Shielding Smiles: Legal Frameworks for Protecting the Children of Social Media Influencers
Family vlogging has become more and more prevalent on social media. Different families occupy unique niches. The Dougherty family’s content includes videos showing what the large family, twelve children, eats on a day to day basis.[1] Other families, such as the Klem family, revolve their content around a variety of games in which both the children and adults compete for money.[2] Videos are posted frequently, always with a lighthearted and positive tone. However, the behind the scenes do not always match the content these creators make available to the public.
The harm caused to the children of social media families comes in different forms. An extreme example can be seen in the recent arrest of social media creator Ruby Franke, who has been charged with aggravated child abuse.[3] But, there is a general concern regarding the privacy of these children. The type of content varies greatly, but many families gain views by exploiting emotional moments and show their children upset and/or crying.[4] Many of these children are too young to object or understand they are being filmed or posted to a large audience. But even older children may not have a choice of whether this type of content is published. The other concerns are that these children are not being protected from long working hours and that they are not being adequately compensated for the work they are doing.[5] There is currently little regulation in this ‘social media’ space, as compared to children in the movie industry. [6] Parents can easily exploit their children around the clock in order to produce content, without giving the child any of the proceeds from their labor in creating the content.
Legal protection in this space has been virtually nonexistent until a new Illinois law was passed last year.[7] This law entitled children influencers to compensation for content they appear in.[8] This money will then be placed in a trust until they are no longer a minor.[9] Other states have taken note and created their own bills.[10] Ohio and California now have similar laws.[11] Opponents to these laws claim they are an undue governmental intrusion on a person’s “business.”[12]
These legal strides are a great start for protecting the children of social media influencers, however, there is still a long way to go. Since the laws are state based, the majority of states still have no protection whatsoever.[13] Also, the most of new laws are compensation based. They do not protect against children who simply do not consent to being featured in content. Some states are attempting to address the consent issue.[14] For example, introduced in January 2024, Missouri House Bill 1998 would give children the “right to be deleted” once they turn eighteen.[15] Although still not giving the children a chance to not be featured while they are still underage, this proposal gives them the type of autonomy not seen in most of the other legislation once they turn eighteen years old.
The final concern surrounding child influencers is the lack of labor laws that regulate this niche sphere.[16] Many of these children are pulled out of in-person schooling to essentially be full-time content creators.[17] Current laws, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, do not include protections for child influencers.[18] There is simply no regulation in this space.
As more and more families begin sharing the personal details of their children’s daily lives, other states will hopefully continue to create legislation that protects these children, setting aside a percentage compensation for them while also giving them autonomy over what content is left online.
Footnotes
