Operations
Part of Three hand-offs from creator discovery to publication, and who signs each
Creator discovery platforms: one-record quality checklist
Use this creator discovery platforms quality checklist to check one candidate record's evidence, permissions and handoff before a campaign decision.
| Case | Evidence and authority to compare | Decision or next state |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Buyer unit, decision, eligible population, prohibited use and brief version | Set these before collecting creator information |
| Field evidence | Source, permission, definition, timestamp, status and freshness | Pass only when decision-critical evidence is complete and current |
| Contact | Purpose, roles, transparency, retention, recipients, subprocessors, suppression and deletion | Block outreach until privacy decisions are resolved |
| Clearance | Age, representative authority, permissions, consideration, claims, disclosure and correction | Send unknown age to review; resolve authority and rights before release |
| Access | Task-based access, logs, incident recovery and assistive-technology testing | Restrict, investigate and test the relevant task |
| Handoff | Signed evidence, permitted next state, recipient, conditions and expiry | Keep failures on HOLD; close after export and deletion checks |
| Exception | Failed control, affected records, containment, owner and retest | Keep open until an approved retest |
| Expiry | Changes to source, field, purpose or configuration | Recheck each item against its own trigger |
Set the record boundary first
This creator discovery platforms quality checklist applies to one candidate creator record surfaced through a discovery platform and assessed against one versioned England brief. It does not assess platform quality, features or controls. Fix the scope before gathering creator details: identify the buyer unit, decision, eligible population, prohibited use and brief version. Quality means evidence and authority justify the next decision, rather than a profile appearing popular or suitable.
Record boundary checks
- Buyer unit, decision, prohibited use written
- Supplier entity, edition, configuration shown
- Every creator field needed for decision
- Unknown unless evidencedage, residence, traits
- Unknown unless evidencedreach, authority, willingness
- Record the supplier entity, service edition and configuration.
- Ask whether each creator field is necessary for the current decision.
- Leave age, residence, protected traits, interests, authenticity, authority, audience composition, reach and willingness unknown unless directly and appropriately evidenced.
- Keep creator claims distinct from public observation, supplier inference and independent checks.
Follow each field back to its source
For each field, keep its source, access permission, meaning and capture time, then assign freshness according to its purpose instead of using one universal date. Preserve conflicts, corrections and prior versions so a reviewer can judge whether the evidence supports the decision at hand.
| Field | Source | Permission | Definition | Timestamp | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| platform_creator_id | platform profile URL and supplier export v3 | platform terms and supplier contract | unique identifier for the creator profile | capture time and source export time | data steward |
| audience_country_pct | supplier inference or verified analytics | creator consent for analytics use | country share with method and margin | capture time and source export time | insight lead |
| contact_email | creator or representative, or public business contact | permission for outreach purpose | contact route and lawful basis | capture time and consent time | campaign owner |
| music_rights | rights holder or licence record | written licence for named advert | permitted media, term and territory | licence date and expiry | rights manager |
| suppression_flag | buyer do-not-contact list | privacy and PECR decision | block on contact and export | suppression time | privacy lead |
Use this ledger as the working template for one record. A decision-critical field can alter the buyer unit, eligibility, safeguarding, rights, disclosure, contact route or pass/fail result. Apply the check to every decision-critical field, including information that a profile does not emphasise. For contact authority, record the proposed approver, evidence of creator confirmation or authorisation, the brief and work covered, and who checked it.
A record passes only when every decision-critical field has a named source, permission basis, definition and timestamp within the freshness limit in the brief, with no suppression or rights conflict left open. An unresolved item blocks use even if every other field is complete.
The ICO accuracy principle guidance in the Guide to the data protection principles, last updated 19 May 2023, supports clear source and status records and careful handling of challenges. Recheck the page before publication because it is under review following DUAA changes. Keep that review status with the evidence note.
Resolve privacy before contact
Decide the purpose, roles, transparency route, retention period, recipients, subprocessors and transfers for the record. Suppression must stop contact rather than merely hide a result on screen. A new outreach purpose needs its own privacy and PECR decision before any contact takes place.
Make sure corrections, restrictions and deletions can reach exports and downstream recipients. Test how the change travels through each handoff, rather than assuming that updating the original record updates every copy. Keep the evidence of that test with the record so later reviewers can see what happened.
