A generated image is sitting in a draft post, and someone asks whether the generator’s licence covers putting budget behind it as an ad. The answer sits in three clauses of the vendor’s own terms. This piece quotes them for four vendors, ranks none, and offers no legal conclusion. Disclosure: followedapp is published by the team behind RecurPost, which is covered vendor #34 under the same rules as every other vendor. RecurPost is not an image generator and is not discussed. The vendor pages below were fetched on 13 October 2026 (2026-10-13), the publish date. Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, OpenAI, Canva and Microsoft are left out because their terms pages did not resolve for a plain automated fetch. That is a coverage limit of this post and says nothing about those vendors. For the stock side of the question, see what a stock licence says when a post is boosted. This post covers generated images only.
The question someone asks before the boost button
It has three parts: can the image be used in paid promotion, who owns it, and who handles a third-party claim. Vendors appear in alphabetical order, the only order used, and quotes are verbatim and short.
Three clauses decide whether a generated image can run as an ad
Ownership of output is the clause saying who holds rights in what the tool produced, or whether the vendor disclaims any. Commercial-use grant is the clause saying whether you may use the output for business purposes, and on which plan or below which revenue figure. Indemnity direction is the clause saying who defends whom: either the vendor defends you if the output is alleged to infringe, or you defend the vendor.
Ownership and indemnity are separate promises: a vendor can say you own the output without promising to defend you if someone challenges it. This post reports wording and does not say whether it is enforceable or sufficient in any country. A related read on AI vendors’ own terms: what AI voice cloning consent terms say.
What each vendor’s own terms state
Black Forest Labs
Section 1.2 of the Website and FLUX Terms of Service, marked “Last Revised on August 1, 2026”, defines Input and Output together as “Your Content” and states: “We claim no ownership rights in and to Your Content, and you may use Your Content in connection with the Services for your own purposes, subject to any restrictions set forth herein or under applicable law.”
The acceptable-use list restricts from the other direction. One item opens with a carve-out: “except for your use of your Output or the Services as expressly permitted by these Terms or other terms between you and and us”, followed by “exploit the Services for any commercial purpose, including without limitation communicating or facilitating any commercial advertisement or solicitation”. This post does not say which way the two halves resolve for a boosted ad. A search of the fetched text found no vendor indemnity of the user. Fetched 2026-10-13: https://bfl.ai/legal/terms-of-service.
Google Cloud
These are Google Cloud customer terms, in the Service Specific Terms under Generative AI Services. They are not the terms of the consumer Gemini app. The terms state: “As between Customer and Google, Google does not assert any ownership rights in any new intellectual property created in the Generated Output.”
The indemnity is a separate subsection. In paraphrase: it covers allegations that an unmodified Generated Output from a Generative AI Indemnified Service infringes a third party’s intellectual property rights. Listed exclusions include output the customer knew or should have known was likely infringing, and disabling the filters or citations Google provides. The definition ties the indemnity to a service listed on the indemnified services page “where the use of such Service or feature is not provided to Customer free of charge”.
That page names Imagen. It appears among foundation models used with the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform API (formerly Vertex AI API), and the page shows “Previous versions (Last modified July 20, 2026)”. Fetched 2026-10-13: https://cloud.google.com/terms/service-terms and https://cloud.google.com/terms/generative-ai-indemnified-services.
Recraft
Recraft states the plan boundary in its pricing FAQ. On the Free plan: “Images generated on the Free plan are owned by Recraft. They are publicly visible in the community gallery and are not licensed for commercial use.” On paid plans: “Paid plans grant you full ownership and commercial rights for all images generated while subscribed.”
The terms of service carry the indemnity, in section 17, which opens “You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Recraft”. The page prints “Last updated: 11 August 2026” and “Effective as of: 11 August 2026 (new accounts) / 25 August 2026 (existing accounts)”. No prices are quoted. Fetched 2026-10-13: https://www.recraft.ai/pricing and https://www.recraft.ai/legal/terms.
