California Signs Laws Protecting Child Influencers From Financial Abuse

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two laws today aimed at protecting child social media influencers from financial abuse.
Former child movie and TV actors—including Demi Lovato, who championed the new laws and recently came out with the documentary Child Star—have continued to speak out against the abuses of child stardom, some of which come at the hands of their families who financially exploit them.
As social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram become more popular and profitable, more families are sharing their lives on these apps. When these families work with brands to advertise their products online, they can rake in tens of thousands of dollars per video.
Newsom is ensuring that children in these internet-famous families are being fairly compensated for the content they appear in.
“A lot has changed since Hollywood’s early days, but here in California, our laser focus on protecting kids from exploitation remains the same. In old Hollywood, child actors were exploited,” Newsom said in a statement on Thursday.
“In 2024, it’s now child influencers. Today, that modern exploitation ends through two new laws to protect young influencers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms.”
One measure that Newsom signed on Thursday provides legal and financial protections for minors featured in monetized online content by requiring their parents or guardians to reserve a percentage of their earnings in trust accounts.
Parents and guardians must record the number of minutes their children appear in their online content and the money they earn from those posts. The percentage of earnings that the children will receive depends on how often they appear in online content that generates at least 10 cents per view.
The second law expands the Coogan Law, a 1939 measure named after a silent film-era child actor, Jackie Coogan, who sued his parents for squandering his earnings, to include minors employed as content creators on online platforms like YouTube.
Under the Coogan Law, employers of child performers and creators must deposit at least 15 percent of their gross earnings in a trust until the child reaches the age of 18.
“In order to build a better future for the next generation of child stars, we need to put protections in place for minors working in the digital space,” Lovato said in a statement on Thursday.
She continued: “I’m grateful to Governor Newsom for taking action with this update to the Coogan Law that will ensure children featured on social media are granted agency when they come of age and are properly compensated for the use of their name and likeness.”
The new legislation will take effect next year, following a similar Illinois law that ensures child influencers under the age of 16 are compensated for their work. Illinois was the first state in the U.S. to sign such a law, which went into effect in July.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.