Classic Hollywood laws inspire shields for kids in multibillion influencer industry
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States are drawing on laws first drafted in Hollywood's golden age to protect 21st Century children at risk of being exploited in the multibillion dollar influencer industry.
Why it matters: The content creation field is largely unregulated, and states are taking steps to ensure kids get a cut of the profit they brought in from vlogging or brand deals.
- The laws in Illinois and Minnesota allow children to sue parents who didn't save money for them but don't mandate regulatory action, Allison Fitzpatrick, an attorney with expertise in influencer marketing and children's advertising, told Axios.
- "Regulators don't want to get into a family matter," she said. "They don't want to pit a child against their parents."
The intrigue: It was a teenager who brought the issue to the attention of the Illinois legislature.
- Shreya Nallamothu was disturbed by the potentially exploitative family content she saw across social media.
- "Child influencing is still working," Nallamothu told PBS. "So you're turning your childhood into content and uploading that onto the internet, where it's permanent."
State of play: Several states are currently weighing or have enacted child influencer protections, seemingly an "indication of a tide change," Fortesa Latifi, who is writing a book about influencer families, reported.
- Influencer children legislation draws parallels to the California Child Actor's Bill, or Coogan Law, signed in 1939 during a changing entertainment industry.
- The law is named after 1920s child actor Jackie Coogan whose parents squandered the millions he made in Hollywood before he came of age.
How it works: The Illinois law, which went into effect this month, stipulates that parents of children under 16 must save funds in a trust account to eventually distribute to the child whose likeness, name or photo brings in funds that reach a certain threshold.
- Parents also have to maintain records on the amount of content created and income generated from it.
- "As social media evolves, so should our laws," said Illinois state Sen. Dave Koehler (D), who backed the legislation.
Between the lines: This law doesn't apply when a minor creates their own content, per international law firm Reed Smith.
The latest: Minnesota became the second state to pass a law protecting influencer children, which will take effect next year.
- All of the proceeds, saved in a trust, must go to a minor under 14 involved in content creation.
Zoom out: Legislatures in Maryland, California, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Arizona, Washington and Pennsylvania have proposed bills that would expand protections of child influencers.
- "Regulators did not understand the influencer environment until possibly recently," Fitzpatrick said. "I think, possibly, there were no horror stories, yet."
The big picture: These laws are cropping up in both Republican- and Democratic-led states, tracking with federal children protection bills that have received bipartisan support.
- "As these laws come in effect, we will see if they have teeth and if parents have been following them," Fitzpatrick said. "Are parents adhering to the record keeping and the trust provisions? Were they just ignoring them?"
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