compliance-checker

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

1. Compliance Scorecard — overall score, disclosure status, issue counts
2. Issues Found — table with severity, category, description, and fix
3. Corrected Content — the full content with all issues fixed (copy-paste ready)
4. 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)

1. Fix all FAIL issues immediately — do not publish until every critical issue is resolved
2. Fix WARN issues — update disclosure placement, fix any claim language
3. Copy the Corrected Content from the output and replace your original content
4. 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"