Home› About › How We Comply With Contest Platform Rules

How We Comply With Contest Platform Rules

Contest marketing only works when it survives scrutiny. A single rules violation can void your entry, disqualify your prize, or ban the account you spent years building. We work inside the platform rulebooks because the alternative is short-term wins followed by long-term losses. Every project we accept passes through a written compliance check before we quote a price. This page documents the policies we read, the platforms we operate on, the tools we integrate with, and the specific situations where we decline work.

Major platform rules we follow

Meta (Facebook and Instagram)

Meta's Promotional Guidelines treat contests, sweepstakes, and giveaways as the responsibility of the organizer. We follow four core rules on every Meta campaign. First, we include the official release that acknowledges Meta is not a sponsor, administrator, or endorser of the promotion. Second, we never instruct users to tag people who are not in the photo, share to personal timelines as an entry mechanic, or use personal profiles to administer the contest. Third, we respect Meta's advertising policies on prohibited content. Fourth, we comply with the Branded Content tool requirements when creators receive payment to promote your contest.

TikTok

TikTok publishes both Community Guidelines and a separate Branded Content Policy. We treat both as binding. Our campaigns avoid prohibited content categories, follow the platform's integrity and authenticity rules, and use the Branded Content toggle on every paid creator post. We do not run engagement schemes that violate TikTok's spam and deceptive behavior policies — coordinated mass voting, fake account networks, or automated interaction.

YouTube

YouTube's contest policy requires organizers to comply with all applicable laws, post official rules, and avoid asking entrants to do anything that violates the Community Guidelines. We do not run sub4sub schemes, view inflation, or comment farming. We disclose paid promotion using YouTube's built-in tools. We honor restrictions on contests that require Community Guidelines violations as entry conditions.

X (Twitter)

X's promotion guidelines focus on discouraging behavior that creates a poor user experience. We do not run campaigns that require users to post the same content repeatedly, create multiple accounts, or follow-and-unfollow patterns. We use a single hashtag per campaign, encourage original creative responses, and follow X's ad policies on prohibited content.

Contest platform tools we work with

Woobox

Woobox requires organizers to follow the underlying social platform rules plus its own acceptable use policy. We confirm the contest type matches Woobox's supported mechanics, that prize disclosure meets U.S. and EU requirements, and that data collection is covered by privacy policy.

Gleam.io

Gleam.io supports entry actions across multiple platforms. We audit each enabled action against the corresponding platform's terms, disable conflicts, and verify random-draw or judged-selection methods are clearly stated.

Easypromos

We use compliance-certified templates when available, customize rules text to match the client's jurisdiction, and confirm fraud detection settings (IP filters, email verification, social validation) are enabled before launch.

Rafflecopter

We check that the contest is allowed for the platforms involved, that prize fulfillment is documented, and that international entry restrictions are honored when the client cannot ship globally.

Our compliance checklist before taking a project

  • Read the full contest rules document — end to end, not the summary
  • Verify third-party promotion is permitted
  • Confirm prize value disclosure compliance (U.S., U.K., EU)
  • Check geographic restrictions
  • Verify entry mechanic legality in target countries
  • Disclose agency relationship per FTC and ASA endorsement guidelines

What we don't do

We do not deploy bots, fake accounts, or automated voting scripts. We do not buy votes, followers, or engagement. Full policy: /about/no-bots-policy/ and /about/why-not-vote-buying/.

When we refuse projects

  • The contest rules prohibit third-party promotion or paid marketing
  • The client asks for fake accounts, vote-buying, or coordinated inauthentic behavior
  • Prize/claims/audience violate platform advertising policies (health products, get-rich schemes, restricted political content)
  • The contest is a disguised lottery without required licenses
  • Required disclosures the client refuses to make
  • Timeline too short to deliver real reach honestly within budget

When we refuse, we explain why in writing and suggest alternatives where possible.

Frequently asked questions

Is paid marketing for contests against the rules?

Almost never. Paid marketing, advertising, and agency services are permitted by every major contest platform and underlying social network. What is prohibited is vote manipulation, fake engagement, and undisclosed incentives. We sell honest promotion to real audiences.

Can I get disqualified for using a marketing agency?

