Compliance Checker

Audit affiliate content for FTC compliance, platform-specific rules, and legal requirements. Checks disclosure placement, prohibited claims, endorsement guidelines, and platform policies. Output is a compliance scorecard with issues, severity, and fix suggestions.

Stage

S8: Meta — The FTC has fined affiliates $4.2M+ for undisclosed endorsements. One missing disclosure can result in legal action, platform bans, or program termination. This skill is the safety net — run it on any content before publishing to catch compliance issues before they become problems.

When to Use

User wants to check content before publishing
User asks about FTC rules or affiliate disclosure requirements
User is unsure if their content is compliant
User says "is this legal?", "do I need a disclosure?", "check my post"
User is preparing content for a platform with strict ad policies (Facebook, Google)
Chaining: run after any S2-S5 or S7 content-producing skill before publishing
User wants to audit existing published content

Input Schema

content: string                # REQUIRED — the content to check (text, markdown, or HTML)

content_type: string           # REQUIRED — "social_post" | "blog" | "landing_page"
                               # | "email" | "ad" | "video_script"

platform: string               # OPTIONAL — "linkedin" | "twitter" | "reddit" | "facebook"
                               # | "tiktok" | "youtube" | "google_ads" | "pinterest"
                               # Platform-specific rules applied if provided

claims:                        # OPTIONAL — specific claims to verify
  - string                     # e.g., ["earn $10K/month", "guaranteed results"]

Chaining context: If content was produced by S2-S5 or S7 in the same conversation, pull it directly. The user should not have to paste content that was just generated.

Workflow

Step 1: Detect Affiliate Links

Scan content for:

URLs with affiliate parameters (ref=, aff=, partner=, UTM tags)
Shortened URLs (bit.ly, etc.) that may hide affiliate links
Product mentions that imply a commercial relationship

Step 2: Check FTC Disclosure

Read shared/references/ftc-compliance.md for rules. Check:

Presence: Is there a disclosure? (required if any affiliate link exists)
Placement: Is the disclosure before or near the affiliate link? (not buried at the bottom)
Clarity: Is it clear to a reasonable consumer? ("affiliate link" is clear; "partner" alone is not)
Format by content type:
- Social post: #ad or Affiliate link visible without expanding
- Blog: Disclosure in the opening paragraph, above the fold
- Landing page: Medium disclosure above the fold
- Email: Disclosure near the affiliate link
- Ad: Platform-specific requirements

Step 3: Check Prohibited Claims

Scan for:

Income claims: "earn $X", "make money fast", "passive income guaranteed"
False urgency: "only 3 left" (if not verifiable), "offer expires" (if no real deadline)
Health/medical claims: unsubstantiated health benefits
Guaranteed results: "guaranteed to work", "100% success rate"
Fake scarcity: "limited spots" (if not actually limited)
Fake testimonials: results that aren't typical without disclaimer

Step 4: Check Platform Rules

If platform is provided, apply platform-specific rules:

Reddit: Self-promotion rules (10:1 ratio), must disclose in post
Facebook/Instagram: Branded Content tool, "Paid Partnership" label for ads
Google Ads: Clear commercial intent, no misleading claims, landing page requirements
TikTok: #ad or Paid Partnership toggle, no medical/financial advice claims
YouTube: Verbal + written disclosure in first 30 seconds, "Includes paid promotion" checkbox

Step 5: Score and Report

Rate compliance on three levels:

PASS: No issues found
WARN: Minor issues that should be fixed (e.g., disclosure placement could be better)
FAIL: Critical issues that must be fixed before publishing (e.g., no disclosure at all)

Step 6: Generate Fixes

For each issue, provide:

What's wrong (specific quote from content)
Why it matters (rule reference)
How to fix it (specific replacement text)

Step 7: Self-Validation

Before presenting output, verify:

All affiliate links in the content are detected and flagged
Disclosure placement check matches platform-specific rules
Prohibited claims identified with exact quotes from content
Fix suggestions are copy-paste ready and preserve original tone
Corrected content would pass a re-scan by this same skill

If any check fails, fix the output before delivering. Do not flag the checklist to the user — just ensure the output passes.

