Illinois Passes First Law Protecting Children Of Influencers



A new Illinois law is now the first in the country designed to protect the earnings of children who are social media influencers or who appear in their parents’ social media content, Insider reported.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the bill into law on August 11. Beginning July 2024, children under 16 who are social media influencers or who appear in their parents’ own content will be entitled to a certain percentage of earnings from that content, based on how much they appear.

This legislation was first championed by Shreya Nallamothu, who at 15 years old found herself concerned about protecting kids finding stardom online. She contacted State Sen. David Koehler with her idea, and he later proposed the legislation.

Teen Vogue reported that Illinois has officially passed the nation’s first legislation aimed at protecting child influencers, in a move that advocates say is long overdue and may serve as a model for other states to follow suit.

According to Teen Vogue, the bill was passed through the Illinois Senate unanimously in March and was signed into law on August 11. The Illinois law will “entitle influencers under the age of 16 to a percentage of earnings based on how often they appear on video blogs or online content,” AP reported. The money must be held in a trust fund which the child can access when they turn 18. Currently, there are no laws that protect child influencers, or children whose parents post them online for monetary gain.

“Child influencing … is work at the end of the day,” Nallamothu said. “It’s labor and they deserve to be compensated for their labor.”

KSBY 6 (California) reported that the Illinois law to ensure child social media influencers are compensated for their work will go into effect on July 1, 2024.

“The rise of social media has given children new opportunities to earn a profit,” Koehler said in an emailed press release after the bill was signed Friday afternoon. “Many parents have take this opportunity to pocket the money while making their children continue to work in these digital environments.”

The idea for the law, which covers children under the age of 16 featured in monetized online platforms, including video blogs (also known as vlogs), was brought to Koehler by a 15-year-old in his district, the Democratic senator said.

According to KSBY 6, the Illinois law will entitle child influencers a percentage of earnings based on how often they appear on video blogs or online content that generates at least 10 cents per view. To qualify, the content must be created in Illinois, and kids would have to be featured in at least 30% of the content in a 30-day period.

In my opinion, when a parent chooses to record video and audio of their children, and post that online for everyone to see, they are taking a big risk. Their baby or preschooler will become a teen who may be completely embarrassed about those videos. It’s good that the Illinois law will require financial compensation for the kids of influencers.