Instagram partnership ad codes, Spark Ads codes and usage rights: what a brand can do with your content
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The rule
An Instagram partnership ad code lets a brand turn one of your posts into ads under your handle, with no stated expiry; switching it off blocks only new ads. A TikTok Spark Ads code lasts 7, 30, 60 or 365 days. Neither transfers ownership.
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Brands ask for these under several names: ad code, Spark code, whitelisting, usage rights, paid usage. Each one grants something different, and each ends differently. This guide puts every permission a brand typically asks a creator for in one table: what the brand can do with it, the duration options, how you take it back, and where the rule is written. Then it gives example scope wording for each one to put in your quote.
The Meta and TikTok rows come from their own help centres. The licence and ownership rows come from US copyright law as the US Copyright Office publishes it. Every source was read on 28 September 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.
The guide covers permission to advertise with your content. Giving a brand or agency a role on your accounts, such as admin or business portfolio access, is a different grant and is not covered here.
What does each permission let a brand do?
One row per permission. "Content level" means one post, story, reel or video. "Account level" means your handle as a whole.
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| Permission | What the brand can do | Duration options | How you revoke it | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta partnership ad code (content level, Instagram or Facebook) | Turn that post, story or reel into partnership ads with your handle in the ad header, including archived Instagram content and hidden Collab posts. The code works on any post, whether or not it tags the brand. The brand can edit your content for the ad (your original post stays the same), see all insights on it, and hide comments on the ad and on your original post. One code can be used by up to 2 partners at a time. | None offered. Meta's help pages describe no end date; the code works until you turn it off. | Turn off the Get partnership ad code toggle in the post's Partnership label & ads settings on Instagram, or under Share partnership ad code on Facebook. That blocks new ads only: running ads continue. Stop each running ad in Professional dashboard > Partnership ads > Active ads > View ad > Options > Stop. Archiving the post on Instagram does not remove the brand's code access. | Instagram Help: create a partnership ad code; about partnership ad permissions; stop an advertiser |
| Meta "Allow brand partner to boost" (content level, a post with the paid partnership label tagging the brand) | Create ads or marketing messages from that post, with the same editing and comment powers as a code. | None offered. For newly created branded content, Meta turns this toggle on automatically for 28 days since your last branded content was posted. | Stop running ads through Active ads as above. The toggle sits in the post's Partnership label & ads settings. | Instagram Help: partnership ad specifications for creators; manage content-level permissions |
| Meta account-level partnership ad permission (a request the brand sends, which you accept) | Create partnership ads, other ad types and marketing messages from your handle without any existing post. Turn any of your posts that tag the brand into ads, archived Instagram ones included (on Instagram the tag can be the paid partnership label, an @mention, a people tag, a product tag or a Collab; on Facebook only the paid partnership label). Include or exclude your custom audience in its campaigns. Hide comments. If your Instagram and Facebook accounts are linked, accepting grants it for both. | None offered. Meta describes it as suited to ongoing partnerships. | Professional dashboard > Partnership ads > Ad partners > Remove. The brand can no longer create partnership ads from your handle, and any ads running are paused. | Meta Business Help: about partnership ad permissions; Instagram Help: account-level permissions in the app; account-level permissions in Creator Marketing Hub; partnership ad specifications; stop an advertiser |
| TikTok Spark Ads video code (content level) | Run your organic post as an ad in TikTok Ads Manager. Views, comments, shares, likes and follows the ad gains are attributed to your post. The ad shows your display name and caption, which cannot be edited in ad setup, and the caption cannot be edited once the post is authorized. A private video becomes public once used in a campaign, and its privacy cannot be changed during the promotion. Story videos cannot be used. | 7, 30, 60 or 365 days, chosen by you in the post's Ad settings. When it lapses, the brand's Ads Manager shows "Authorization expired" and tells it to contact you to extend. | Ad settings > Ad authorization off, then Save. TikTok documents this switch only for videos not in active use as paid ads; for a video in a running ad its help pages describe no creator-side stop, so the duration you pick is the limit you control. You must un-authorize a video before you can delete it. | TikTok Ads Help: Spark Ads for Smart+ campaigns; about Spark Ads; Spark Ads creation guide; code error notifications |
| TikTok account-level authorization (an invitation sent through TikTok One Content Suite) | Use your posts in its ad campaigns on an ongoing basis, not one named video. The same channel also carries video-level requests, which default to 365 days. | Account level: "ongoing use until you turn it off in settings". Video level through Content Suite: 365 days. | TikTok Studio > Creator Marketplace > Profile > Settings, then turn off Allow brands to use your posts. | TikTok Ads Help: brand collaboration through Content Suite; Content Suite for Spark Ads |
| Organic repost licence (contract only, no platform tool) | Whatever the licence names, usually posting your content on the brand's own accounts. Nothing ties the repost to your handle, and once the brand has the file only the contract limits it. Under US law a non-exclusive licence is not a transfer of copyright ownership. | Whatever term the contract names. The platforms set none. | Only as the contract allows, apart from the §203 termination right, which opens 35 years after the grant. Write the end date and a removal duty into the contract. | 17 U.S.C. §106; §101, "transfer of copyright ownership"; §203 |
