Short answer: neither LTK nor ShopMy bans AI characters by name, but both are built on real people recommending things they actually use, and both say so in writing. LTK's Community Guidelines ban "AI-generated content that deceives or misrepresents identity, experience, or engagement". ShopMy's terms say your statements "must reflect your honest views and personal experiences" with the products, and ShopMy can ask for a government ID. A clearly labelled character run by a real, identifiable person can apply. A character who claims she wore the jeans can't.
Both decide who gets in. LTK reviews every application. ShopMy approves accounts "at ShopMy's sole discretion".
LTK names AI. Its Authenticity section (Community Guidelines, last updated 18 March 2026) says LTK "is built on real people sharing genuine experiences and recommendations" and bans AI content that misrepresents identity, experience or engagement.
ShopMy names experience. Its terms (last revised 16 September 2026) require "honest views and personal experiences" and list content "generated by automated tools or that is misleading or repetitive" as content it may remove.
ShopMy can check who you are. You warrant that the social accounts in your application are yours, and ShopMy may ask for "government-issued identification documents".
The FTC is the floor under both. An endorser who appears to use a product must have really used it, and a review that misrepresents that the reviewer exists is banned.
Read on 3 November 2026 on LTK's, ShopMy's and the FTC's own pages (sources at the end). This is a reading of public policy pages, not legal advice.
Storefront apps pay for recommendations. The rules care whose recommendation it is.
Amazon's Associates and Influencer Program pages have no rule against AI characters. The program wants a YouTube, Instagram, Facebook or TikTok account (business account on Instagram and Facebook) and judges followers and engagement. The hard line comes from the FTC: a character can show a product, but it can't say it used it.
Both are creator storefronts. You get a shop page and affiliate links for thousands of retailers, post your outfits, rooms or routines, and earn a commission when followers buy. LTK (formerly rewardStyle and LIKEtoKNOW.it) says it has a network of over 7,000 retailers. ShopMy adds gifting and paid brand collaborations. For a fashion, beauty or home character, this is the obvious next step after Amazon.
The catch is that both sell trust. A shopper taps a link because a person they follow wears the thing. That's why their rules read differently from Amazon's.
LTK's rules, read for an AI character
Question
What LTK's pages say
Is an AI character banned?
Not by name. The ban is on AI content "that deceives or misrepresents identity, experience, or engagement"
Who LTK looks for
A public social profile, "a high number of engaged followers", content about brands "that you love and use", posted regularly ("ideal" is daily)
How you apply
Online application; for Instagram you connect a Facebook Business Page to authenticate the account
Follower number
None published
Disclosure
Disclose commissions, free products and other benefits clearly; "Your opinions should be genuinely yours"
Impersonation
Banned, as is using someone's image or likeness without consent (right of publicity)
Two phrases decide it for a character account. "Love and use" in the application criteria, and "real people sharing genuine experiences" in the guidelines. An AI character can't use a product. So an LTK account built only on her "wearing" things is the exact case the Authenticity section describes, unless the post is honest that she's drawn and nobody claims an experience that didn't happen.
What can work on LTK is a real person in front: the stylist behind the character. "I picked these three coats for Mia's winter look; I own the grey one" is a real recommendation with a labelled illustration attached. Whether LTK approves that account is its call; it publishes no rule either way, and approval is reviewed case by case.
ShopMy's rules, read for an AI character
Question
What ShopMy's terms say
Is an AI character banned?
Not by name. "Generated by automated tools or that is misleading or repetitive" is on the list of content ShopMy may remove
Approval
Apply through the service; approval and suspension "at ShopMy's sole discretion"
Identity
You warrant the listed social accounts are yours; ShopMy may ask for government ID or proof of address
What you say
Statements "must reflect your honest views and personal experiences" with the merchant or product
Disclosure
FTC rules by name, plus Canada's ad code and Competition Act and, for Australia, the Australian Consumer Law, ACCC guidance and the AANA Code; "#ad" or "#sponsored" at or near the start
Gifting
Gifted products are meant for the approved creator; passing them on may break the brand's rules
Commissions
Paid only after the merchant pays ShopMy; rates are estimates; merchants can reverse them
ShopMy's "personal experiences" line is stricter than LTK's wording. Gifting makes it sharper still: a brand sends a product to the approved creator expecting a real person to try it. If a character "reviews" a gifted serum, someone has to have used it, and the post has to say who.
