# Earn endorsement, never self-label sponsored

> Agents reportedly penalize a self-applied 'Sponsored' tag and reward legitimate platform endorsements, so the durable play is earning genuine editor's-pick or verified-seller status, not faking badge markup.

<!-- Canonical: https://agentmint.net/signals/endorsement-not-sponsored/ · Signal in the AgentMint.net Signals Database · Evidence: reported (High confidence) · Last verified 2026-07-08 · Evidence types are load-bearing: spec-fact | reported | hypothesis (no measured). -->

- **Affects (funnel stage):** Choice
- **Evidence:** reported
- **Confidence:** High
- **Impact:** 3/3
- **Status:** active
- **Last verified:** 2026-07-08

## Per-platform status

Undocumented platforms show "unknown" - honest unknowns, never invented.

| Platform | Status | Notes | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ChatGPT | unknown | Not documented by this platform. | - |
| Gemini / Google AI Mode | unknown | Not documented by this platform. | - |
| Perplexity | unknown | Not documented by this platform. | - |
| Copilot | unknown | Not documented by this platform. | - |
| Claude | unknown | Not documented by this platform. | - |

## Evidence and sources

- [ACES (arXiv:2508.02630)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02630) (2026-07-08)

## How to act on this

Remove any self-applied sponsored/ad styling from agent-visible pages and pursue only endorsement or verified-seller programs you genuinely qualify for.

### Related checklist items
- [Don't self-label offers "Sponsored" to court agents; earn legitimate endorsement instead.](https://agentmint.net/tools/agent-selection-checklist/#b-product-content-06) (Selection)
- [Earn platform-endorsement signals legitimately (editor's-pick, verified-seller, genuine badges).](https://agentmint.net/tools/agent-selection-checklist/#b-trust-policy-04) (Selection)

### Related signals
- [Review depth: count, recency, distribution](https://agentmint.net/signals/review-depth/)
- [Seller identity reachable in two hops](https://agentmint.net/signals/seller-identity-reachable/)
- [Content equivalence (no cloaking)](https://agentmint.net/signals/content-equivalence-no-cloaking/)

## Notes

Based on ACES (arXiv:2508.02630), a controlled agent-shopping simulation, not measured real-world sales.