How to Pick a Giveaway Winner Fairly on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok

To pick a giveaway winner fairly, publish clear rules before you start, collect every valid entry into one list, remove duplicates and ineligible entries, then draw the winner with a random picker in public or on an uncut recording, and keep a record of the result. The steps below cover each part, plus the platform rules and the scams to warn your followers about.

The quick version

1. Write and publish the rules, including the deadline and how you will pick the winner.
2. Check the rules of the platform you are using.
3. Collect every entry into one list, one per line.
4. Clean the list: remove duplicates, your own accounts and anyone who isn’t eligible.
5. Draw the winner live or on an uncut screen recording.
6. Draw backup winners in order, in case someone doesn’t reply.
7. Announce the winner publicly and contact them only from your official account.

1. Write the rules before you post

Clear rules protect you when someone asks why they didn’t win. Put them in the post or link to them, and include:

• The start and end date and time, with the time zone
• Who can enter: minimum age and the countries or regions allowed
• How to enter, including a free way to enter
• How many winners there will be and what each one gets
• How and when you will choose the winner, for example “a random draw on a spinner wheel, streamed live on 30 November”
• How you will contact the winner and how long they have to reply before you pick a backup

2. Check the platform’s own rules

Each platform has its own requirements for promotions, and they change, so check the current version before you launch.

• Instagram. According to Gleam’s summary of Instagram’s Promotion Guidelines, every entrant must give Instagram a complete release, the post must say the promotion is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Instagram, and inaccurate tagging (such as asking people to tag themselves in photos they aren’t in) is not allowed.
• YouTube. YouTube’s contest policies say the creator is solely responsible for the contest, must publish official rules, must state that YouTube is not a sponsor and that entrants release YouTube from liability, cannot charge for entry, and must follow local laws, including lottery laws.
• TikTok. Giveaways have to follow TikTok’s Community Guidelines and its rules for promotions. Read the current rules in TikTok’s help centre before you launch, especially for branded or paid promotions.

Laws on prize promotions vary by country and state. In many places, a promotion that combines a prize, chance and a required payment is treated as a lottery and is restricted. This guide isn’t legal advice; for valuable prizes, check with someone who knows the rules where you and your entrants live.

3. Collect every entry into one list

Copy the usernames of everyone who entered into a single list, one per line. For a small giveaway you can do this by hand from the comments. For hundreds of comments, comment-export tools exist; only use one that doesn’t ask for your account password, and check what access it requests before you connect anything.

4. Clean the list

• Remove duplicates if your rules say one entry per person. Pasting the list into the picker and pressing Sort A–Z puts repeated names next to each other.
• Remove your own accounts, team members and anyone your rules exclude.
• Remove late entries made after the deadline.
• Add extra entries openly. If your rules give extra chances (for example, one extra entry per day entered), add *2 after that username instead of pasting it twice. Facebook doesn’t allow extra entries for sharing or tagging; see how to give extra entries fairly. Turn on “Show each entry’s chance” so everyone can see the odds.

Save a copy of the cleaned list. If anyone questions the result, it shows exactly who was in the draw.

5. Draw the winner in public

1. Paste the cleaned list into the random name picker.
2. Press Full screen so the wheel is easy to see on a stream or recording.
3. Go live, or record your whole screen without cuts, showing the list before you spin.
4. Say the rule out loud: the first spin counts.
5. Spin once per prize, with Remove winner after each spin turned on so nobody can win twice.
6. Show the Results tab at the end. It lists each winner with the time of the spin.

6. Pick backup winners

Keep spinning after the main draw to pick one or two backup winners, in order. If the first winner doesn’t reply by your deadline, you can move to the next name without running a second draw that people might question.

7. Announce the winner and contact them safely

Announce the winner in a public post or story from your official account, then message them from that same account. Tell your followers clearly that you will never ask a winner to pay a fee, share card details or give a password to claim a prize. Fake accounts often copy a creator’s name and message entrants claiming they won; a public warning helps your followers spot them.

How to prove the draw was fair

A public, uncut draw from a cleaned list does most of the work. For more detail, including what no wheel can prove on its own, read Can a spinner wheel be rigged?. Our fairness page explains how our wheel picks a winner.

Try it: our free giveaway picker does steps 4 to 6 for you. Paste the comments, remove duplicates, check the tag rule, exclude your own account, and draw winners and backups at once with a fingerprint entrants can check.

Selling tickets instead? That’s a raffle, which has its own legal rules. See how to run a fair raffle and draw it with the raffle generator.

Drawing in a spreadsheet instead? Our guide to picking a random name in Excel or Google Sheets covers the formulas and how to stop the winner changing when the sheet recalculates.

Mistakes to avoid

• Re-spinning because you don’t like the first result
• Leaving duplicate entries in the list when the rules say one per person
• Changing the deadline or the rules after the giveaway starts
• Requiring a purchase to enter
• Contacting the winner from a personal or new account
• Asking the winner for anything beyond what you need to send the prize

Make the draw checkable: post the list fingerprint from the Fairness tab before you spin, then share the draw record so entrants can confirm the list on the draw checker.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• YouTube’s contest policies and guidelines (YouTube Help)
• What are the rules for running a giveaway on Instagram? (Gleam, summarising Instagram’s Promotion Guidelines)