Output Schema

output_schema_version: "1.0.0"  # Semver — bump major on breaking changes
compliance:
  overall_score: string        # "PASS" | "WARN" | "FAIL"
  disclosure_present: boolean
  disclosure_placement: string # "correct" | "needs_improvement" | "missing"
  prohibited_claims: number    # count of issues found
  platform_issues: number      # count of platform-specific issues

issues:
  - severity: string          # "critical" | "warning" | "info"
    category: string          # "disclosure" | "claims" | "platform" | "formatting"
    description: string       # what's wrong
    quote: string             # the problematic text
    fix: string               # suggested replacement

corrected_content: string      # full content with all fixes applied

Output Format

Compliance Scorecard — overall score, disclosure status, issue counts
Issues Found — table with severity, category, description, and fix
Corrected Content — the full content with all issues fixed (copy-paste ready)
Platform Notes — any platform-specific requirements not yet addressed

Error Handling

No content provided: "Paste the content you want me to check, or tell me which skill output to review. I'll check it for FTC compliance and platform rules."
Content has no affiliate links: "No affiliate links detected. FTC disclosure is only required for content with material connections (affiliate links, sponsored content, gifted products). Your content looks clean."
Unknown platform: "I don't have specific rules for [platform]. I'll check general FTC compliance. For platform-specific rules, check the platform's advertising policy page."

Examples

Example 1: Social post with missing disclosure

User: "Check this tweet: 'Just tried HeyGen and it's incredible for creating AI videos. Use my link to get 10% off: heygen.com/ref/abc123'" Action: FAIL — no FTC disclosure. Fix: Add #ad before or after the link. Output corrected tweet with disclosure.

Example 2: Blog post with buried disclosure

User: [Pastes a 1000-word blog review with disclosure only in the footer] Action: WARN — disclosure present but buried at bottom. Fix: Move disclosure to opening paragraph. Also check for income claims, link attributes (rel="nofollow sponsored").

Example 3: Facebook ad with income claim

User: "Check this ad: 'I made $5,000 last month with this one tool. You can too! Click here to start earning.'" Action: FAIL — (1) income claim without typicality disclaimer, (2) no FTC disclosure, (3) Facebook requires Paid Partnership label. Output fixes for all three issues.

References

shared/references/ftc-compliance.md — FTC affiliate disclosure requirements. Read in Step 2.
shared/references/affitor-branding.md — Branding guidelines. Referenced for page outputs.
shared/references/flywheel-connections.md — master flywheel connection map

Revenue & Action Plan

Expected Outcomes

Revenue protection: The FTC has fined affiliates $4.2M+ for undisclosed endorsements. A single violation can result in program termination (losing ALL commissions), platform bans, or legal action. Compliance isn't about making money — it's about not losing the money you've already earned
Benchmark: Amazon Associates terminates 10,000+ affiliate accounts per year for policy violations. One missing disclosure on one post can end your entire affiliate business overnight
Key metric to track: Compliance score across ALL your published content. Target: 100% PASS. Any FAIL = fix before publishing. Any WARN = fix within 48 hours

Do This Right Now (15 min)

Fix all FAIL issues immediately — do not publish until every critical issue is resolved
Fix WARN issues — update disclosure placement, fix any claim language
Copy the Corrected Content from the output and replace your original content
Audit your top 5 existing posts — run this skill on your most-trafficked affiliate content to ensure they're compliant

Track Your Results

Run this skill monthly on all new content before publishing. Keep a compliance log — if the same issue appears 3+ times, update your content creation workflow to prevent it at the source (e.g., add FTC disclosure to your post template).

Next step — copy-paste this prompt: "Plan my entire affiliate funnel from research to revenue" → runs funnel-planner

Flywheel Connections

Feeds Into

All content skills (S2-S5, S7) — compliance status acts as a pass/fail gate before publishing

Fed By

All content-producing skills — content to check for compliance
landing-page-creator (S4) — landing pages to audit for FTC compliance
email-drip-sequence (S5) — emails to check for disclosure

Feedback Loop

Compliance issues found repeatedly in specific content types → flag to the relevant skill for structural improvement

chain_metadata:
  skill_slug: "compliance-checker"
  stage: "meta"
  timestamp: string
  suggested_next:
    - "self-improver"
    - "funnel-planner"