The Bottom Line
- California’s new child influencer laws expand protections for children who perform in online content.
- Effective January 1, 2025, content creators who feature minors in at least 30 percent of their content must deposit 65 percent of the minor’s gross earnings into a trust account for when they reach adulthood.
- Child influencers are now included within the definition of “child performers” who receive earnings protections under California’s Coogan Law.
- Marketers and those hiring child influencers directly will need to implement policies to verify the existence of Coogan trust accounts and prepare to pay 15% of earnings directly into those accounts.
On September 26, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newson signed two pieces of legislation, Assembly Bill 1880 and Senate Bill 764, providing significant protections to children who perform or are otherwise featured in online content.
With the rapid rise of child influencers, family-focused marketing campaigns featuring these children have become increasingly prevalent. As a result, concerns regarding the risk of child exploitation and children’s legal rights – specifically their rights to earnings derived from those campaigns – have become widespread. Over the past year, Illinois and Minnesota have led the charge in changing the regulatory landscape governing child influencers, with each state passing laws requiring vloggers or content creators to set aside a portion of their earnings into a dedicated trust for the children appearing in their content. Several other states have introduced child influencer bills that would require the same.
California has now become the latest state to sign a child influencer bill into law. All content creators and marketers who work with child influencers will need to take note of the new requirements.
Assembly Bill 1880
Assembly Bill 1880 expands the protections granted under California’s Coogan Law to child influencers. The Coogan Law, originally passed in 1939, requires employers of child performers to preserve at least 15 percent of a child’s gross earnings for creative or artistic services for the minor’s use when the minor reaches adulthood. Parents and/or legal guardians of the minor must prove the existence of a trust account into which the funds will be deposited.
Supported by SAG-AFTRA, the bill extends the Coogan law protections to child “content creators” performing contractual work in online content, including, but not limited to, vloggers, podcasters, social media influencers, and streamers.
This amendment provides these child influencers with the same financial protection as other forms of more traditional artistic employment. Marketers and those hiring child influencers directly will need to implement policies to verify the existence of Coogan trust accounts and prepare to pay 15% of earnings directly into those accounts.
Senate Bill 764
Senate Bill 764, or the Child Content Creator Rights Act, establishes additional legal and financial protections for minors featured in monetized online content. According to the bill’s author, Senator Padilla, it was critical to adapt California’s “landmark protections,” like the Coogan Law, “to keep up with the natural evolution of entertainment.” However, Senate Bill 764 extends past the protections outlined in the Coogan Law, which protects only those under contract.
This newly enacted legislation requires content creators that feature minors in at least 30 percent of their content (even if the minors are not contracted to do so) to deposit 65 percent of the minor’s gross earnings in a trust account they can access when they reach adulthood. Thus, the new law ensures protections for children who may be featured by their parents or legal guardians in family marketing campaigns without any formal employment or engagement to perform.
The bill also requires the parent or legal guardian to prove the existence of the trust account, including by maintaining certain written records, and to maintain records of the content itself to provide to the minor upon request.
The new law will become effective on January 1st, 2025.
Robert Chappell, an intern in the Advertising + Marketing group at Davis+Gilbert, assisted with this alert.