Usually, yes. Paid ads carry a label, and TikTok says ads in search results show as Sponsored. Creator posts that promote a brand must be labelled Paid partnership or Promotional content, and any ad has an About this ad panel.
Labels you will see
- Sponsored: TikTok uses this for ads shown in search results.
- Paid partnership: a creator posting branded content for another business.
- Promotional content: a business or creator promoting their own brand.
- About this ad: press and hold an ad, or tap Share, then tap About this ad.
Checking an ad in the library
TikTok’s Commercial Content Library lists ads shown in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the UK, including paused ones. Anyone can search it without an account. Ads usually appear within 24 hours and stay for a year after they were last seen.
In practice
If you pay creators to promote your app or game, they must turn on the content disclosure setting. TikTok says the label does not affect distribution, but content that is not disclosed may lose eligibility for the For You feed. TikTok One projects switch disclosure on automatically. Build this into every creator brief.
See how we run TikTok for apps and games on our TikTok ads agency page.
Sources checked 4 October 2026
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