A unique law went into effect in Illinois this week that requires influencers to pay their children for appearing in video content.
The first-of-its-kind legislation passed last year and is now part of the state’s Child Labor Laws. It mandates that kids 16 and under must be compensated if they are in 30% or more of the paid content their parents make.
Parents and caregivers must set aside money in a trust for the child based on what percent of the video they appear in, the law says. The children will be able to access the trust once they turn 18.
The law was inspired by a high school student, Shreya Nallamothu, who brought the subject to the attention of her state senator, Dave Koehler.
Nallamothu said last August when the bill was signed into law that she got the idea from watching family vlogs on YouTube and TikTok.
“After finding that users could make money off of platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, I learned that, often, these kids are made to participate in videos without any guarantee of the income generated from the content, Nallamothu said. “I wanted to work with Senator Koehler to protect the money that these kids have rightfully earned.”
Some parents who run popular accounts linked to their children can get thousands of dollars for a single post, but before this law, their kids weren’t entitled to any compensation.
Koehler told Fast Company that the law was modeled on the 1939 Jackie Coogan Law, which protected the earnings of child actors. It was inspired by Coogan, who learned that almost all the money he made as a child actor had been spent by his parents.
The Illinois law comes as parent-influencers face increasing scrutiny for publicizing their children online.
Nallamothu told Fast Company she was particularly moved to action after watching a video in which The LaBrant Fam vloggers pranked their daughter and said they were giving the family’s puppy away.
“It made me really upset, because she’s obviously too young to really understand the ramifications of what’s being done to her,” Nallamothu said.