In short
- Write the guideline in three tiers: red lines that end the deal, topics that need written approval, and style rules. One long list of do-nots gets skimmed and ignored.
- Build red lines from rules that already exist: ASCI's Code chapters II and III, Meta's Branded Content Policies, the Online Gaming Act and the tobacco law.
- Check adjacency as well as the brief. Review the creator's last 30 posts, and set age or location limits on the platform where it offers them.
- Monitor the first 72 hours, keep the right to pause ads, and name who decides. Brand safety fails in the gap between a problem appearing and someone owning it.
A brand safety guideline for influencers is a one-page document, issued before a campaign, that tells creators three things: the categories and behaviour your brand will never be near, the topics that need written approval, and the tone you expect. It works when it is short, sourced from rules creators can look up, and signed alongside the contract.
This post is about the document itself. The remedy side, meaning what happens when a creator breaks it, sits in our guide to the morality clause in influencer contracts and in influencer crisis management. The legal tests sit in our ASCI influencer guidelines explainer, and the wider channel in our complete guide to influencer marketing in India.
Why a brand writes this at all
ASCI's Code defines an advertisement as a paid-for communication meant to promote the sale or use of goods or services, and includes communication that the public may not recognise as an ad but that is paid for, or owned or authorised by the advertiser or its agency. A paid creator post is therefore covered by the same Code as your TV commercial, including its rules on decency and harm.
The Code makes responsibility shared: it lies with all who commission, create, place or publish an advertisement. Commissioning is the brand's part. A written guideline is the evidence that you told the creator the limits before they posted.
| Document | Its job | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|
| Brief | What the content should say and show | Influencer campaign brief template |
| Claims sheet | Which facts are allowed | Compliance checklist |
| Brand safety guideline | Where the brand will not appear and how creators behave | This post |
| Morality clause | What happens on a breach | Morality clause guide |
Tier 1: red lines that end the deal
A red line is a category or behaviour with no approval route. Build the list from rules that exist, so a creator can see the rule is not yours alone.
| Red line | Source | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Promoting online money games | Online Gaming Act, 2025, section 6; section 9(2) sets up to two years in prison, a fine up to ₹50 lakh, or both | Covers direct and indirect promotion |
| Promoting tobacco | Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, section 5: no person shall take part in an advertisement that directly or indirectly promotes use | Surrogate versions are barred by rule 6 of the CCPA's 2022 guidelines |
| Drugs, vaporisers, unsafe supplements, weapons, adult products | Meta's Branded Content Policies list these as prohibited | Applies to branded content on Instagram and Facebook |
| Payday loans, multi-level marketing, initial coin offerings, binary options, state lotteries | Same Meta list | Check before any fintech brief |
| Derision by race, caste, colour, religion, gender, body shape, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental condition or nationality | ASCI Code, Chapter III | Covers individuals and groups |
| Content that incites crime or violence, or shows crime as desirable | ASCI Code, Chapter III | Includes showing how a crime is done |
| Indecent or vulgar content, especially in depicting women | ASCI Code, Chapter II | The test is generally prevailing standards of decency |
| Exploiting political or social crises for commercial purposes | Meta's Branded Content Policies | A brand may go further and bar all political content |
Add the creator's own conduct to the list: a creator whose feed promotes a barred category is a risk even if your brief is clean. Our due diligence checklist covers the feed scan.
Tier 2: topics that need written approval
These are not banned but carry enough risk that a named person at the brand should approve them in writing.
| Trigger | Why approval | Rule behind it |
|---|---|---|
| A child in frame or addressed | Age, consent and claims limits | ASCI Code defines a child as under 12; CCPA rule 8 covers ads that address or use children. See children in influencer ads |
| Health or finance advice | Qualifications must be shown upfront | ASCI Addendum II. See health influencer rules and finfluencer rules |
| Any reference to a competitor | A comparison must be factual and substantiated | ASCI Code, Chapter IV. See trademark and comparative claims |
| Stunts or risky acts | The Code bars showing dangerous practices or disregard for safety without justifiable reason | ASCI Code, Chapter III |
| Eating or drinking challenges | ASCI's food guideline says ads should not encourage excessive consumption | ASCI guidelines on foods and beverages |
| Jokes about gender, looks or roles | ASCI says humour or banter is not likely to overcome a harmful stereotype | ASCI guidelines on harmful gender stereotypes |
| AI voice, face or dubbing | A label may be needed and consent is required | ASCI's 2026 synthetic content guideline. See AI-generated content rules |
| Religious or festival imagery | Offence risk the rules cannot predict | Brand judgement; use the festival posts for context |
Tier 3: style and conduct rules
These are your rules, not the law's, so keep them few and say why. Useful ones are a tone range with two example sentences, words the creator will not use about the product's competitors, how to answer a hostile comment, no deleting of critical comments on the original post, and a duty to tell the brand within a set time if the creator becomes the subject of controversy. Put the disclosure wording in the same document by pointing to the disclosure line templates you issue with the brief.
Adjacency: what else is on the feed
Brand safety covers the neighbours of your post, not only the post. Before booking, scan the last 30 posts and highlights for barred categories, competitor deals, hostile comment threads and anything that conflicts with your tiers.
