Incentivized and Sponsored Reviews on Trustpilot: What's Allowed When an Influencer Reviews a Product Publicly

Short answer: Trustpilot bans it outright, even if you disclose it

Trustpilot does not allow incentivized reviews at all. If a reviewer receives a discount, a free product, a prize-draw entry or any other benefit connected to writing a review, that person is, under Trustpilot's own guidelines for reviewers, not eligible to write it — whether or not the benefit is disclosed. That is stricter than the Danish disclosure duty for sponsored content on social media, where a clear label such as "ad for [brand]" is enough to make a paid or gifted post lawful. An influencer who was paid or given a product for free to review it cannot simply mark a Trustpilot review as an ad and consider it compliant — the review is not allowed on the platform at all, regardless of labelling.

This is practical guidance from Make Influence, not legal advice. Have the specific setup checked by a lawyer if there's any doubt.

What does Trustpilot's own policy actually say?

Trustpilot's own guidelines (fetched directly from corporate.trustpilot.com, checked 27 August 2026) are unambiguous. The guidelines for businesses state: "We don't allow incentivized reviews on Trustpilot. There should be no strings attached to your invitations." The guidelines for reviewers go a step further and frame it as a question of eligibility to write the review at all: "You're not eligible to write a review if you've received or been offered an incentive in connection with writing or editing a review."

Both sides of the platform define a "benefit" broadly and identically: "discounts, promo codes, prize draw entries, refunds, freebies, or any other benefit connected with the business for leaving a review." Businesses are also barred from suggesting a reviewer should only leave a positive review — Trustpilot's own example of the prohibited language is "If you like us, please leave us a 5-star review."

The point that matters most for an influencer or a brand working with one: Trustpilot does not distinguish between a conditional incentive (paid only if the review is positive) and an unconditional one (paid regardless of what the review says). Both are banned. That is stricter than the distinction drawn in, for example, US FTC practice, where an unconditional reward ("leave honest feedback and we'll credit your account either way") is generally treated as more defensible than a conditional one ("leave us a 5-star review for $10 credit"). Trustpilot's own guidelines make no such distinction — any benefit connected to the review disqualifies the reviewer, full stop.

How Trustpilot's rule differs from the Danish disclosure duty

This is where the real confusion happens. The basic Danish disclosure duty for influencer content (Markedsføringsloven § 6(4)) and the one covering "organic" reviews that are actually advertising are both satisfied by correct labelling: if an influencer receives a benefit and posts about a product on, say, Instagram or TikTok, marking it clearly as an ad makes it lawful. Trustpilot's own rule works completely differently — there is no label that makes an incentivized review permitted on the platform. The two rulebooks solve two different problems and cannot substitute for one another.

The two rulebooks apply at the same time and independently of each other. A review that breaks Trustpilot's rule can still be perfectly disclosed under Danish law — and conversely, a review that would never draw Forbrugerombudsmanden's attention (because it genuinely reflects the reviewer's experience) can still be removed by Trustpilot if a benefit sat behind it.

What happens if the rule is broken?

Trustpilot's own enforcement page ("Action We Take", checked 27 August 2026) describes a graduated response. For reviews collected through prohibited incentives, Trustpilot removes the reviews and takes action against the business, not just the individual review. For businesses that repeatedly breach the guidelines, Trustpilot escalates from an educational email, to a formal warning, to a visible Consumer Warning on the business's profile page (which hides the TrustScore from view), to restricted account access, and ultimately to contract termination and, where relevant, legal action. For an individual reviewer who breaks the rule, Trustpilot takes the review offline and contacts the reviewer, with an appeal process available.

Decision framework: can an influencer post a Trustpilot review of a product they collaborated with the brand on?

IF the influencer received the product for free, was paid, or received any other benefit specifically connected to writing a review → no, the review is not permitted on Trustpilot under the platform's own rules, regardless of labelling.

IF the influencer bought the product at full price and writes a review with no agreement with the brand about it → yes, it's an ordinary review, and neither Trustpilot's rule nor the Danish disclosure duty is relevant.

IF the influencer already has a paid social media collaboration with the brand (and it's correctly disclosed there) → that changes nothing about the Trustpilot question. The two platforms and the two rulebooks are assessed separately.

IF a brand wants more genuine Trustpilot reviews from customers an influencer campaign reached → invite those customers to review, unprompted and with no incentive, in line with Trustpilot's own guidelines for businesses — but never ask the influencer who ran the campaign to review the product themselves.

Illustrative example

The scenario below is a made-up example for illustration — not a real Make Influence customer case.