Disqualification requires a rules violation, not the use of an agency. We document our work, follow contest rules, and disclose our agency relationship where endorsement guidelines require it. In 7 years, no client of ours has been disqualified for hiring us as a marketing agency.

How do you check the contest's rules?

We request the full rules document at the proposal stage. We read it end to end, note the prize value, eligible regions, entry mechanic, prohibited conduct, and third-party clauses. If unclear, we email the contest administrator directly.

What if the contest rules change mid-campaign?

We monitor the contest page and platform announcements throughout the campaign. If a relevant change appears, we pause spending within the same business day, review the new terms, and either resume in compliance or refund the unused portion.

What contest types will you refuse?

Contests requiring vote manipulation, contests with prizes/claims violating ad policy, unlicensed lotteries in regulated regions, contests requiring undisclosed paid endorsements. Also any project where the timeline cannot be served honestly within budget.

Ready to check if your contest fits?

Send us the contest URL and we will tell you within 1-2 business hours whether we can help, what it would take, and any rules issues we spot. Request a free analysis.

Tvoya Kartina LLC — independent contest marketing studio, operating since 2018. Remote-first team serving clients worldwide. This page describes our compliance practices and is for informational purposes; it is not legal advice. Contest organizers remain responsible for the legality of their own promotions.

Free for new clients

Get a free contest analysis in 1–2 hours

Send us your contest URL and a one-sentence goal. We reply with which channels make sense, projected reach, and an honest yes/no recommendation.

