Giving the brand's people ads access to your Page or Instagram account in Meta Business Suite | Ordinary ads and partnership ads, with no partnership permission needed | Removing their ads access, or removing the asset from the business |
Two details from the account-level row matter more than they look. If your Instagram and Facebook accounts are linked, accepting a request gives the advertiser account-level permission for both. And the brand only has to be tagged, whether through the paid partnership label, an @mention, a people tag, a product tag or a Collab, for your existing post to become usable in its ads.
Permission checklist: what to grant
- Pick the narrowest route that delivers the deal, which for most single campaigns is one ad code per approved post.
- Send each code only to the advertiser named in your contract, and ask before the brand passes it to an agency's ad account, since one code can serve more than one advertiser.
- Never hand over your password or a log-in code; none of the four routes needs them.
- Keep business asset access for people who manage your accounts, not for a brand running one campaign.
- Check whether your Instagram and Facebook accounts are linked before accepting account-level permission, because acceptance covers both.
- Decide whether the brand may target or exclude your custom audience, and write the answer into the agreement.
- Confirm the post is eligible for partnership ads before promising it; Meta shows an ineligibility screen when you switch on a code or boost toggle for content that does not qualify.
- Log every grant with its date, route, advertiser, content and agreed end date, so revoking it later takes minutes.
How to revoke, and what keeps running
Revocation is where creators get caught out, because switching off a permission does not always stop the ads already built from it. Meta's page on how to stop an advertiser running partnership ads sets out the steps for each route.
- Account-level, on desktop: in Meta Business Suite open All tools, then Partnership Ads Hub, then Partners, choose Options beside the advertiser and select Revoke partnership. Meta says ads currently running will be paused.
- Account-level, in the app: Instagram's page on managing account-level permissions runs through your profile menu, Creator or Business tools, Partnership ads and Ad partners, where you tap Remove beside the partner.
- Content-level codes: turning off Get partnership ad code stops the code being used for new ads, but Meta notes that active ads using it keep running. Stop those in the Instagram app under Partnership ads, then Active ads, choosing each ad and selecting Stop.
- Business access: in Meta Business Suite settings, select the account, then remove the person's access or untick Ads under Manage; alternatively, remove the asset from the business entirely.
None of these Meta pages describe an expiry date you can attach to a permission. A contract end date therefore only bites when someone acts on it, so diarise it and ask the brand to confirm in writing that every campaign using your handle has stopped.
Keeping track of ads that run as you
Account-level permission lets a brand build ads from your handle with no matching post on your profile, so your own followers may never see what strangers are being shown under your name. That makes monitoring your job as much as the brand's.
Two habits help. While a campaign is live, open the Active ads list in the Instagram app's Partnership ads section, the same screen Meta points you to for stopping an ad, and compare what is running with what you approved. And ask the brand for a short list of active ads, with their audiences, placements and destinations, at every reporting point, plus each new variation for sign-off before launch. If an ad appears that you never approved, stop it from the app first and raise it with the brand second; a pause right in the contract makes that step routine rather than a dispute.
Whitelisting terms checklist
- Duration: the event that starts access, the date it ends, and whose job it is to switch it off.
- Spend visibility: Meta lets the advertiser see insights on partnered content, so ask for reports on spend, reach and results at agreed intervals in return.
- Comments: advertisers can hide comments on the ads and on your original post, while you can unhide them and hide or delete comments yourself; agree who moderates, what gets hidden and who answers product questions.
- Ad copy approval: sign-off on every caption, headline and voiceover that runs under your name. The FTC's Endorsement Guides require endorsements to reflect the endorser's honest opinions and experience, and the ACCC has told brands that scripts should never require influencers to misrepresent their experience or views.
- Edits: advertisers can edit your content for ads while the original post stays as it was, so list the edits you accept.
- Audiences and placements: whether your custom audience may be used, and which placements and countries the ads may run in.
- Destination: the landing pages the ads may link to, approved before launch.
- Pause right: your right to have ads paused within an agreed time if a claim or a comment thread puts your reputation at risk.
- Close-out: on the end date the brand stops its campaigns, you revoke access, and both of you confirm in writing.
- Fee and exclusivity: the price of access, kept separate from the content fee, and any competitor restrictions that come with it.
Access also shapes the price. A single-post code for a short burst is a smaller grant than open-ended account-level permission with your custom audience switched on and a large media budget behind it, and the review work grows with every ad variation. The method for turning those differences into figures is in our usage rights pricing worksheet, and the wider licence questions sit in our guide to content usage rights for creators.
Disclosure still applies under your handle
A partnership ad shows your account in its header, and that is exactly why the commercial relationship has to be obvious. Section 255.5 of the FTC's guides says a connection that might materially affect how much weight people give an endorsement, and that the audience would not expect, must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. UK and Australian regulators take the same line on making ads recognisable as ads. Keep the paid partnership label on the content the ads are built from, and do not let a brand remove it to make an ad look organic; our guide to the Instagram paid partnership label covers the tagging steps.
Limitations of this guide
This guide reflects Meta's help pages and the FTC and ACCC material cited as they read on 1 October 2026. Meta renames products and moves menus between app versions, so if a step does not match what you see, follow the current help page. It covers Facebook and Instagram only; other platforms build creator-handle ads differently.
The checklists describe platform mechanics and common contract points, not legal advice or market prices. Disclosure duties depend on where you and your audience are, and liability for ad claims can fall on creators as well as brands. For a long or high-value whitelisting deal, ask a lawyer who handles advertising or creator agreements to review the terms before you grant access.