A skincare brand sends a free product to an influencer in exchange for an Instagram post. The influencer correctly marks the post "ad for [brand]" — that satisfies the Danish disclosure duty. Afterwards, the brand suggests the influencer also leave a review on the brand's Trustpilot profile, "to help with credibility." Even if the influencer honestly states in the review that the product was free, it makes no difference to Trustpilot's rule: the influencer received a benefit (the free product) connected to the review and is therefore not eligible to write it, disclosure or not. If Trustpilot detects the connection, the review is removed and the business risks the enforcement ladder described above — even though the original Instagram post was 100% correctly labelled.

The most common mistakes

• Assuming disclosure ("I got the product for free") makes a Trustpilot review compliant. It doesn't — Trustpilot's rule is about eligibility to write the review, not labelling.
• Asking an influencer who already received payment or a free product for the campaign to also leave a Trustpilot review. The benefit from the original collaboration attaches to the review even if nothing is paid specifically for the review itself.
• Confusing Trustpilot's rule with the Danish disclosure duty and assuming the two problems are solved the same way. They are two separate rulebooks, enforced by two different parties.
• Assuming an "unconditional" incentive (paid regardless of what the review says) is fine because it doesn't directly buy a positive review. Trustpilot draws no such distinction — any benefit connected to the review is prohibited.
• Overlooking that it's the business, not just the reviewer, that gets hit by enforcement. Trustpilot's escalation ladder targets the business's account and its visible TrustScore.

Make Influence's perspective

We recommend brands never ask an influencer who has received payment or a free product for a campaign to also leave a Trustpilot review of the same product — no matter how honestly the influencer would write it. The risk doesn't sit only with the influencer; it lands on the business's own Trustpilot account and its visible TrustScore if the connection is discovered. If a brand wants more genuine reviews, the right route is to invite the actual customers an influencer campaign generated — unprompted and with no benefit attached to the review itself — not to ask the sender of the campaign's own content to also act as an independent reviewer afterwards.

FAQ

Can an influencer review a product on Trustpilot at all?

Yes, if they bought or used the product with no benefit attached specifically to writing the review. The problem only arises once there's a benefit — payment, a free product, a discount or similar — connected to the review itself.

Is it enough to state in the review that the product was free or gifted?

No. Trustpilot's rule is about whether the reviewer is eligible to write the review at all, not whether the review is honestly labelled. A disclosed, incentivized review is still banned under Trustpilot's own guidelines.

Is this the same rule as the Danish disclosure duty for sponsored content?

No, they're two separate rulebooks that apply at the same time. See influencer marketing disclosure rules in Denmark and the EU for the Danish duty, which is satisfied by correct labelling — unlike Trustpilot's rule, which cannot be satisfied by labelling.

Is this the same issue as an "organic" review that's actually hidden advertising?

Related, but not identical. That article covers Danish law's requirement to label any review with a commercial benefit behind it, regardless of platform. This article covers Trustpilot's own, private platform rules specifically, which are stricter: there is no label that makes an incentivized review permitted on Trustpilot.

What happens if Trustpilot detects an incentivized review?

The review is removed, and the business — not just the reviewer — faces an escalating response: from an educational email, to a formal warning, to a visible Consumer Warning with the TrustScore hidden, to restricted account access, and ultimately contract termination or legal action.

Does the rule apply only to the business, or also to an influencer reviewing on their own initiative?

Both. Trustpilot's guidelines for businesses ban offering incentives for reviews, while the guidelines for reviewers independently make any reviewer who received a benefit ineligible to write the review — regardless of who initiated it.

Can a brand use an influencer campaign to legitimately generate more Trustpilot reviews?

Yes, by inviting the actual customers the campaign reached to review, unprompted and with no benefit attached to the review — not by asking the influencer to review the product they were already paid to promote. See a brand safety checklist for influencer partnerships for what else belongs in the ongoing follow-up on a collaboration.

Is a discount code or tracking link an influencer uses the same as a "benefit" under Trustpilot's rule?

Only if the benefit is tied to the act of reviewing itself. Commission on tracked sales via an affiliate link is a commercial benefit under Danish disclosure law in its own right (see discount codes vs tracking links), but it's specifically a benefit for reviewing that triggers Trustpilot's rule.

Who is responsible if it's the brand's agency that asks the influencer to post a Trustpilot review?

Responsibility follows the commercial relationship, not who physically made the request. See ghost-posted influencer content: who's actually responsible for disclosure for the equivalent principle applied to social media.

Does a similar rule apply to a review posted on Google?

Yes. Google's own review policies ban incentivized reviews under its "Fake engagement" rule the same way Trustpilot does, though enforcement differs — Google works with temporary profile restrictions and unpublished reviews rather than Trustpilot's account-based warning ladder. See incentivized and paid reviews on Google: what's allowed, and how it differs from Trustpilot for the full comparison.