Get my free analysis →

Faster on Telegram or WhatsApp.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What does votepromotion.store actually do to help clients win contests?
We run legitimate promotional campaigns on your behalf: paid social ads, organic content, email outreach, and influencer partnerships — all designed to drive real people to discover your contest entry and vote if they choose. We never cast votes ourselves, never use bots or fake accounts, and never access contest platforms on your behalf. Every vote your entry receives comes from a genuine human who found you through our marketing.
Do you sell votes?
No. Selling votes means delivering artificial or purchased votes directly to a contest platform — that is something we will never do. Our service is promotional marketing: we help real audiences find and notice your entry. Whether they vote is entirely their decision. Any agency that claims to sell guaranteed votes is almost certainly violating platform terms and could get your entry disqualified or permanently banned.
Will you log into my contest account or vote on my behalf?
Never. We do not request, accept, or use your contest-platform credentials under any circumstances. Logging into your account or casting votes for you would violate virtually every contest platform's terms of service and could constitute unauthorized account access under computer-fraud statutes. Our work happens entirely in the advertising and content layer — outside the contest platform itself.
Can you guarantee I will win?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. Guaranteeing a win would be a deceptive trade practice under FTC guidelines because too many variables sit outside any marketer's control: the judging criteria, how other entrants perform, platform rule changes mid-contest, and the sheer unpredictability of audience behavior. We guarantee effort, transparency, and compliance. We cannot guarantee an outcome.
How do contest rules typically restrict promotional activity?
Most contest rules prohibit automated voting, proxy voting, voting-incentive schemes, and any tactic that artificially inflates vote counts. Many also require that entrants not encourage vote-buying or compensated voting. Before we touch any campaign, we read the official rules and flag every restriction that could affect our strategy. You can find our full approach at Reading the Rules.
What does "disqualification" usually mean in a contest context, and what triggers it?
Disqualification means the organizer removes your entry — sometimes permanently — for rule violations. Common triggers include suspected bot activity, coordinated inauthentic voting rings, incentivized voting (paying or gifting people to vote), vote-count anomalies that pattern-match to fraud, and violating the platform's advertising policies. Our blog post What Gets You Banned covers the most frequent causes in detail.
What platform advertising policies do you follow when running paid ads for a contest entry?
We follow each platform's current advertising policy — Meta, Google, TikTok, X (Twitter), and others all have specific rules about contest and sweepstakes promotions. We do not run ads that make misleading claims, promise voting compensation, or circumvent platform review systems. We also comply with required disclosures for sponsored content. Our compliance page at votepromotion.store/compliance/ summarizes our standing commitments.
Do your paid-ad campaigns comply with FTC contest rules and endorsement guidelines?
Yes. The FTC requires that material connections between a promoter and a compensated advocate be clearly disclosed, and that all advertising claims be truthful. Our ad creative never makes false superiority claims, we disclose when content is sponsored, and we do not coach influencers or creators to hide a paid relationship. FTC guidance on contests and promotions is a baseline we treat as a floor, not a ceiling.
How much does voting cost through your service?
We do not sell votes, so there is no per-vote price. What clients pay for is a promotional campaign — ad spend, content creation, and outreach — priced by scope, duration, and platform mix. Campaign budgets vary widely depending on contest size and how competitive the field is. We provide a transparent scope-of-work proposal before any work begins, with no hidden fees tied to vote counts.
Can you incentivize people to vote by offering them a gift or discount?
No, and we will specifically advise against it. Incentivized voting — offering anything of value in exchange for a vote — violates almost every contest platform's rules and can qualify as a deceptive practice under FTC guidelines. If a client asks us to structure a vote-incentive scheme, we decline and explain why. We only encourage organic, uncompensated audience engagement.
What happens if the contest organizer changes the rules mid-campaign?
We monitor rule updates throughout a campaign. If an organizer restricts activity that was previously permitted, we pause the affected tactics immediately and consult with the client before resuming. Contest rules are the organizer's prerogative to change at any time, and complying with their current version — not the version we started with — is the only safe approach.
Do you work with influencers, and how do you ensure they comply with disclosure rules?
Yes, influencer outreach is part of some campaigns. We require all partner creators to disclose any material connection to a promotion in line with FTC guidelines — a clear label like "Paid partnership" or "Ad" placed where audiences will see it before engaging. We do not coach creators to bury, obscure, or omit disclosures. Non-compliant posts are pulled from our campaign reporting.
What kinds of contest tactics will you refuse to run even if a client requests them?
We refuse: selling or delivering votes, using bots or scripts to interact with contest platforms, creating fake or duplicate accounts, logging into client contest accounts, vote-incentive schemes, coordinated inauthentic behavior across accounts, and any tactic a reasonable reading of the contest rules or platform advertising policy would prohibit. These are non-negotiable regardless of budget or timeline pressure.
Can running legitimate ads actually move the needle in a public-vote contest?
Yes — that is the core premise of our service. A well-targeted ad campaign can expose your entry to thousands of people who genuinely align with your content or cause, and a meaningful share of them will vote organically. We cannot predict exact vote counts, but audience reach, engagement rate, and click-through to the contest page are all measurable, reportable outcomes that correlate with real voting behavior.
What does your compliance review look like before a campaign launches?
Before we touch ad accounts or publish any content, we review the official contest rules, the platform advertising policy for every channel we plan to use, and any applicable FTC or regional consumer-protection considerations. We document which tactics are in-bounds, flag anything ambiguous, and share a brief compliance summary with the client. If we cannot run a compliant campaign for a particular contest, we say so upfront.
Are there contests or contest platforms you will not work with at all?
