About Watchword
Watchword is creator compliance monitoring for regulated brands on TikTok Shop. We review every creator video in a brand’s program for FTC disclosures, product claims, and brand safety. The brand’s team sees only the videos that need a decision.
Why we built it
Creators post faster than any brand team can watch. Most teams review the top-viewed videos by hand, and the rest go out unseen. GMV Max, TikTok’s automated Shop ads, can promote any of them. We call that unseen pool Dark Reach: the exposure a brand gets from creator videos nobody at the brand has seen, reviewed, or approved.
Brands have handled it by scaling blind, by capping their programs at what the team can watch, or by staying off TikTok Shop. We think the better answer is to review every video and put a person on the ones that matter.
Built from the brand side
Watchword was started by a brand-side eCommerce leader who has run eCommerce for large consumer brands. It is built around how brand teams actually work: a program that grows faster than headcount, a legal team that needs an answer when it asks what was checked, and a growth team that cannot afford to slow down.
How we work
- Every video, not a sample. We review the whole pool from the creators and tags a brand sets.
- People make the call. Watchword does the first pass and points to the exact moment in the video, with the reason. The brand’s team decides what to do.
- The rules brands are held to. Reviews run against the regulator’s rules and the platform’s, not a generic checklist.
- Sourced public record. Our risk record lists enforcement actions and lawsuits over creator and social content, each with a primary or near-primary source, updated weekly.
- Numbers we can reproduce. Any figure we publish comes from a run we can repeat, or it comes off the page.
- Not legal advice. A flag is information for a brand’s team to review, not a legal determination.
Who it is for
Brands in regulated categories that sell on TikTok Shop, such as supplements, beauty, food, and OTC health, and the agencies that run their creator programs. Plans start at $500 per brand a month, billed annually, for brands selling on US TikTok Shop. Start with a free Dark Reach Check. See pricing.
Company
- Watchword Labs, LLC, a California company, founded 2026.
- Email: hello@usewatchword.com
- Watchword on LinkedIn
See what is in your Dark Reach. Start with a free Dark Reach Check.