Assembly Bill 1880 and Senate Bill 764 took effect in California earlier this year. The 2 Bills enact new rules and regulations for child influencers and families who include minor children in their content. Assembly Bill 1880 has expanded protections under California’s Coogan Law to child content creators (The Coogan Law previously targeted child stars in the music and entertainment industry). This amendment, supported by SAG-AFTRA, affords “kidfluencers” the same financial protection as other forms of artistic employment. Businesses directly engaging and hiring child influencers will now need to: (1) verify the existence of Coogan trust accounts, and (2) pay 15% of the child’s earnings directly into those accounts.
Senate Bill 764, otherwise known as the Child Content Creator Rights Act, institutes even further financial protections for minors who are featured in monetized online content, regardless of whether they are hired directly by a brand or agency. This Act requires that content creators that feature minors in at least 30% of their content: (1) create and prove the existence of a trust account for the minors in question, and (2) deposit 65% of said minors’ gross earnings into the account for the children to access when they turn 18. This law effectively closes any loophole that the Coogan Law amendment creates by detailing protection for children who may be featured in family style content, but are not directly engaged to perform in related marketing campaigns.
These regulations have become a topic of great discourse on social platforms such as TikTok over the past few weeks as some users allege that conveniently timed moves of many family vloggers to states other than California are a result of the newly enacted legislation. Both Assembly Bill 1880 and Senate Bill 764 represent significant strides in protecting child influencers by ensuring their financial security, thus extending long-overdue safeguards to a rapidly growing segment of the digital economy in California. As these new regulations reshape the landscape for kidfluencers, its crucial for influencers, families, and businesses to stay informed and comply with these laws to ensure the protection and well-being of child performers in the online era.
If you need of legal assistance in the areas of digital media or advertising law, or have questions regarding compliance with these new regulations, please contact our attorneys here.