Stability AI
Two documents apply. The Community License governs the downloadable Core Models. The Terms of Service governs the hosted Services.
The license page FAQ says the Community License “allows for research, non-commercial, and commercial use of the Core Models for individuals or organizations that generate under $1M (or local currency equivalent) of annual revenue, regardless of the source of that revenue.” Businesses “with annual revenue exceeding $1M” need the Enterprise tier.
The Terms of Service, marked “Effective: September 30, 2026”, state: “Subject to your compliance with our Terms, we assign to you all of our right, title, and interest (if any) in the Outputs. So as between Stability and you, you own the Output (to the extent permitted by applicable law).” The indemnity is in capitals in the limitation of liability section. In paraphrase, you agree to indemnify and defend the Stability parties against claims relating to your use of the Services and to Outputs. Fetched 2026-10-13: https://stability.ai/license and https://stability.ai/terms-of-service.
Where a paid plan carries a promise the free one does not
Three plan-level switches appear in the quoted text: Recraft separates free from paid on commercial rights, Google conditions its indemnity on a service not provided free of charge, and Stability’s Community License turns on a USD 1M annual revenue figure. Nothing here generalises beyond them.
| Vendor | Who owns output, as stated | Commercial use, as stated | Indemnity direction, as stated | Page date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Forest Labs | “We claim no ownership rights in and to Your Content” | Use “for your own purposes”; advertising restriction with an Output carve-out, both quoted above | Not stated on the page fetched | Last Revised August 1, 2026 |
| Google Cloud | Google “does not assert any ownership rights” in new IP in Generated Output | Not stated as a grant in the sections quoted | Google indemnifies for unmodified Generated Output on listed services not provided free of charge, with exclusions | Indemnified services page: Last modified July 20, 2026 |
| Recraft | Free plan: owned by Recraft. Paid plans: full ownership while subscribed | Free plan: not licensed for commercial use. Paid plans: commercial rights | User indemnifies Recraft (section 17) | Last updated 11 August 2026 |
| Stability AI | Assigns its right, title and interest “(if any)”; you own Output “to the extent permitted by applicable law” | Community License: under USD 1M annual revenue. Enterprise tier above it | User indemnifies the Stability parties | Terms effective September 30, 2026 |
The table reads four vendors’ wording. It is not a verdict on which tool is safest and carries no total, score or order.
What the wording does not tell you
Stability’s “to the extent permitted by applicable law” and “(if any)” mean the vendor is not promising an ownership right the law may not grant. That is wording only, and this post does not describe how any court treats AI output.
None of the quoted terms are an ad platform’s terms. Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn and others set their own rules for ad content, and this post cites none of them.
This is not legal advice. A team with a real dispute, or a high-value campaign, should have counsel read the full agreement.
A check a team can run before boosting
- Confirm which plan generated the image and keep a dated record.
- Open that plan’s terms and find the three clauses.
- Note whether the plan is free, paid or enterprise, because the grant can change.
- Save the page URL and the date next to the asset.
Terms pages change, and the saved date is what lets a team show what the wording said when the image was made.
Sources and verification note
Terms and plan wording verified on 2026-10-13. No prices are quoted. This post is not Watchdog data and is not on the re-verification schedule. followedapp is published by the team behind RecurPost, which is covered vendor #34 under the same rules as every other vendor.
FAQ
Does a free plan on an AI image generator cover ads?
For Recraft, its pricing FAQ says “Images generated on the Free plan are owned by Recraft. They are publicly visible in the community gallery and are not licensed for commercial use.” Other vendors’ free plans must be checked against their own terms; this post checked four vendors only.
If I own the output, does the vendor cover me if someone objects to it?
Not as a consequence of ownership. Stability’s Terms of Service assign its rights in Outputs to the user and also have the user indemnify the Stability parties for claims relating to Outputs. Google Cloud’s wording runs the other way for unmodified Generated Output on listed services not provided free of charge, subject to exclusions.