Child influencers make a lot of money. Who will get it?

The story of Britney Spears’ conservatorship and its eventual unraveling is well known by now. For years, Mr. Spears was trapped in a legal situation in which most of the money he earned went to his father. Her father not only manages her finances, but also takes care of her medications, performance schedule, etc.

Spears’ story prompted consideration of conservatorship, which may have helped prompt recent assessments of the protections, or lack thereof, afforded to child influencers.

Like their adult counterparts (and often their parents), these influencers sing, dance, cook, act, and recite lines. They partner with big brands like Walmart and Staples. And earn money through sponsored posts on your social media accounts.

But throughout most of the United States, these workers have no legal protections and no guarantee that they will ever see the money they earn.

If this bears any similarities to Mr. Spears’ conservatorship, its roots go back nearly a century.

In 1938, 23-year-old Jackie Coogan, who had starred in Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid as a toddler, learned that her mother and stepfather had spent the millions of dollars she earned as a child actress.

He sued and won, and in response California passed a law in 1939, commonly referred to as the Coogan Act, to protect children in similar roles. Currently, due to a change in the law, it is mandatory for child actors to keep 15% of their earnings in a trust.

Several other states have enacted their own California laws, with one exception: Does not apply to children who are

“They’re working,” Karen North, a professor of digital social media at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, said of child influencers. “They are told how to act, what to say and do by their parents’ paychecks and benefits, but they don’t have the same restrictions as in movies and TV shows.”

Even if child influencers create their own content and are not supervised by their parents, they are at risk of being exploited by the adults in their lives. Popular social media websites do not allow children under the age of 13 to operate their own accounts. Parents must open and manage them. And in most states, children cannot open an independent bank account until they are 17 years old.

Citizens who have watched popular family vloggers like Machelle Hobson and Ruby Franke be exposed for abusing and exploiting their own children, mostly behind the scenes, but sometimes in front of the cameras. Politicians are now starting to catch up, driven in part by motivated teenagers.

In August, Illinois passed the nation’s first law requiring adults who use a minor’s “likeness, name, or photograph” in paid online content to put a portion of the proceeds into a trust. State Sen. David Koehler, who introduced the bill, was inspired to receive a letter from local high school student Shreya Nallamotu urging him to consider establishing legal protections for child influencers.

How much a parent should reserve depends on how much the child appears in the content. For example, if your child appears 100% of her in an influencer’s videos, you must set aside at least half of the proceeds. The law, which goes into effect in July, does not require parents to report information about their children’s income to the state, but it does give child influencers the right to sue.

In Washington state, Chris McCarty, a college sophomore who uses the gender title Mx., has been working with local politicians since 2021 to pass legislation to protect child social media stars. The current version of the bill, introduced in January, requires parents to save 15% of their income. It also includes a clause stating that if an internet platform has paid a parent for the content, it must take “all reasonable steps” to remove the video at the request of an adult child actor.

In February, TikTok influencer Cam Barrett, who regularly appeared in her mother’s Facebook posts as a child, testified in support of the Washington bill.

“I’m scared to share my name because I have a digital footprint that I don’t control,” Barrett said. She recalled how her mother intimately told her about her first period, her car accident, and a serious illness she had once suffered from.

Sarah Adams, a blogger who criticizes child exploitation on social media, said children are “consumed as content publicly, sometimes on a daily basis, across a variety of platforms”.

Making an impact has become an aspirational path for many young people. A study by market analysis group Harris Poll and Lego found that children ages 8 to 12 are three times more interested in becoming a YouTuber than being an astronaut.

The amount of money influencers make varies, but the most successful influencers, like Anastasia Radzhinskaya, the 9-year-old star of the YouTube channel Like Nastya, can earn millions of dollars. In her video, shared with her 108 million subscribers, Anastasia spends time with her parents and friends and talks about the dangers of overdosing on sugar and the importance of washing her hands. Demonstrated benefits.

In the same stratosphere is Ryan Kaji, 12, who plays with toys, conducts science experiments, and makes crafts on his YouTube channel, Ryan’s World. He also has a line of toys sold at Target and his Walmart.

These windfalls are rare, but on Instagram, even users with a small number of followers, known as nano-influencers, can collect around $600 per post, and larger accounts can earn $10,000 or $20,000.

“Many people watch these channels and think it’s all fun and games, but there are also estimates that some of these large accounts are the sole source of income for families,” Mx said. said. McCarty said. “Conflicts of interest are tricky when your boss is also your parents.”

Until recently, many lawmakers like Koehler were unaware of the scale of this industry and its potential for exploitation.

“Old guys like me didn’t pay attention until someone 15 years old brought it to us,” Koehler said.

Stacey Steinberg, director of the Center for Children and Families at Levin School of Law, said another part of the problem is that the law provides for the right of states to protect vulnerable citizens and the right of parents to raise their children as they see fit. He said that there is a need to strike a balance. at the University of Florida.

“Many of our labor laws treat parental employment differently,” Steinberg said. “If I have a farm and my children work on my farm, they are likely to work in conditions that are much more dangerous than they would be working on your farm,” she said, according to the court. The question, he says, is where private family life ends and the right of the state to intervene and protect children begins.

Some states could follow in Illinois’ footsteps.

In August, Pennsylvania Representative Toren Ecker announced he would soon introduce legislation to regulate child influencers, and Maryland Representative Jazz Lewis made a similar promise to The Washington Post last month.

“The Illinois law is a great first step toward ensuring they are financially compensated,” Adams said. She wants the state to create protections for children’s economic interests as well as their privacy and mental health. “I’ve always thought of privacy as a universal right,” she said. “It is alarming to think that an entire generation is growing up without access to the internet.”