A gifted product is sent to a person. Someone real has to try it.
The FTC line under both
Both platforms point you to the FTC, and two federal rules settle most of it:
Use claims need a real user. "When the advertisement represents that the endorser uses the endorsed product, the endorser must have been a bona fide user of it at the time the endorsement was given" (16 CFR 255.1(c)). Endorsements must also "reflect the honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experience of the endorser" (255.1(a)).
No reviews from someone who doesn't exist. The consumer reviews rule bans a review or testimonial that misrepresents "that the reviewer or testimonialist exists" or that they "used or otherwise had experience with the product" (16 CFR 465.2).
So the line is the same one we drew for Amazon: she can show a product and say why it fits her world. She can't say she wore it for a week.
What a labelled character can honestly post
Styling, not testimony. "Three ways to wear a camel coat" with the coats' real details from the listing.
Fit with her world. Why a lamp suits her reading corner. That's an opinion about fit, not a claim of use.
A real person's real test, named. "I tried this one for her; here's what I found." The experience is yours, so it's honest.
Accurate products in every frame. An image model can quietly add a strap or change a colour. In our first 672 frame reviews, 4% of the classified rejections were for a product that was wrong, missing or invented. On a shoppable post that's a misleading claim, so check each product frame against the retailer's photos.
Then label both things: that she's AI-made (see how to add an AI label) and that you earn from the links. Our free AI disclosure checker writes the caption line per platform.
Check every product in the picture against the real one.
Which one to try first
If your character's world is fashion, beauty or home and a real person behind her is willing to be named and to try products, ShopMy's terms at least tell you exactly what they expect: honest personal experience, ID on request, clear "#ad". LTK publishes less and judges more; its Authenticity section is the line to keep in mind. If nobody behind the account will try anything, stick with affiliate programs that only need accurate facts, like Amazon Associates, and read how AI influencer affiliate marketing works.
Questions
Do I have to tell LTK or ShopMy my influencer is AI? Neither publishes a question about it. But LTK bans AI content that misrepresents identity, and ShopMy makes you warrant the accounts are yours and may check your ID. Hiding it is the risky choice; say so in the application and in the bio.
Can an AI influencer get gifted products through ShopMy? ShopMy's terms say gifted products are meant for the approved creator. A brand that gifts to a character account should know a real person will try the product. Tell the brand up front.
How many followers does LTK or ShopMy need? Neither publishes a number. LTK asks for "a high number of engaged followers"; buying followers breaks LTK's ban on misrepresented engagement. For the platforms' own payout bars, see how many followers an AI influencer needs to make money.
What happens if LTK or ShopMy removes the account? Both can suspend at their discretion. ShopMy can also withhold or reverse commissions for policy breaks. Keep your audience somewhere you control too, like a newsletter.
For every platform's rules in one place, see the short answers on /rules.
Make yours
Influgen gives every AI influencer a small team: a head writer for the ideas, a creative director and stylist for each scene, and a critic who rejects frames before they post, including frames where a product came out wrong. It makes short posts for Instagram, TikTok and X, labelled as AI. It doesn't apply to LTK or ShopMy for you; those accounts, and the honest recommendations on them, are yours. Start here, or try the free tools first.
Sources
LTK, Community Guidelines (last updated 18 March 2026; Authenticity, Intellectual Property and Privacy; read 3 November 2026)
ShopMy, End User License Agreement and Terms of Service (last revised 16 September 2026; Registration, Identification, Inappropriate Content, Compliance with FTC Guidance, Gifted Products, Commission and Payment Terms; read 3 November 2026)
Yes, a server about an AI character is fine. What Discord bans is a fake person: a user account for someone who doesn't exist, with a generated avatar, passed off as real. Automating a normal account (a self-bot) is banned too; a character that talks has to be a bot app. Server Subscriptions pay 90% but only to US owners aged 18+.
Yes. Threads runs on your Instagram account and the same Meta rules, and nothing in them bans an AI character. You must label photorealistic AI video and realistic AI voices, Gems are US-only and pay nothing, and Meta's own pages list no Threads payout program today. Here is each rule, read on Meta's pages, and what an AI influencer can do there instead.
