CHICAGO — Hiding at home during a pandemic lockdown three years ago, 13-year-old Shreya Nallamothu was scrolling through social media when she noticed a pattern: Kids even younger than her are the stars — dancing, breaking one-liners, and being generally adorable.
“At first it seemed harmless to me,” said Nalamothu.
But as she saw more and more posts of kids pushing their products or accidents going viral, she started to wonder: Who was watching them?
“I realized that there is a lot of exploitation that can occur in the world of ‘kidfluencing',” said Nallamothu, referring to the monetization of social media content featuring children. “And I realized that there are absolutely no laws to protect them.”
Illinois lawmakers aim to change that by making their state what they say will be the first in the nation to create protections for children who are influential on social media. Nalamothu, now 15, raised his concerns to Illinois state Senator David Koehler of Peoria, who then implemented the law.
The Illinois bill would entitle influencers under the age of 16 to 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 be eligible, content must be created in Illinois, and children must feature in at least 30% of the content within a 30 day period.
The video blogger — or vlogger — will be responsible for keeping a record of the children's appearance and must set aside the child's gross income in a trust account when they turn 18, otherwise the child may sue.
The bill was passed by the state Senate unanimously in March, and is scheduled for consideration by the House of Representatives this week. If approved, the bill will return to the Senate for a final vote before passing to Governor JB Pritzker, who has said he intends to sign it in the coming months.
Family-style vlogs can feature children from birth and recount family milestones and events—the wholesome clips Nallamothu originally scrolled.
But experts say ” share the industry, which can earn content creators tens of thousands of dollars per brand deal, is poorly regulated and can even lead to losses.
“As we see influencer and content creator increasingly becoming a viable career path for young people, we have to remember that this is a place where the law has not followed practice,” said Jessica Maddox, a University of Alabama professor. who studied social media platforms.
He added that child influencers “desperately need the same protections that have been afforded to child workers and other entertainers.”
The Illinois bill was modeled largely after the Jackie Coogan California act of 1939, named for a silent film-era child actor who sued his parents for squandering his earnings. Coogan laws now exist in several states and require parents to set aside a portion of a child's entertainer income when they reach the age of majority.
Other states have tried to pass laws to regulate the potential exploitation of children on social media without success. California 2018 Child labor bill including social media advertising provisions which were removed at the time it was authorized, and Washington Bill of 2023 stopped at the committee.
Across the Atlantic, France passed a law in 2020 that gave influencers under the age of 16 the right to a portion of their earnings, as well as a “right to forget”, meaning video platforms had to pull the image of the child at the request of the minor. . Parental consent is not required.
The Illinois bill itself underwent several changes during the legislature's session that softened its reach, including repealing provisions allowing child influencers to request content removal after they reach the age of 18, and requiring family vloggers to register their channels.
Still, Chicago-based Tyler Diers, executive director of technology trade association Technet in the Midwest, who opposed the bill before the change but is now neutral, said that when one state legislature raises an issue, others tend to follow suit, “and often perfectly.” . what the first state did.”
Nalamothu stressed that the Illinois bill was not aimed at “parents who post their children on Facebook for their family and close friends,” or even the funny clips that have gone viral.
“This is for families who make their living from child vlogging and family vlogging,” he said.
Many social media platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok — don't allow children to have accounts until they are at least 13 years old. But that doesn't stop them from popping up on social media. And the internet is filled with examples of children being put on display for financial gain – and the resulting harm as a result.
In 2019, an Arizona mother was accused tortured his seven foster children for a subpar performance in their popular YouTube series, Fantastic Adventures; the Maryland couple who posted “joke” videos of themselves screaming at their children and breaking toys they lost custody and were sentenced to five years probation for child neglect.
Another YouTube couple filmed every step of their family process adopted a small child from China with autismonly to end up placing him in a new home.
Chris McCarty, an 18-year-old college student who founded Quit Clicking Kids, an advocacy organization focused on protecting minors from being monetized online, and was the force behind the bill in Washington, noted that “this problem is not going away.”
“Once these kids start growing up, the real damage that monetized family channels are doing will manifest,” McCarty said in court for the Washington bill in February.
TikToker Bobbi Althoff is a mother of two little girls whom she lovingly refers to as “Richard” and “Concrete” to her 3.7 million followers. Althoff used to share his older daughter's real face and name online, but stopped after people made rude comments about her.
“I keep thinking about my daughter growing up to read this stuff, and it really pisses me off because I hate reading stuff like that about myself,” she said.
When she shared her decision on Instagram, she lost thousands of followers and received backlash.
“A lot of people are supportive, but there are definitely a lot of people who are really weird about it,” said Althoff, describing how some viewers felt like “they have a relationship with my daughter… watching her grow.”
While TikTok's famous tots aren't old enough to reflect on their experiences, the star of the last decade's child reality TV can offer comparable insight into what it's like to be on the other side of the camera.
Ohio-based Jason Welage enjoyed his time as a teenager on TruTV's 2015 reality show Kart Life, which followed a family in the world of go-kart racing. Now 20, Welage says some of the less enjoyable aspects have followed him into adulthood.
“When you Google a show, the first clip that pops up on YouTube is of me going off the track and crying,” he said. “I still hear it to this day.”
His parents funnel the $10,000 he earns on the show back into his races, which can cost the family up to $150,000 a year, according to his mother Meghan, who, like her son, supports a child influencer law in Illinois and hopes a similar law will take effect. enforced in other states or even federally.
For kids who appear on social media or TV, “it definitely works for them,” he says. His son “wanted to go play, but instead he had to sit on a bench in our motor home and do interviews.”
“There has to be something to compensate the child for what they are going through or what they have to do,” he said.