How to legally collect UGC from Instagram and TikTok

Why a repost is not permission

Copyright sits with the creator the moment they press the shutter. A public post grants the platform certain rights, not you. Tagging your brand is an invitation to notice, not a transfer of usage rights. To put a customer’s content on your store, in an email, or in a paid ad, you need a licence: explicit permission, with terms, that you can produce later if asked.

The rights-request workflow

1. 1Find the content, monitor tags, mentions and brand hashtags for posts worth using.
2. 2Send a rights request: a direct message that names what you want to use it for (store, ads, email), and asks the creator to reply with a clear yes.
3. 3Capture the grant: record the creator’s affirmative reply, the date, and the scope they agreed to. That record is your licence.
4. 4Store it against the asset, keep the permission attached to the specific piece of content, so you can prove clearance for that exact photo or video.
5. 5Respect the scope, if they agreed to "your website", do not silently move it into paid ads.

What counts as valid permission

• It is explicit, an unambiguous yes, not silence or a thumbs-up emoji you are choosing to interpret generously.
• It is scoped, it names where and how you may use the content.
• It is recorded, you can produce it later, tied to the asset.
• It is from the right person, the creator of the content, not someone who merely appears in it or shared it on.

Instagram and TikTok specifics

On Instagram, the practical channel is a DM rights request against tagged posts, Stories and Reels. On TikTok, the same principle holds for videos, and you should be doubly careful with sound, a clip can be visually cleared and still carry a music licence you do not have (covered in the full rights guide). On both platforms, screenshots and re-uploads strip context and quality; always work from the original where you can.