Guide to AI-content labels on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and more — what each label means and where it falls short.
Guide to AI-content labels on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and more — what each label means and where it falls short. Free with no sign-up, and the analysis runs inside your browser — files never leave your device. On our public gate (30 real + 52 AI images) it measured 96.3% at original quality and 91.5% on recompressed copies, with zero real photos confidently mislabelled as AI. Treat it as an indicator, not proof: the newest commercial generators evade every detector.
Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have started labeling AI content — but the labels mean less than people think, and "no label = real" is never true. Here is how each platform labels, where to look, and how far to trust it.
Instagram/Threads (Meta): the "AI info" label — applied via creator disclosure plus metadata (C2PA-style) auto-detection, shown near the account name or in the post menu. If an editing app strips the metadata, detection misses it. TikTok: the "AI-generated" label — disclosure plus own detection; automatic for TikTok's in-app AI effects, but externally made videos rely on disclosure. YouTube: the "altered or synthetic content" notice — disclosure is mandatory for realistic synthetic media, shown in the description (or on-screen for sensitive topics).
Shared limits: much of the system relies on self-disclosure — deceivers simply do not disclose; auto-detection is metadata-based, so screenshots and re-encodes evade it; and a label does not always mean deepfake — beauty filters can qualify too. Read labels as "useful when present, meaningless when absent". When in doubt, save the file and run it through this site's pixel and provenance checks yourself.
No. The system depends on self-disclosure and metadata detection, both easy to evade. A missing label is "no information", not "verified real".
For realistic AI content, turning on the platform's disclosure setting (e.g. YouTube's altered-content disclosure) is both the rule and basic respect for viewers. Getting caught without it can mean account penalties.