Article 50 Guide for Agencies

AI-generated images on social media: what EU brands have to label

Last reviewed 21 October 2026

Short answer. Under Article 50(4) a brand that posts a realistic AI image or video that could pass as real (a deep fake in the Act's sense) has to say it is AI-made, clearly and at the first exposure. Stylised, obviously artificial graphics don't trigger that duty. Platform labels such as Meta's "AI info" or YouTube's altered-content setting are the platforms' own rules. They can help, but they are not the brand's Article 50 disclosure and they don't always show.

Which posts need a label under the AI Act

Article 50(4) applies to deployers, meaning anyone using an AI system in their own business, so a brand posting its own content counts. The duty covers image, audio or video that is a deep fake: AI-generated or manipulated content that resembles existing persons, objects, places, entities or events and would falsely appear to a person to be authentic or truthful (Article 3(60)). The deep fake guide works through that definition in detail.

For a brand's social feed, that splits roughly like this:

Post Article 50(4) label? Why
Photorealistic AI image of your product in a setting it was never in Likely yes Resembles a real object and would pass as a real photo
AI "customer" or model who looks like a real person Likely yes Resembles a person and would pass as authentic
AI video of a real location, such as your shop front at night Likely yes Resembles a real place
Flat illustration, cartoon or 3D-render style graphic Usually no Nobody would take it for real
Real photo with AI used only to remove a stray cable or adjust light Usually no The content is not generated or substantially changed
Clearly fantastical ad (a sneaker walking on the moon) Reduced duty See the creative exception below

The last row matters for ad creative. Where the content is part of an evidently artistic, creative, satirical, fictional or analogous work, Article 50(4) limits the duty to disclosing that AI-generated content exists, in a way that does not get in the way of showing or enjoying the work. A small credit line is enough there. A campaign that looks like a real product photo is not "evidently" creative just because an agency made it.

When and how the label has to appear

Article 50(5) says the information has to be clear and distinguishable and given at the latest at the time of the first interaction or exposure, and it has to meet accessibility requirements. For social posts that means:

Plain wording works: "AI-generated image", "Made with AI", or "This scene was created with AI." Avoid wording that hides it, such as "digitally enhanced", for a fully generated scene.

The platforms' own AI labels

Each big platform has its own labelling rules. They are separate from the AI Act and are set by the platforms' terms, not by EU law.

Use these settings, because breaking a platform's rules can cost you reach or the post. But don't rely on them for Article 50: they may sit in a menu, they depend on metadata that editing can strip, and the duty in 50(4) is yours as the deployer, not the platform's.

Metadata: don't strip it

The machine-readable marking duty in Article 50(2) falls on the provider of the generation tool, not on the brand (see the marking guide). But your workflow decides whether that marking survives. Screenshotting an image, re-exporting it from some editors, or running it through a compressor can remove Content Credentials, which then also stops Meta and TikTok from auto-labelling it. Export from the generation tool or from an editor that keeps provenance data, and spot-check a final file with a Content Credentials inspector before you schedule a campaign.

Other EU rules still apply

The AI Act sits next to consumer law. Under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC), a commercial practice is misleading if it deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer about things like the main characteristics of a product. An AI image that makes a product look bigger, better made or different from what ships can be misleading whether or not it carries an AI label. The label tells people how the image was made. It does not make an inaccurate picture of the product acceptable.

A pre-posting check for social teams

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