| Raw-file licence (you deliver unedited footage, stills or project files) | Edit, cut and reuse the material in the brand's own ads and channels. Preparing derivative works is one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, so the licence has to grant it. | Whatever term the contract names. An exclusive licence counts as a transfer of ownership under US law and is valid only in writing signed by you. | Only as the contract allows, apart from the §203 termination right 35 years after the grant. Delivered files cannot be recalled technically. | 17 U.S.C. §106; §101; §203; §204(a) |
| Ownership transfer (an assignment, or a work made for hire) | Everything the copyright owner can do, including licensing the work to others. You would need the brand's permission to reuse it yourself. | Work made for hire: 95 years from publication or 120 from creation, whichever expires first. Assignment: whatever term the assignment names, subject to the termination right in the next column. | The Copyright Act's termination rights do not apply to a work made for hire. An assignment you made on or after 1 January 1978 can be terminated by written notice in a five-year window that opens 35 years after the grant (the start differs if the grant covers publication). | US Copyright Office, Circular 30; 17 U.S.C. §201(b); §203; §204(a) |
Three patterns stand out. Meta's help pages give its permissions no expiry, so the end date has to come from you. TikTok's code has an expiry, but TikTok documents no way for you to cut a running ad short. And none of the help pages read for this guide describes a territory or placement setting on either platform's permission, so where the ads run is limited only by what you write in the deal.
What can the platform tools not limit?
These follow from the rows above, and each is a reason to put the limit in writing.
- Stopping a Meta code does not stop its ads. Turning off the code blocks new ads; active ones keep running until you stop each one under Active ads (Instagram Help).
- Archiving is not revoking. On Instagram the brand keeps code access to an archived post, and partners with account-level permission can still boost archived content (Instagram Help).
- You cannot edit a post while it runs as a Meta partnership ad. You can delete it, and that stops the ad (Instagram Help).
- Account-level on Meta covers ads you never posted. The brand can create ads from your handle without existing content (Meta Business Help). If you only want your posts used, the contract has to say so.
- Your Instagram identity can appear on Facebook. If you have no Facebook Page, a partnership ad run with you can still appear on Facebook with your Instagram name, profile picture and other details (Instagram Help).
- Every Meta partnership ad is listed in the Meta Ad Library, Meta's ads transparency hub (Instagram Help).
- A private TikTok goes public. A private video becomes public once it is used in a campaign, and you cannot change it during the promotion (TikTok Ads Help).
- Duets and Stitches need two codes. A Spark Ad built on a video by two creators needs the authorization code of both (TikTok Ads Help).
- EU, EEA and Switzerland. Meta limits your ability to advertise and monetize with ads if your Accounts Center has a subscription to use Meta products without ads, or the less-personalized ad experience (Instagram Help).
Does the brand get a licence or ownership under US copyright law?
A licence lets the brand use your content on stated terms. Ownership moves the copyright itself. US law draws the line in two places.
The default is that you own it. The Copyright Office's circular on works made for hire says the author is ordinarily the person who created the work. The exception is a work made for hire, where the hiring party is the author and the copyright owner (Circular 30).
A work made for hire happens in two situations only (Circular 30):
- An employee creates it as part of their regular duties. The Copyright Act does not define "employee"; the circular lists questions to consider, among them who supplied the tools, how the creator was paid, whether taxes were withheld, and whether the creator has their own business.
- The work was specially ordered or commissioned, and it meets all four tests: it falls in one of nine listed categories, there is a written agreement, the agreement expressly says the work is made for hire, and all parties signed it. If any test fails, it is not a work made for hire.
The nine categories are a contribution to a collective work, part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, a translation, a supplementary work, a compilation, an instructional text, a test, answer material for a test, and an atlas. A commissioned video can fall under the audiovisual category. A single photo for a feed post fits none of them as plainly. Where a work fits none, a "work made for hire" clause does not make it one, and the brand needs a written assignment instead.
A transfer must be signed by you. An assignment, and also an exclusive licence, is a "transfer of copyright ownership"; a non-exclusive licence is not (17 U.S.C. §101). A transfer is valid only if it is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or that owner's authorized agent (§204(a)). Sharing an ad code is neither: it is a platform permission to advertise with a post.
The two routes end differently. A work made for hire belongs to the hiring party for 95 years from publication or 120 from creation, whichever expires first, and the termination rights in the Copyright Act do not apply to it (Circular 30). A grant by the author made on or after 1 January 1978 can be terminated during a five-year period that begins 35 years after it was executed; where the grant covers the right of publication, the period starts at 35 years from publication or 40 from execution, whichever ends earlier (§203).
The Copyright Office itself says it cannot advise on whether a particular work is made for hire (Circular 30). Outside the US, ownership of commissioned work follows local law, which this guide does not cover.
