How to label AI-generated videos on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram (2026)
What each platform asks for when a video shows an AI-generated person, what the EU AI Act's Article 50 adds from August 2026, and a checklist.
Last checked 15 October 2026. General information, not legal advice: check with whoever signs off your compliance.
The short version
Every major platform lets you post a realistic AI presenter, as long as you say so. Say it three ways: a label people can see in the video, the platform's own AI setting when you post, and a mark inside the file that software can read.
In the EU, Article 50 of the AI Act applies from 2 August 2026. Whoever provides the tool that makes the video must mark it as AI-generated in a machine-readable way; whoever publishes a realistic video of a person who isn't real must disclose it.
TikTok
TikTok asks creators to label realistic AI-generated content, and labels it itself when the file carries Content Credentials (C2PA). Apps posting through TikTok's Content Posting API set the AI-generated flag (is_aigc) on the post.
Viewers can choose to see less AI-generated content, so an honest label may cost some reach. A missing one risks the video being removed or the account restricted.
YouTube
YouTube asks creators to disclose realistic altered or synthetic content when they upload: in YouTube Studio, or through the API's containsSyntheticMedia setting. The label appears in the description, and more prominently on the player for sensitive topics, which include finance.
Reels can carry Instagram's “AI info” label, which apps posting through Instagram's API can now set. Since 31 August 2026 Instagram also stops recommending accounts that show an AI-generated person unless the account itself carries its “AI-generated profile” label, which only the account can switch on, in the Instagram app.
The EU AI Act, Article 50
Providers of AI systems that generate video must make sure the output is marked in a machine-readable format and detectable as AI-generated. The Commission's Code of Practice on marking and labelling expects more than one layer, such as signed metadata and a watermark.
Deployers who publish deepfakes, realistic content that shows people who don't exist or didn't say it, must disclose that it is artificially generated, visibly or audibly. An invisible mark alone isn't enough for them.
A checklist for every video
☐ An on-screen label that says AI (“AI-generated presenter”), for the whole video.
☐ The platform's AI setting switched on when it posts: TikTok's AI-generated flag, YouTube's altered or synthetic content, Instagram's AI info.
☐ On Instagram, the account's AI-generated profile label switched on.
☐ Machine-readable marking in the file: IPTC “trained algorithmic media” metadata, and signed Content Credentials where you can.
☐ “AI-generated” in the caption, where it can't be cropped out.
☐ A record of each video: what it said, which data it used, who approved it and when.
Sources
- EU AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (EUR-Lex)
- European Commission: transparency obligations under Article 50
- YouTube: our approach to responsible AI innovation
- TikTok: Content Posting API sharing guidelines
- Instagram Platform: content publishing
- C2PA: Content Credentials
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- 3 video scripts from your website: type your website's address: get scripts for three short videos your business could post this week.
- The EU AI Act and your AI presenter: what a business has to label (2026)
- Instagram's AI-generated profile label: what it is and what to do (2026)