Platforms add a layer you can use. Meta says alcohol, subscription services, financial and insurance products, cosmetic procedures and weight loss, and family planning can be promoted in branded content only with restrictions on who can see the post by age or location. Seven business-partner types, including real money gambling, pharmacies and cryptocurrency, need written pre-authorisation from Meta first. YouTube says creators who tick paid promotion can set age and country restrictions, which it describes as helping meet local advertising laws and brand partnership requirements. Ask for a screenshot of the setting.
Monitoring and escalation
Set the owners before launch. These timings are our practice.
| Window | Check | Owner | If amber or red |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before posting | Final cut against the tiers | Agency, then brand approver | Hold the post |
| First hour live | Label, claims, audio, comments | Community lead | Edit the same day |
| 72 hours | Comment tone, new controversy about the creator | Community lead | Pause ads; call the decision owner |
| Whole contract | Creator's other posts in your category | Agency | Escalate under the morality clause |
On partnership ads, Instagram lets you hide comments on the ad and on the creator's original post, and lets creators unhide them. Agree who moderates what in the brief. Pausing ads is within your control and comes first; the response ladder is in the crisis guide.
A sample one-page guideline
[Brand] creator brand safety guideline
Never. Promote online money games, betting, tobacco, drugs, vaporisers, weapons or adult products. Deride anyone by caste, religion, gender, body shape, age, orientation, condition or nationality. Show or encourage crime, or dangerous acts without safety context. Use indecent or vulgar content.
Ask us first, in writing. Children in frame. Health, nutrition or financial advice. Any mention of another brand. Stunts or challenges. Religion, politics or elections. AI-generated faces, voices or dubbing. Any claim not on the claims sheet.
How we ask you to sound. [Tone words, two example lines, one thing to avoid.] Answer questions in the comments in [language]. Do not delete critical comments on your own post; tell us instead.
Labels. Use the exact disclosure line in the brief. Keep the platform's paid partnership tool on.
If something goes wrong. Tell [name] within [24] hours if you are involved in a controversy. We may pause ads at once. The contract sets out any further steps.
Audience settings. For [category], set the platform's age and location restriction and send us a screenshot.
A worked example (hypothetical)
Getting creators to sign
Creators push back on long, one-sided lists. Three things help: cite the source of each red line, keep the list to a page, and make part of it mutual, such as the brand's duty to pay on time and to stand by its own claims. Write the guideline in the language the creator works in, because the disclosure rules themselves allow the label in the language of the ad. Our influencer outreach message templates show how to introduce it in the first message.
What we could not source
ASCI does not publish a brand safety standard for influencers, and we did not use industry brand-safety frameworks from outside India. The Meta and YouTube pages we read are undated, and we did not read Meta's category pages for alcohol, so we give no age figures. The tiers are our structure: the sources say what is barred or restricted, not how a brand should organise its list.
If you want a guideline built for your category and sent with every creator brief, our influencer marketing strategy service is where we plan documents like this, and you can ask for a creator plan.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
- The ASCI Code: definitions, Chapter II (decency), Chapter III (harmful products, children, dangerous practices) and Chapter IV (fairness in competition), ASCI (undated page, accessed 1 Nov 2026)
- ASCI guidelines on harmful gender stereotypes; guidelines for influencer advertising in digital media; guidelines on foods and beverages, ASCI (undated page, accessed 1 Nov 2026)
- Branded Content Policies (prohibited content, restricted content, business partner authorisation, format restrictions), Instagram Help Centre (Meta) (undated, accessed 1 Nov 2026)
- About partnership ad permissions, Instagram Help Centre (Meta) (undated, accessed 1 Nov 2026)
- Add branded content restrictions and disclosure labels (age and location restrictions), YouTube Help (Google) (undated, accessed 1 Nov 2026)
- The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (sections 6 and 9), MeitY, Gazette of India (22 Aug 2025)
- The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (section 5), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2003)
- Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022 (rules 6 and 8), Central Consumer Protection Authority, Gazette of India (9 Jun 2022)
Frequently asked questions
What are brand safety guidelines for influencers?
They are a short document a brand gives creators before a campaign, setting out categories the brand will never appear beside, topics that need written approval, and conduct and tone expectations. They are expectations, not remedies. The remedies, such as pause and termination, belong in the morality clause of the contract.
What should a brand's red-line list include?
Start with what the law and the platforms already bar: online money games, tobacco, drugs, weapons, adult products and the other prohibited categories in Meta's branded content policy. Add the content ASCI's Code rules out, such as deriding people by caste, religion or body shape. Then add your own, such as political content or competitor attacks.
How do we limit who sees a creator's branded content?
Meta says some categories, including alcohol and financial and insurance products, can be promoted only with restrictions on who sees the post by age or location. YouTube lets creators who select paid promotion set age and country restrictions. Ask the creator to set them and send a screenshot as proof.
Can we stop a creator from mentioning competitors or politics?
Yes, in the brief and the contract, though Meta already bars branded content that exploits controversial political or social issues for commercial purposes. For competitors, see our post on trademark and comparative claims: a comparison is allowed only if it is factual, accurate and substantiated, so most brands ban it unless approved.
Who controls comments on a creator's post?
On a partnership ad you can hide comments on the ad and on the creator's original post, but Instagram says creators can unhide them. Agree the boundary in the brief, with the creator moderating their own post and you moderating the ad. Our crisis management guide covers what to do when comments turn.
How is this different from a compliance checklist?
A compliance checklist tests whether a post meets the rules. A brand safety guideline sets how the creator behaves around your brand, including things no rule requires, such as tone and adjacency. Use both: the compliance checklist before posting and the guideline throughout the contract.