What should a quote name for each permission?
Four things, every time: the media (which posts or files), the term (start and end dates), the territory (where the ads may run), and whether use is paid or organic. Name the platforms and placements as well, since a Meta partnership ad can run on Instagram and Facebook alike.
The lines below are example wording to adapt, with brackets for your details. They are not legal advice. The brand deal contract checklist covers the clauses around them, and how to price a sponsored post prices each permission as its own line item.
| Permission | Example scope wording (not legal advice) |
|---|---|
| Meta partnership ad code | "Paid use of [one Reel posted on date] as partnership ads on [Instagram and Facebook], from [start] to [end], in [countries]. Brand stops all ads using the code by the end date. Creator turns the code off after it. Further periods by written extension at [fee] each." |
| Allow brand partner to boost | "Paid use of the posts made under this agreement that carry the paid partnership label for [Brand], as partnership ads on [Instagram], for [number] days from each post's publication, in [countries]." |
| Meta account-level permission | "Account-level partnership ad permission for [@handle and the linked Facebook Page] from [start] to [end]. Ads are built only from posts made under this agreement; no ads without an existing post unless Creator approves them in writing. Custom audience use: [yes or no]. Creator removes the permission on [end date]." |
| TikTok Spark Ads code | "Spark Ads authorization for [video posted on date] for [7, 30, 60 or 365] days, paid use on TikTok only, in [countries]. Creator keeps the video up for the authorization period. Renewal at [fee] per [period]." |
| TikTok account-level authorization | "Account-level ad authorization through TikTok One from [start] to [end], limited to posts made under this agreement. Creator turns it off on [end date]." |
| Organic repost licence | "Non-exclusive licence to repost [deliverables], unedited and credited to [@handle], on [Brand]'s own [accounts and website], organic only, in [territory], for [term] from first posting. No paid promotion. Brand removes the reposts by [date]." |
| Raw-file licence | "Non-exclusive licence to edit and use [footage and stills from the shoot on date] in [Brand]'s [paid ads on named platforms and organic posts on its own channels], in [territory], for [term]. Excludes [TV, print, out-of-home]." |
| Ownership transfer | "Creator assigns to [Brand] all copyright in [deliverables], effective on payment of [fee] in full. Creator keeps a non-exclusive right to show the work in a portfolio." |
For a TikTok code, pick the shortest duration that covers the paid term you sold. It is the one limit TikTok enforces on your behalf, and the brand has to come back to you to extend it.
Which permission fits the request?
Match the grant to what the brand needs to do, and nothing wider.
| The brand wants to | Grant | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Put ad money behind one post you already made | Meta partnership ad code, or a Spark Ads code | Meta: set the end date in the contract and stop the ads yourself if needed. TikTok: choose the duration to match the paid term. |
| Run ads from your handle over months, with new creative | Meta or TikTok account-level permission | Covers far more than one post. Limit it to posts made under the deal, set an end date, and remove it on that date. |
| Post your content on its own feed | Organic repost licence | No platform switch ends it. Term, credit and removal live in the contract. |
| Cut your footage into its own ads | Raw-file licence | An exclusive licence is a transfer of ownership in US law and needs your signature. |
| Own the content outright | Assignment, or work made for hire where the category fits | You lose the right to reuse it without permission. It is the widest grant in this table; price it on its own line. |
Music is a separate question. A sound that is fine in your organic post is a rights issue of its own once the post becomes an ad; music in sponsored and business posts covers what each platform's libraries allow.
Frequently asked questions
Does sharing a partnership ad code give the brand ownership of my post?
No. The code is Meta's permission for a partner to boost that post as a partnership ad (Instagram Help). Under US law, moving ownership takes a written transfer signed by you (17 U.S.C. §204(a)).
Does a partnership ad code expire?
Meta's help pages describe no expiry. The code works until you turn off the Get partnership ad code toggle, and turning it off does not stop ads already running (Instagram Help).
Can two brands use the same partnership ad code?
Yes, up to 2 partners at a time (Instagram Help). You can generate a new code to share any time. TikTok's help pages read for this guide do not say whether one Spark Ads code can be used by more than one advertiser.
How long does a TikTok Spark Ads code last?
7, 30, 60 or 365 days, chosen in the post's Ad settings (TikTok Ads Help). Requests a brand sends through Content Suite default to 365 days (TikTok Ads Help).
Can I delete a video a brand is running as a Spark Ad?
Not straight away. TikTok says a video has to be un-authorized as a Spark Ad before it can be deleted from the organic account (TikTok Ads Help), and it documents turning authorization off only for videos not in active use as paid ads (TikTok Ads Help).
Is "work made for hire" in a brand contract enough to transfer ownership?
Only if the work is in one of the nine listed categories, the agreement is written, it says "work made for hire" expressly, and all parties signed it (Circular 30). A commissioned video can qualify as part of an audiovisual work. If a work fits no category, the clause fails and only a signed assignment moves ownership.