A New Industry Credential Wants To Clean Up Creator Marketing Before Regulators Do It First

Influencer marketing has a credibility problem, and billions of dollars in brand spending have done nothing to solve it.

The numbers tell a contradictory story. More than half of consumers say they have purchased something because a creator recommended it. Yet only a sliver of those same consumers, roughly 5%, say they actually trust the content they are watching. That gap between influence and trust is widening, and it is creating real liability for every party involved.

A new initiative called the U.S. Creator Certification Program, developed by the Institute for Responsible Influence under BBB National Programs' Center for Industry Self-Regulation, is designed to close that gap before federal regulators close it for them.

"The creator economy has become one of the most powerful forces in modern marketing," says Jennifer Santos, Program Development Manager for the Institute. "With that level of influence, responsible practices are more essential than ever."

Enrollment opens in Spring 2026. Whether the industry takes it seriously is another question entirely.

Consumers Are Paying Attention to Disclosure, Even If Creators Aren't

The research that motivated this program came out of a BBB National Programs study conducted in early 2025. The findings were not subtle.

When creators fail to disclose paid partnerships, audiences notice. Seven out of ten consumers surveyed said they felt deceived when a brand relationship was not made clear. The emotional response was not mild annoyance. Respondents described feeling manipulated, and many said it permanently changed how they viewed the creator involved.

"Authenticity equals transparency for consumers," Santos explains. "That was the clearest signal in the data."

For brands, the implications extend beyond audience sentiment. Undisclosed partnerships create regulatory exposure, reputational risk, and operational headaches that compound as creator programs scale across dozens of partnerships.

An Earlier Attempt at Creator Certification Failed. What Is Different Now?

This is not the first time someone has tried to professionalize influencer marketing through voluntary education.

In 2020, attorney Robert Freund launched a certification initiative aimed at teaching creators FTC compliance basics and establishing a voluntary credentialing framework. The effort never gained meaningful traction.

The core issue was timing. Enforcement at the time felt theoretical. The FTC had published guidelines, but individual creators were rarely targeted. Most influencers treated disclosure requirements as optional because the consequences of ignoring them were essentially nonexistent.

That calculus has changed substantially. The FTC now names individual creators in warning letters, not just the brands writing the checks. Class action lawsuits have followed. Financial penalties have grown. The enforcement environment in 2026 looks nothing like it did six years ago.

The Institute for Responsible Influence is entering a market where the risk of noncompliance is no longer abstract. Whether that is enough to change creator behavior remains to be seen.

Why Build This Inside a Self-Regulatory Body?

The Institute could have launched independently or through a platform-led initiative. Instead, it was deliberately housed within CISR, the nonprofit foundation of BBB National Programs. That choice reflects a particular philosophy about how fast-moving industries should govern themselves.

"The Center was created to educate industries on self-regulation and incubate programs where regulation can't keep up," Santos says. "That's exactly what's happening in the creator economy."

The argument for self-regulation is straightforward. Federal enforcement is reactive by design. It happens after violations through investigations, warning letters, and lawsuits. There is no proactive compliance mechanism built into the current system.

A voluntary certification program, the theory goes, gives the industry a way to demonstrate responsible practices before regulation becomes the only available tool. The program is designed to complement existing rules, not compete with them.

Whether voluntary self-regulation actually changes behavior in an industry built on creative independence is the central question. History offers mixed evidence.

Most Compliance Failures Come From Ignorance, Not Defiance

One of the program's foundational assumptions is that most creators who violate disclosure rules do not realize they are doing so.

Santos points to enforcement data to support this claim. "In 2025 alone, the National Advertising Division had over a dozen cases involving influencer practices. Most of them came down to missing or improper material connection disclosures."

In the majority of those cases, creators corrected their behavior once the requirements were clearly explained. The problem was not willful resistance. It was inconsistent education.

Today, every brand and agency interprets and communicates disclosure requirements differently. A creator working with five brand partners might receive five different sets of instructions about how and when to disclose, or receive no guidance at all.

The certification program aims to replace that patchwork approach with a single, independently administered baseline.

"Right now, brands are educating individually, and that education can look very different from one company to another," Santos says. "This program standardizes that education, delivered by an independent third party."

How the Program Actually Works

The certification is structured around three components: training, accountability, and ongoing support.

Training and Examination

Creators complete a digital curriculum covering FTC endorsement requirements, disclosure best practices, and relevant advertising standards. The coursework was developed with input from an advisory council that includes #paid, Billion Dollar Boy, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, and the American Advertising Federation. Creators must pass an exam to earn the credential.

Ongoing Accountability

This is not a take-the-test-and-forget-it credential. The Institute plans to monitor whether certified creators actually apply what they learned. Santos is direct about this: "There will be accountability. We'll be ensuring that creators apply the best practices they've learned."

The specific enforcement mechanisms have not been fully detailed, which is worth watching as the program develops.

Resources and Searchable Database

Certified creators will receive access to toolkits, webinars, and quarterly briefings on emerging compliance issues. A public, searchable database will allow brands and agencies to identify creators who have completed the program.

"That's something brands have never had before," Santos says. "A credible, independent way to identify creators who've been trained and take responsibility seriously."

What Brands and Agencies Get Out of This

For brands, the value proposition is straightforward risk reduction. Partnering with certified creators reduces the likelihood of disclosure failures that could trigger FTC scrutiny or consumer backlash.

For agencies managing large creator rosters, the operational argument is equally compelling. Instead of developing and maintaining proprietary compliance training for every new partnership, agencies can point to a shared industry standard.

"It creates a standardized foundation across rosters and programs," Santos says. "Instead of educating from scratch every time, there's a shared baseline everyone understands."

The advisory council's composition suggests the program has institutional support from major industry players. Whether that translates into actual adoption requirements in brand contracts will be the real test of the program's influence.

The Global Context Adds Pressure

The U.S. is arriving late to creator compliance infrastructure. The EU, Australia, and India already operate within frameworks that treat influencer education and transparency as professional standards rather than optional best practices.

That international momentum creates additional pressure on U.S. creators and brands operating in global markets. A domestic certification standard would bring the U.S. closer to alignment with trading partners who already expect this level of professionalism.

Meanwhile, the domestic legal environment continues to tighten. Individual creators are now personally named in enforcement actions. The "it won't happen to me" attitude that sank earlier certification efforts has become a harder position to maintain.

The Certification Is Not a Content Review Board

Santos is clear about the program's boundaries. It does not restrict what creators say, how they express themselves, or what content they produce. It is not a gatekeeping mechanism.

"It's not meant to be a barrier," she says. "It's meant to give creators a sustainable way to grow their businesses responsibly."

The certification functions as a professional signal, similar to credentials in other industries. It communicates to brands, agencies, and audiences that a creator understands the regulatory landscape and takes compliance seriously.

What Success Would Actually Look Like

Santos frames the program's goals in terms of adoption and normalization rather than enforcement.

"Success looks like creators using the program, brands and agencies relying on it, and the industry recognizing it as a standard," she says.

The broader ambition is to demonstrate that creator marketing can professionalize without sacrificing the authenticity and creative freedom that make it effective.

That ambition will face real-world friction. Creators are independent operators who are allergic to bureaucracy. Brands say they want compliance but often prioritize reach and engagement over process. And the FTC is not going to slow its enforcement timeline to give a voluntary program time to gain traction.

The U.S. Creator Certification Program is a bet that the industry can govern itself. Spring 2026 will show whether enough people are willing to take that bet seriously.