New California law requires parents to save money earned by child influencers: Protected from financial abuse
A new California law requires parents to set aside money earned by child social media influencers and deposit the earnings into accounts their kids can’t access until they are adults.Gov.
Gavin Newsom signed the bill beside pop star and former child actress Demi Lovato on Thursday that mandates parents and guardians place a percentage of money made by minors on the web into trust accounts, according to the governor’s office.The governor additionally signed a second piece of legislation that expands the state’s Coogan Law — a longstanding protection for child actors in Hollywood — to include minors employed as online content creators.The law required 15% of children and teens’ earnings be placed in a trust to be untouched until their 18th birthday.These protections will ensure minors who perform in online content “are protected from financial abuse,” Newsom’s office said.“In old Hollywood, child actors were exploited.In 2024, it’s now child influencers,” Newsom said in a statement. “Today, that modern exploitation ends through two new laws to protect young influencers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms.”The Golden State’s legislation follows that of Illinois, where legislators amended the state’s Child Labor law to include children featured on their parents’ or guardians’ social media accounts.The bill specifically states that children under the age of 16 should receive 15% of an influencer’s gross earnings if they appear in at least 30% of monetized content online.
Moms, dads or minders must be responsible for putting the earnings into a trust account.“Sharenting” content has blown up as a lucrative business online over the past several years, especially with the explosion of social media.Examples include “family vlogs” that document a family’s day-to-day life to brand-sponsored campaigns that feature kids advertising clothing or products.An influencer with more than a million followers ...