Alcohol Content Rules on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube

All four platforms let you post about alcohol, but they treat it as a regulated product. The line that matters most is between showing a drink and selling or promoting one. Showing a drink is usually allowed, sometimes with an age limit. Selling or advertising it is what gets videos removed. Each platform makes only narrow exceptions for some businesses.

This guide covers organic and branded posts by brands, bars and creators. It is general information, not legal advice.

TikTok

Removed. TikTok's Regulated Goods and Services rules don't allow "Trading, marketing, or providing access to" regulated goods, and alcohol is on the list. TikTok's definition of trade includes "posting links, sharing contact or location information, or directing people off-platform." Showing or promoting young people using alcohol is also not allowed. For "certain products like alcohol," TikTok says it allows "some content, but may apply restrictions."

The exception. "In some regions," verified business accounts and TikTok Shop sellers that meet TikTok's eligibility standards can sell, market or provide access to alcohol. TikTok also says its treatment "may be different" in some regions and on LIVE. The page doesn't name the regions.

Age-restricted and kept off For You. "In some regions, showing adults having or consuming alcohol" sits in TikTok's "FYF INELIGIBLE & AGE-RESTRICTED" tier. Again, the page gives no list of regions.

Not stated. TikTok doesn't explain where a drink in frame ends and "marketing" begins. A brand that wants to market alcohol needs verified business account authorization, and that exception only applies in some regions.

Instagram and Facebook

Meta applies one Restricted Goods and Services policy to both.

• Removed: attempts to buy, sell or trade alcohol, with two exceptions. The first is a post from a Page, Group or Instagram profile representing "legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, websites or brands," or from a private individual posting on their behalf. The second is a post about alcohol at a venue "where alcohol will be exchanged or consumed on location at an event, restaurant, bar, or party." Only those businesses, or people posting for them, can donate or gift alcohol. Someone selling alcohol for themselves doesn't fit the business exception. Asking for alcohol isn't allowed either.
• 18+ only: business posts selling or gifting alcohol, "content depicting the consumption of alcohol products or beverages or sharing recipes for alcoholic beverages," and content "referring to alcohol products or offering an invitation to an alcohol venue where alcohol will be exchanged or consumed." That covers a bar's "come drink with us" video.

Teens are handled separately. Meta's age-appropriate content page lists two kinds of alcohol content it hides from teens: images with recipes for alcoholic drinks, and posts from legitimate brick-and-mortar businesses offering to sell alcohol. Teens are in the 13+ content setting by default. Meta says that setting limits teens' interactions with profiles and Pages that "primarily share content that's not age-appropriate."

Not stated. Meta's alcohol policy sets an 18+ limit and doesn't mention local drinking ages. It also doesn't say what the limit does to reach among adults.

YouTube

• Removed: content that "aims to directly sell, link to, or facilitate access to" alcohol, including "links, email, phone number or other means to contact a provider directly." The policy applies to descriptions, comments and live streams, and to "verbally directing users to other sites in video." "Showing minors drinking alcohol" is listed as not allowed.
• Showing a drink: the policy's age-restriction examples include promoting a cannabis dispensary but not alcohol. YouTube's age-restriction page doesn't name alcohol either. It does list "regulated substances and drugs" among the themes it considers, and it says its examples aren't a complete list. YouTube doesn't publish a rule that showing or reviewing alcohol gets a video age-restricted.
• Ads: under the advertiser-friendly guidelines, "Presence of alcohol or adults drinking alcohol in content without promoting or glorifying irresponsible drinking" can earn ad revenue. Educational, documentary or dramatized content featuring minors drinking gets limited ads. "Portrayal of minors consuming alcohol, even if it's not the central subject of the video" and "Promoting alcohol consumption to minors" get none. Content made to look suitable for kids that includes drugs and alcohol can get limited or no ads.

Captions and hashtags

None of the policies above lists banned alcohol hashtags. The text still counts. YouTube's rules cover descriptions and comments, and TikTok's definition of trade covers links and contact details.

