TikTok tightens contest disclosure rules: what changes for organizers

Since February 25, 2026, TikTok has changed a rule that organizers had relied on for years: a link to the official rules in the caption is no longer enough. The essential terms of a giveaway must now appear inside the video itself, visible or spoken, without the viewer having to tap away.

For anyone used to writing "full rules in bio", this isn't a cosmetic tweak. It changes what counts as proof of compliance.

What changed on February 25, 2026

Before this date, the standard practice was to put the required disclosures in the video description or behind a link to a rules page. TikTok tolerated that indirection.

Since the update, three elements must be visible or audible directly in the video:

• the dates of the giveaway (start and end);
• the eligibility conditions (age, region, restrictions);
• the statement no purchase necessary, when that applies.

A link in the caption is still useful for the full official rules. It no longer replaces showing these three points inside the content itself.

Why the caption isn't enough anymore

TikTok's reasoning is straightforward: a video is consumed in a few seconds, often without reading the caption, and a link to the rules is seen by only a small share of entrants. A condition nobody sees provides no real protection.

This matches a principle we've held for a long time at DrawSeal: a rule that isn't visible before entry doesn't function as a rule. It only shifts the dispute to after the fact.

The three disclosures a video needs

Giveaway dates

The end date must be shown on screen (text overlay) or stated out loud. "Until supplies last" or "coming soon" is no longer sufficient — TikTok expects a specific date or duration.

Eligibility conditions

Minimum age, eligible country or region, account restrictions (for example, an account older than a set number of days): these criteria must be stated, not just referenced through a link.

No purchase necessary

When entry requires no purchase, TikTok now expects that to be said explicitly. Silence on this point is treated as ambiguity, not as an obvious default — a shift that echoes the no-purchase-necessary language long required in US sweepstakes law, now expected on-platform as well.

Pay-to-enter: the line into gambling territory

The second change, less discussed, concerns mechanics where entry requires buying Coins or sending virtual gifts. Since the update, these mechanics fall under TikTok's gambling-related rules, with the restrictions that come with that classification (geographic limits, age gating, disclosure requirements).

A giveaway that requires a virtual gift to enter is no longer treated as an ordinary contest by the platform. That reclassification has direct consequences for what's allowed and which audiences can be targeted.

Securing a TikTok launch before you film

The underlying difficulty isn't just disclosure. Most giveaway tools can't prove when the rules were set, or how entrants were validated. If a dispute comes up, the organizer has to reconstruct after the fact what should have been provable from the start.

Rules sealed before the first view counts

On DrawSeal, a draw's rules are sealed before entries open, with a 24-hour window before the draw during which no further changes are possible. That means the launch video can point to a rules page whose content is timestamped and locked — which directly answers TikTok's requirement for clarity on dates and conditions.

An entrant list cleaned by verifiable rules

The anti-fraud rules that apply before the list is sealed are public and identical for every entrant:

• mandatory double opt-in;
• exclusion of disposable email domains;
• deduplication of entries;
• a cap of three entries per IP address.

These aren't marketing claims. They're verifiable, because they're identical for every entrant and enforced before the draw, not after.

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