With many children rising to fame through social media, are they appropriately compensated for it? In many cases, children may be exploited if their parent influencers are not compensating them for participating in content. Now, California is joining the list of states that have enacted laws to protect minors on social media from financial abuse.
What are the new laws?
This year, the two new content creator laws came into effect in California. The Child Content Creator Rights Act now requires minors, age 18 or younger, to be compensated if they are “engaged in the work of vlogging.” The act defines vlogging as the “act of sharing content on an online platform in exchange for compensation.” Minors must be in “at least 30 percent” of content to fall into this category. This percentage even includes when their likeness, name, or photograph is used. The minor’s gross earnings will be set aside in a trust account that can be accessed in adulthood.
Assembly Bill 1880 is an expansion of the existing Coogan Law from 1939. The Coogan Law requires that “15% of all minors earnings” must be set aside into a blocked trust account. This law financially protects child performers, such as actors, singers and dancers. The expansion now protects child content creators by considering them as child performers.
Why are these laws needed?
Jackie Coogan was a famous child actor who did not receive his earnings. Instead, the money was in his parents possession, who left him with nothing once he turned 21. As a result of his story, the Coogan Law was created to prevent other child performers from experiencing the same financial loss and exploitation. Although this law was enacted 86 years ago, this type of financial abuse has continued.
Since social media has become a full-time paying job for many, there has been an increase in the number of minors shown in online content. Whether they are a kid influencer or family vlogger, these children are taking part in a job that may not guarantee payment and the exploitation of minors is a major issue.
With the large amount of views that these content creators get, has anyone considered whether the minors are getting their fair share? Below are just two examples of the ways in which parents use their children in online content:
@juliewise4 Life rlly comes full circle guys
@kencradic ONE, TWO, FIVE🤪little gym day!!! how’re they BOTH in overnight diapers already🥲🥲 this is from yesterday! Love you guys🩷 #motherhood #momlife #toddlermom #fyp #foryou #lifestyle #mommy #motherhoodunflitered #sahm #sahmlife
Ryan Kaji is a 12-year-old influencer who makes 30 million dollars a year on YouTube, but his parents are the ones with the legal rights to his earnings. While no law is guaranteeing his compensation, luckily, his parents are. Shion Kaji, Ryan’s father, explained that Ryan does have trust accounts, one even being a Coogan account. They put as much of his earnings as they can into these accounts. Although this is the case for Ryan, other child influencers may not be as lucky.
Taytum and Oakley Fisher are two young sisters who earn their family up to $150,000 a month from brand deals on their YouTube channel. Their parents state that the girls do have Coogan trust accounts with money from “traditional media appearances.” However, they also use the girls other earnings as income for the whole family. Unfortunately, the girls may not have any say or even understand that their earnings are being spent on the whole family.
Is this a national trend?
Following Illinois and Minnesota, California is now another U.S. state to have passed laws about this financial abuse. Illinois law requires parents to put aside “50% of the earnings” based on the percentage of time that the minor is in the content. Starting July 1st, 2025, Minnesota will prohibit social media accounts from making money if they feature children under the age of 14.
While these states may have passed laws, the issue still stands elsewhere. As children are put in the spotlight of social media content, they may be in a position to not earn any money. Next time you are scrolling through social media, think about this problem before contributing to the financial exploitation.