Sponsored alcohol posts

Alcohol is a restricted category for branded content, and the limits differ by platform and country.

• TikTok: the Branded Content Policy allows it only "if you have been invited by an approved brand" that has TikTok's permission and works through TikTok One. The category includes "alcohol-free or no-alcohol alternatives, soft drinks presented as mixers for alcohol, drinking accessories or games." Posts are shown only in the market where they were posted, and they're age-restricted:
  • 18+ in places like the UK, Germany and Australia
  • 21+ in the US, Canada and Japan
  • 25+ in Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Ukraine

  Many markets don't allow it at all, including France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway.

• Instagram and Facebook: Meta's branded content policy requires the branded content tool. It says alcohol branded content "must be age-gated to 18 years or older in all permitted countries," with exceptions such as 21+ in the US, 20+ in Japan, 19+ in Canada and 25+ in Sweden. It's prohibited in a list of countries that includes India, Norway, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
• YouTube: Branded Content Policies list alcohol as restricted. You're responsible for confirming partners are "certified by Google as necessary" and for complying with legal requirements, "including using age and country restrictions." YouTube may age-restrict branded content when the product is "not suitable for all ages."

If you reach several countries, plan around the strictest limit.

Rules outside the platforms

FTC (US). If a brand paid you or sent free product, disclose it. The FTC says "the disclosure should be in the video and not just in the description uploaded with the video." It also says not to assume "a platform's disclosure tool is good enough."

TTB (US). The federal alcohol regulator's October 2024 circular says its advertising rules apply on social media.

• Posts by the company: anything a producer, importer or wholesaler posts to its own or a third-party page counts as advertising. That includes content it reposts or "likes."
• Influencer posts: these can count too. TTB looks at whether the company caused them to be published or paid the creator. The company has to make sure those posts carry the mandatory statements, and a clearly marked link to a page with them can do that.
• Mandatory statements: these include the responsible advertiser's name and address. A video that isn't tied to a profile carrying that information needs the statements inside the video. When there's a profile and individual videos, TTB says the statements should appear on both.
• Health claims: health-related statements that are untrue or misleading aren't allowed for wine, spirits or beer (27 CFR 4.64, 5.235, 7.235).

These federal rules cover producers, importers and wholesalers. They don't apply to a retailer unless it is also in one of those businesses (27 CFR 4.60, 5.231, 7.231). For beer, they apply only to the extent that state law has similar requirements. State and local alcohol advertising rules are outside this guide, so bars and shops should check their own.

UK. The ASA's CAP Code, section 18 covers marketing that features or refers to alcoholic drinks. It says people shown drinking or playing a significant role "must neither be nor seem to be under 25." It also says marketing "must not make any health, fitness or weight-control claims." Alcohol marketing must not be aimed at under-18s, and no medium should carry alcohol ads if more than 25% of its audience is under 18.

Before you post

• [ ] No prices, order links, phone numbers, delivery offers or "DM to buy" in the video, caption, comments or description. The exceptions are a business Meta allows to sell (with an 18+ limit) and a verified TikTok business in a region where that's allowed. YouTube has no such exception.
• [ ] Anyone drinking on camera is clearly an adult. For UK marketing, they also shouldn't look under 25.
• [ ] You accept the age limits: 18+ on Meta, and on TikTok in some regions. If you want teens to see the video, leave out drinking, recipes and venue invitations.
• [ ] If the post is sponsored or gifted, use the platform's paid-partnership tool and put the disclosure in the video itself. Confirm the brand has met the platform's requirements.
• [ ] Age and country settings match the strictest market you reach.
• [ ] No health, fitness or "good for you" claims about drinking.
• [ ] US producer, importer or wholesaler? Put the required advertiser information on the profile, or behind a clearly marked link. Put it in the video too if the video isn't tied to that profile.

FYProof checks your video, caption and hashtags against each platform's rules before you post. It flags things like on-screen prices, order links and drinking scenes. Its results are estimates, not guarantees.