Yes. We decline engagements where the contest rules explicitly prohibit all third-party promotional activity, where the contest itself appears to be fraudulent or deceptive, or where compliance with platform advertising policies is structurally impossible given the entrant's category (some platforms bar political or regulated-industry contest ads, for example). A contest we cannot market cleanly is one we will not take on.
What is the difference between a contest and a sweepstakes, and does it change your approach?
Contests award prizes based on skill or merit (including public votes); sweepstakes award prizes by random chance with no purchase necessary. The legal frameworks differ — sweepstakes carry strict no-purchase-necessary requirements in many jurisdictions — and both have distinct FTC and state-law disclosure obligations. We assess the structure of each promotion before advising on what marketing tactics are legally appropriate.
If my entry gets disqualified, is that your fault?
It depends on cause. If a disqualification results from our ad creative violating platform advertising policy, we take responsibility, investigate, and make it right. If it results from something outside our campaign — a client action on the platform, a rule we were not shown, or an organizer judgment call — we document what happened and provide everything needed for a dispute if the client wishes to pursue one. We cannot accept liability for organizer decisions made on grounds unrelated to our work.
How do you handle data about the people who click on contest promotion ads?
Ad-platform pixel and audience data is handled in accordance with each platform's data-use policies and applicable privacy law (GDPR, CCPA, and equivalents). We do not scrape or harvest personal data from contest platforms, do not build contact lists from contest participants without consent, and do not sell or share client-audience data with third parties. Our data practices are summarized in our privacy policy.
Can you help me understand what my contest's official rules actually say about promotion?
Yes — reading and interpreting contest rules for marketing implications is a standard part of our onboarding process. We will flag clauses that restrict advertising, prohibit vote solicitation in specific channels, or require pre-approval for third-party promotional materials. We are not lawyers and cannot give legal advice, but we can identify provisions that should send you to counsel before a campaign begins. See Reading the Rules for our methodology.
Do you create fake social-media accounts to boost engagement around a contest entry?
No, never. Creating fake or duplicate accounts violates the terms of service of every major social platform, constitutes coordinated inauthentic behavior, and in some jurisdictions may cross into consumer-fraud territory. All accounts involved in our campaigns are real, operated by real people. We also do not buy followers, likes, or shares as a proxy for engagement.
What consumer-protection laws are most relevant to contest marketing?
In the United States, the FTC Act's prohibition on unfair or deceptive practices is the primary federal framework. State-level lottery and sweepstakes statutes add additional layers, particularly around no-purchase-necessary requirements and prize-value disclosures. The EU has the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive; the UK has the CAP Code. We flag jurisdiction-specific requirements when clients have entrants or audiences in regulated markets.
How do platform advertising policies differ from a contest's own rules?
Contest rules are set by the organizer and govern what entrants may do on the contest platform. Platform advertising policies (Meta, Google, TikTok, etc.) govern what anyone may do when buying ads on those platforms — completely separately. A tactic can be permitted by the contest rules but banned by an ad platform, or vice versa. We navigate both layers simultaneously; violating either can harm the campaign or the client's ad account.
Will you help clients report or flag competitors who are cheating in a contest?
We can document publicly visible evidence — unusual vote-count spikes, pattern anomalies, or ad creative that appears to violate the contest rules — and help a client compile it for submission to the organizer. We will not conduct surveillance, access private platform data, or make accusations we cannot substantiate. Whether an organizer acts on a report is entirely their decision.
Do you offer any service that involves paying people to vote?
No, categorically. Paying people to vote is a form of vote-incentivization that violates virtually every contest platform's rules and can constitute a deceptive trade practice under consumer-protection law. It also degrades the integrity of the contest itself. This is a line we will not cross for any client or at any budget level.
What disclosures do your ads include to stay compliant with FTC and platform requirements?
Every sponsored piece of content we produce carries a clear, conspicuous disclosure of its commercial nature — "Sponsored," "Paid ad," or the platform-native equivalent — placed before the audience engages with the substantive message. We do not use disclosures that are buried in hashtag clusters, placed below a fold, or written in language designed to obscure the relationship. Disclosure practice is documented in our campaign records.
Can you target specific demographics to maximize votes from the most likely supporters?
Yes, within what each platform permits. Demographic and interest-based targeting is a standard, legitimate advertising tool. We use it to reach audiences who are genuinely likely to care about your entry — not to manipulate the contest mechanic. We do not target based on characteristics that platform policies prohibit (such as sensitive personal attributes), and we do not attempt to suppress other entrants' audiences.
What should I do if a contest organizer contacts me about my promotion campaign?
Tell us immediately and share any communication you receive verbatim. We will review our campaign records, confirm that all activity was compliant with the rules and platform policies in place at the time, and help you prepare a factual, documented response. If the organizer raises a concern we cannot refute, we will say so honestly. Transparency with organizers is in everyone's interest.
How do you stay current on changes to platform advertising policies?
We subscribe to official policy-update communications from each major ad platform, monitor their help-center change logs, and conduct an internal policy review at the start of every new client engagement. When a platform announces a relevant change mid-campaign, we assess impact and adjust tactics before the effective date. No policy-monitoring system is perfect, but proactive review is the best available safeguard.
Where can I read your full compliance commitments in one place?
Our standing commitments — what we will and will not do, how we handle platform policies, our FTC disclosure practices, and our data-use approach — are consolidated at votepromotion.store/compliance/. That page is updated whenever our practices or the relevant rules change. If you have a compliance question not answered there, contact us directly and we will respond in writing.