When startup founders share their sky-high experiences—both literally and figuratively—it often makes for engaging LinkedIn content. Recently, several posts praising Air India’s upgraded services, especially by well-known entrepreneurs, have caught attention. While they may seem like genuine appreciation, they also raise questions: are these organic endorsements or subtly branded promotions? With LinkedIn’s ‘brand partnership’ tag tucked away in the bio and minimal disclosure in the posts themselves, the transparency lines seem increasingly blurred.
LinkedIn has gotten a facelift, but beneath its polished surface, a notable trend has emerged. Entrepreneurs like Anupam Mittal and Arjun Vaidya have used LinkedIn’s paid partnership feature, opting for the subtle #collab label conveniently at the end of the post, in addition to adding LinkedIn’s brand partnership tag, which seems rather misplaced, appearing in the bio rather than the post itself. This approach has raised questions about whether these are half measures, as some users may not immediately recognise sponsored content.
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) guidelines and LinkedIn have emphasised the importance of clear labelling for sponsored content, using tags like #ad, #sponsored, or #partner or clear disclosure labels like ‘advertisement’ or ‘collaboration’ must be upfront in the post.
As the platform continues to evolve, it’s essential for brands and creators to prioritise transparency and authenticity, ensuring that their audience is well-informed and trusting of the content they engage with.
“Across these interactions, transparency remains fundamental. We encourage all brands, creators, and influential voices to maintain authenticity in their endorsements by complying with applicable laws and platform guidelines. We also encourage members to look for labels like #ad, #sponsored, or #partner as indicators of paid partnerships and brand collaborations so they can make informed, unbiased decisions,” says Sachin Sharma, Director - Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn India.
This transparency is crucial to maintaining trust and authenticity on platforms like LinkedIn, where users expect genuine insights and experiences from their connections. In contrast, Instagram has a ‘paid partnership’ tag for posts, which is sufficient to differentiate between casual posts and brand partnerships. For Instagram, the disclosure label must be included in the visible caption or post description. If the content is primarily visual, such as Reels or Stories—where only the image or video is seen, the label should be clearly displayed within the image or video itself.
“The ASCI advisory issued in January 2025 specifically targets all LinkedIn influencers, highlighting the need to disclose material connections. A founder’s endorsement may be seen as highly credible, given their perceived authority and deep understanding of the industry. Undisclosed endorsements, including those from founders, can be misleading because audiences might think the founder is just giving their honest opinion, not realising it’s an ad,” says Manisha Kapoor, CEO & Secretary General, ASCI.
Since the issuance of the advisory in January 2025, ASCI has processed 117 posts for potential violations of ASCI guidelines for influencers on the LinkedIn platform.
LinkedIn has become incredibly important for brand promotions, especially in today’s landscape where authenticity, thought leadership, and professional storytelling carry a lot of weight. It’s more than a hiring platform—it’s where people discover new brands, engage with industry insights, and connect with founders and creators who are shaping the narrative.
Speaking about LinkedIn’s transformation, Aalap Desai, CCO and Co-Founder, tgthr, says, “It has been a while since LinkedIn reinvented itself. And it has since reached a sweet spot. Indians are largely hard workers. Hence, work is very important for them. LinkedIn has grown into a place where people talk about work. Instagram is too casual, Facebook feels too old and the feelings around X are complicated. They have taken everything that can fit a work conversation from all the platforms and put it in theirs. That’s what has made them come up now and I feel everything about LinkedIn is here to stay.”
Shalimar Paints has continued to leverage LinkedIn for branding purposes, including sharing campaign highlights, leadership perspectives, and updates around key collaborations such as their association with Mumbai Indians for this season. “Currently, for instance, we are running a LinkedIn contest inviting professionals to guess the highest scorer of each match and share their favourite MI moments, integrating brand visibility with cricketing fans all over. We also use the platform to engage with industry stakeholders and communicate our brand narrative in a more professional context. One of the key advantages of LinkedIn is its ability to reach a high-intent audience, helping us minimise spillover and focus on relevant engagement,” explains Varun Malik, Head of Marketing, Shalimar Paints.
While speaking about how LinkedIn works for D2C brands, Mohit Jain, Founder & CEO, Miraggio, shares, “For consumer-facing brands like ours, LinkedIn offers a unique opportunity to reach decision-makers, collaborators, and even customers who value purpose, innovation, and transparency. It helps in building brand credibility, amplifying brands efforts and showcasing behind-the-scenes journeys that resonate with a more mindful audience. We see it as a strategic platform to tell our brand story in a more meaningful and impactful way.”
Transparency concerns also resonate with broader discussions about the evolving nature of influencer marketing. As brands increasingly collaborate with professionals and thought leaders to promote their products or services, the lines between personal endorsements and paid promotions can blur. This blurring can lead to audiences questioning the authenticity of the content they consume, potentially diminishing the credibility of both the influencer and the brand.
Instagram has emerged as a leading platform for promotional content, especially in lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and food categories. Its visual-first approach, combined with features like Reels, Stories, and Shopping, makes it an ideal platform for brand storytelling and influencer collaborations.
Talking about the cost difference between sponsored posts on LinkedIn and Instagram, Aalap Desai explains, “The list of LinkedIn influencers is not as long as that of Instagram. It doesn’t even have that big of a spectrum to choose from too. This exclusivity results in the costs sometimes being even three times that of someone on Instagram. Instagram is a more mature market for influencers so I feel it is just a matter of time before LinkedIn will be more campaign-friendly.”
On a different tone, Keerthan K, Creator, The New Thing, opines, “LinkedIn does not have the engagement prowess of Instagram yet. Neither does it have a larger audience demographic analysis that we’re used to with other socials. In my opinion, the difference in reach, building audience and engagement being lower for creators account to the nature of paid collabs. For comparative context, for creators in the same clout range, Instagram paid collabs are anywhere between 3x to 10x more than LinkedIn.”
He also states that LinkedIn does not currently have the ability to collaborate between two creator or brand pages like on Instagram, which means directing people to a company page and building relevance is still supremely nascent. This also factors into pricing.
The issue of proper disclosure is not unique to India. Globally, regulatory bodies have been tightening norms around influencer marketing. For instance, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States requires influencers to disclose their relationships with brands clearly and conspicuously. Failure to do so can result in penalties for both the influencer and the brand involved.
Moreover, brands collaborating with influencers should prioritise clear communication about disclosure requirements. Ensuring that the promotional content is appropriately labelled not only aligns with ethical marketing practices but also enhances the brand’s reputation by demonstrating a commitment to transparency and authenticity.
So, what’s the final boarding call here? If brands want their content to fly high on LinkedIn, they might want to stop playing hide-and-seek with the #collab tags. Founders moonlighting as influencers may give brands a sharp edge, but without clear disclosures, the line between storytelling and covert influencing gets blurrier than an in-flight safety video. Transparency isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the seatbelt that keeps trust intact. Let honesty be the co-pilot, because LinkedIn isn’t your average billboard, and your audience isn’t asleep at the wheel.
