For a U.S.-focused starting point, protect your blog by clearly disclosing material connections when you endorse brands, making only honest and supportable review claims, and understanding that the DMCA does not give every blogger blanket immunity. The rules that apply to privacy, trademarks, defamation, publicity, taxes, and other issues depend on your jurisdiction and how your blog operates; this is an introduction, not a complete legal checklist.
Do you have to disclose affiliate links, sponsorships, or free products?
If you endorse a brand and have a material connection to it, disclose that connection clearly and close to the endorsement. A connection can include payment, a free or discounted product, another perk, employment, or a personal or family relationship. For an affiliate link, tell readers about the commission or other benefit you may receive when they use it.
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The Federal Trade Commission’s Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, published in November 2019, advises using plain language that readers can notice and understand. Put the disclosure with the endorsement, in the same language as the endorsement. Do not rely only on an About page, a disclosure at the end of a post, or text hidden behind a “more” click.
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For example, next to a recommendation, explain that you received the product for free or may earn a commission if a reader buys through your link. A vague label or a disclosure separated from the recommendation may leave readers unclear about the relationship. The disclosure should communicate the relevant connection, not just signal that some relationship exists.
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How should you write reviews and endorsements?
Reviews should reflect your actual experience or honest opinion. Do not say or imply that you used or tested a product if you did not. The FTC’s Advertising FAQs: A Guide for Small Business says endorsements must reflect the endorser’s honest experience or opinion and must not make deceptive claims—or claims that could not be substantiated if the advertiser made them directly.
Be especially careful when a post sounds like an expert assessment. The FTC says an expert endorsement should be supported by the kind of evaluation, examination, or testing that qualified experts in that field would normally conduct. Describe what you actually did, and do not present an unsupported claim as a tested result.
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What does the DMCA protect, and what does it not do?
Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides conditional limitations on liability—often called safe harbors—for certain online service providers. The U.S. Copyright Office explains that the requirements differ according to the service-provider function. For providers seeking applicable protections, the process can include designating an agent to receive notices, registering that agent with the Copyright Office, publishing the agent’s contact information, and responding expeditiously to qualifying notices. See the Copyright Office’s The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and its Section 512 of Title 17: Resources on Online Service Provider Safe Harbors and Notice-and-Takedown System, a report published May 21, 2020.
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Registering an agent does not automatically make every blog eligible for every safe harbor, shield a blogger from every copyright claim, or give permission to reuse someone else’s work. The statute’s protections are conditional and relate to qualifying service-provider functions. Your own writing, your use of third-party material, and a hosting platform’s or provider’s eligibility for a safe harbor are separate issues.
Copyright and sites hosted outside the United States
The Copyright Office notes that copyright law is territorial and that a takedown notice may be sent even when a site is hosted abroad. Whether U.S. law applies can depend on circumstances, including whether the site targets U.S. users; hosting location alone does not settle every cross-border question. The Copyright Office’s Section 512 materials address safe harbors and notice-and-takedown, not every question about copyright ownership, licensing, registration, fair use, or a particular dispute.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which other legal issues should a blogger check?
FTC endorsement guidance and the Copyright Office’s Section 512 materials do not establish a complete set of rules for every blog. The applicable requirements can depend on your location, audience, data practices, and publishing or monetization model. Treat the following as separate issues to verify for your actual circumstances:
- Privacy and data security: Which notices, consent rules, security duties, or children’s privacy requirements apply depends on the data you collect, your audience, and the relevant jurisdiction.
- Trademarks: The sources cited here do not establish a brand-clearance, registration, or enforcement checklist. Do not assume that registering a domain name by itself creates trademark rights.
- Defamation, privacy, and publicity claims: The applicable standards, defenses, and risks are jurisdiction- and fact-dependent.
- Taxes, business formation, and contracts: These were not addressed by the cited FTC and Copyright Office materials, so requirements should be checked separately for your location and circumstances.
A generic policy or legal-document template cannot be assumed to satisfy every blog’s obligations. If you need a policy or advice about a specific dispute, verify that it addresses your jurisdiction and practices; consider advice from a qualified professional familiar with those facts.
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A practical starting checklist
- Identify where you operate and where your audience is, and note how your blog earns money and what information it collects.
- Review each endorsement for a material connection, then place a plain-language disclosure where readers encounter the endorsement.
- Check that reviews describe your real experience and that factual or expert claims have appropriate support.
- Separate your own copyright questions from any question about a platform or provider’s possible DMCA safe-harbor protections.
- List privacy, trademark, defamation, publicity, tax, business, and contract questions that your actual site raises, and verify them under the relevant jurisdiction’s rules.
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