Quick answer
As of September 2026, we found no Canadian law that requires a label on every AI image in an ad. The Competition Act still bans ads that mislead by their general impression, TikTok requires disclosure on ads with AI-generated media, and Meta requires it on political and social issue ads. Label any realistic AI image a homeowner could mistake for your real work, and disclose the connection when you praise a tool you’re tied to.
Estimates by phone: (587) 804-9266 · Good Roofing · Calgary-owned since 2014 · 10-year workmanship warranty.
No Canadian law we could find requires a label on every AI image in an ad, as of September 2026. Bill C-27, which carried the proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, was still in committee when Parliament’s session ended on January 6, 2025. What applies instead is older: the Competition Act’s ban on misleading ads, and each platform’s own rules. We make our ads, social posts and new site images in Overs, an AI tool made by our owner, Abhi Chawla, so this is homework we did for ourselves first.
01 · Section
What Canadian law asks of an AI image
The Competition Act weighs “the general impression conveyed by a representation as well as its literal meaning” (section 52(4)), and the Competition Bureau treats an ad as misleading when its photo or illustration creates a false or misleading impression. So the question for any AI image is whether a homeowner could take it for something real. An illustrated hail-season ad that nobody would read as a real job is unlikely to mislead anyone. A realistic crew on a roof needs a label if anyone could take it for your team, and it doesn’t belong on a team page at all.
The Bureau’s 2025 report on its AI consultation found broad support for openness about AI in marketing, but views differed on when and how to label, and the report set no labelling rule. Alberta’s Consumer Protection Act adds its own ban on a supplier doing or saying anything that might reasonably deceive or mislead a consumer (section 6(4)(a)).
02 · Section
What the ad platforms require
Platform rules are stricter than the law in places, and they change often. Overs’ guide to labelling AI images in ads tracks them platform by platform, including YouTube and Pinterest. As of September 2026:
- 01TikTok. Ads with fully AI-generated or significantly edited media must be disclosed, with TikTok’s AI-generated content label or your own clear disclaimer, caption, watermark or sticker. Tweaks to lighting, brightness, colour or backgrounds don’t need it, and undisclosed AI content gets an ad rejected or restricted (TikTok ads policy).
- 02Meta (Facebook and Instagram). Disclosure is mandatory for social issue, election and political ads with realistic AI content. For other ads, Meta is rolling out an “About this ad” panel that shows AI info when an ad was made with Meta’s own AI tools or when Meta detects AI through industry signals in the file (Meta).
- 03Google Ads. Election ads with synthetic or altered content need a disclosure. Google’s newer AI label setting exists because of rules in the EU, India and New York, and Google may label assets made with its own AI tools automatically (Google Ads policy).
03 · Section
When a contractor should label anyway
A label costs nothing and answers the question before a homeowner has to ask it.
- 01Realistic people. Any AI image with people who could pass for your crew.
- 02Explainers. An illustration of hail bruising, an ice dam or the layers of a roof, so nobody mistakes it for a photo of a neighbour’s house.
- 03Whenever a platform asks. Use its setting even if you’d have labelled the image anyway.
- 04Never as a patch. Keep AI images out of project galleries, before-and-afters and review sections entirely. A label doesn’t fix a picture in the wrong place.
04 · Section
Label lines that work
Keep it short, and put the label on the image or right beside it.
- 01“Illustration made with AI.”
- 02“AI-made image. Not a photo of a real job.”
- 03“Illustration. Not a customer’s home.”
05 · Section
The other disclosure: who’s doing the praising
A label tells people how a picture was made, and a disclosure tells them who is doing the praising. When a business recommends a product it’s connected to, the Competition Bureau says to disclose all material connections, and it says employees must disclose theirs even when the opinion is honest. That’s why every page on this site that praises Overs also says it’s made by our owner, Abhi Chawla. He credits Overs with a big part of how fast Good Roofing has grown, and you should know who’s saying so.