The ICO right to erasure page, last updated 10 October 2024, says the right is not absolute and discusses notifying recipients. Treat it as a review aid, not an automatic outcome for an individual case. Check whether corrections, restrictions and deletions reach exports and later recipients.
Keep age, permissions and advert approval separate
Treat age, representative authority, permissions and advertising as separate gates. Send unknown age to safeguarding review without inference. To verify a representative's authority for this brief, seek confirmation directly from the creator or retain written authorisation from the creator that identifies the representative and proposed work. Record the evidence against the brief; if authority cannot be verified, keep approval on HOLD.
Distinguish permission for databases, content, music, images and reuse. Retain evidence of consideration, claims, supporting proof, advertising disclosure, accessible presentation and correction. Each item relates to its own use, so approval for one does not establish permission for another.
The advertising checks draw on the CMA publication Social media endorsements: guidance for businesses and brands, published 23 August 2019. It supports retaining evidence about incentives, instructions, monitoring and correction. A platform label alone does not approve an advert, so keep campaign evidence with the record.
Restrict access and reproduce the task
Limit buyer access by task and make prompt revocation possible. Investigation logs should cover authentication, viewing, export, change and deletion events required for review. Test the specific task with a keyboard and zoom, alongside relevant assistive technology, against the accessibility requirements that apply.
The GOV.UK assistive-technology testing guide recommends recording product and technology versions so defects can be reproduced. Keep the guide's public-service scope visible when applying that practical advice. List the versions used and defects found in the test record so the same task can be checked again.
Sign the permitted handoff state
A transfer is complete only when signed evidence and an allowed next state let the receiving owner recreate the decision. That owner must be able to work from the recorded material rather than relying on undocumented interpretation. Record the recipient, conditions and expiry alongside the evidence before signing the handoff.
If any checklist item fails, return the record to HOLD rather than converting the result into a low score. Keep the evidence, recipient, conditions and expiry visible to the next owner, who should be able to establish what is permitted without guessing at the previous decision.
Keep the handoff checklist in a reproducible register so reviewers can consider the evidence and decision state together. The following worked example shows how separate checks can lead to a HOLD result for record A-17.
- Provenancesource supplier export dated 30 May 2025, platform profile URL and signed representation reference; export hash matched.
- Permissiondatabase and content use present; music use for the planned advert missing.
- Timestampcapture 1 June 2025, 09:30 UTC.
- Suppressioncontact block reached the export and the CRM list, so suppression passed.
- Exportdraft campaign file still carried the old audience_country_pct, so export failed.
- Resultmusic permission failed, so the record stayed in HOLD until the licence or brief changed.
At closure, verify exported fields, provenance, corrections, suppressions and audit history. Then revoke access and examine the deletion evidence. These checks keep the closing state consistent with the evidence and permissions recorded at handoff, rather than treating export completion alone as proof of closure.
Contain failures until retesting
Keep an exception open until the failed control has been retested and approved. Record the control, affected records, discovery or campaign state and decision owner. Make containment explicit, for example by blocking contact, suspending export or withdrawing publication authority while the exception remains unresolved.
Preserve the original evidence, correction, reviewer decision and date. Restart requires a repeated test and approval from each affected specialist, not a general manager's sign-off. If account authority is involved, identify credentials, integrations and recovery routes that also need checking.
The NCSC social-media security guidance, Social media: protect what you publish, published 14 January 2021, addresses authorised publishing, access revocation and advance recovery planning. It does not establish that a creator platform or buyer account is secure. Name the failed control and decision owner, and leave the exception open until the required retest is approved.
Recheck on evidence-specific triggers
Recheck when the supplier edition and data source, field definition, subprocessor, transfer, campaign purpose, representation, disclosure, account configuration or accessibility-critical screen changes. These events can affect different evidence items, so set the relevant trigger for each rather than relying on one general review date.
Evidence can have different lifetimes, so do not assign it one convenient expiry. The owner must state what may continue during a single-item review and what must stop immediately. Record the trigger and the resulting decision so the next reviewer can distinguish unaffected evidence from material that needs fresh checking.
