Instagram Giveaway Rules and Guidelines

Instagram's promotion guidelines are short. Two lines you must include, one thing you mustn't do, and a paragraph saying everything else is your responsibility.

That's the catch. Because Instagram asks for so little, almost everything that makes a giveaway fair and legal comes from the rules you write yourself. This post covers three things: what Instagram requires, what your official rules should say, and a template you can copy.

These come from Instagram's Promotion Guidelines, as they read in October 2026.

Every promotion on Instagram must include:

• A complete release of Instagram by each entrant. Entrants agree that Instagram isn't liable for anything to do with your giveaway
• An acknowledgement that Instagram isn't involved. The promotion isn't sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram

And you must not:

• Tag content inaccurately, or ask entrants to. Instagram's own example is asking people to tag themselves in a photo they aren't in

The rest is on you. Instagram says you're responsible for the official rules, the offer terms and eligibility (like age and residency limits), and following the laws that apply to the promotion and its prizes, including any registration or approvals. Some US states, for example, ask big-prize sweepstakes to register before they start, so check the rules where you're running it. Instagram won't help you run the giveaway, and it won't advise on whether you need consent to use what entrants post.

Running a promotion in Brazil? Instagram's guidelines add that it must follow Brazil's prize-promotion regulations, overseen by the Ministry of Finance's Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA).

If another brand pays you or gives you free products to run the giveaway, Meta treats the post as branded content. Its branded content policies say you must tag that partner with the branded content tool (the "Paid partnership" label), with their permission.

The law usually asks for a disclosure too. In the US, the FTC's Disclosures 101 says plain words like "ad" or "sponsored" work, and warns against relying on a platform's tool alone.

Name every sponsor in your official rules too, so entrants know who's responsible for the prize.

Your official rules (also called terms and conditions) are what you point to when an entrant asks "why didn't I win?" or "when do I get my prize?". If the answer isn't in the rules, you'll be making it up later, and that's when complaints start.

Good rules cover:

• Who's running it: the sponsor's name and address, plus any partners
• Who can enter: minimum age, countries or states, and who's excluded (staff and their families, usually)
• When it runs: start and end date, time and time zone, and when you'll draw winners
• How to enter: every step, how many entries each person can get, and a free way to enter if any entry involves a purchase
• The prize: what it is, how many winners, its approximate value, and whether you can swap it for something of equal value
• How winners are picked: a random draw, or judging with the criteria spelled out
• How winners are told: how you'll contact them, how long they have to reply, and what happens if they don't
• Delivery: how the prize gets to them and who pays for shipping
• The Instagram lines: the release and the acknowledgement above
• Their data: what you collect, what you'll use it for, and a link to your privacy policy
• Content rights: for photo contests, what you're allowed to do with entries

The purchase rule matters most. In many places, making people pay to enter a prize draw turns it into a lottery. Our guide to No Purchase Necessary laws covers how that works in the US and elsewhere.

Fill in the brackets and delete any line that doesn't apply. It's a starting point, so get it checked by someone who knows the law where you run the giveaway, especially if the prize is valuable. Want a longer version with every clause? Use our giveaway terms and conditions template.

[Giveaway Name] Official Rules

Sponsor. This giveaway is run by [Business Name], [Address] ("Sponsor").

Eligibility. Open to residents of [Countries or States] aged [18] or over. Employees of the Sponsor and their immediate families can't enter. Void where prohibited.

Entry Period. The giveaway starts at [Time, Time Zone] on [Date] and ends at [Time, Time Zone] on [Date].

How to Enter. [Describe every step, for example: follow @[handle], like the giveaway post and comment with your answer]. Limit of [one] entry per person. No purchase necessary. A purchase won't improve your chance of winning.

Prize. [Number] winner(s) will receive [Prize], with an approximate value of [Amount]. The prize can't be transferred or exchanged for cash. The Sponsor may substitute a prize of equal or greater value.

Winner Selection. Winner(s) will be [drawn at random from all eligible entries / judged on [criteria]] on [Date].

Notification. We'll contact the winner(s) by [Instagram direct message / email] within [7] days of the draw. Winners have [7] days to reply, or we'll pick another winner. We'll only ever message from @[handle] and never ask for payment.

Delivery. We'll send the prize to winners within [30] days of confirming their details. [Shipping is free / Winners pay shipping].

Instagram. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram. By entering, you release Instagram from any liability connected with this giveaway.

Content Rights. [Photo contests only] Entrants must own what they post and have permission from anyone in it. By entering, they let the Sponsor repost their entry on its social channels and website, with credit, for [12 months].

Privacy. We'll use your details to run this giveaway and contact winners, as described in our [Privacy Policy link].

Governing Law. These rules are governed by the laws of [Country or State].

The line about only messaging from your own account is there for a reason. Fake accounts copy brand giveaways and message entrants claiming they've won. Saying how you'll make contact gives entrants a way to spot them.

Most Instagram giveaways run right on a post: like it, follow the account, comment to enter. Instagram's guidelines don't ban any of that. The tagging rule is about tags that misrepresent content, so don't make "tag yourself in this photo" an entry step if the person isn't in it.

When it's time to pick a winner, use something you can show was random. Gleam's Instagram Comment Picker draws winners at random from the comments on one of your posts. It needs an Instagram Business or Creator account connected through Facebook.

Gleam can't confirm a follow automatically, because Instagram doesn't let third-party apps check it. Before you announce a winner, check their handle against your followers list.

A photo contest needs everything above, plus a few more lines:

• What to post: photos, videos or Reels, and what they should show
• How to tag it: an @mention of your account plus a campaign hashtag works best. With Gleam's Instagram Mentions import you'll see who posted each entry. A hashtag import also works, but Instagram doesn't share usernames for hashtag posts, so those entries come in anonymous
• How you'll judge: the criteria and who's judging, if it isn't a random draw
• Their rights: entrants must own what they post and have permission from anyone who appears in it
• Your rights: exactly how you can use entries afterwards, and for how long

Instagram won't tell you whether you need consent to repost entries, so ask for it in the rules. Our post on getting permission to use UGC covers the wording.

If you run your giveaway as a Gleam Competition, you don't start from a blank page. Gleam generates Terms & Conditions for every Competition from the details in your setup: dates, locations, prizes and more. Keep them on Automatic and they update as you edit the campaign, or switch to Custom to write your own (on the Hobby Plan and above).

Click Modify to fill in the sponsor's name and address, the governing law country, your privacy policy, how winners are selected, and how long they have to claim. Paste Instagram's release and acknowledgement into Additional Terms so they sit alongside everything else.

Entrants open your rules from the link in the widget's footer. Want everyone to agree to them first? Add a Terms & Conditions checkbox on the Pre-Entry tab. If any entry action needs a payment, Gleam adds a free entry alternative under your Terms & Conditions automatically.

Here's a demo Instagram giveaway with its rules in the widget footer:

Write the rules before you write the caption. It's a lot easier than explaining a missing rule in the comments.