The kidfluencer economy is worth billions. Children star in monetized content that generates millions of views, brand deals worth six figures, and advertising revenue their parents control entirely — while the children themselves often have no legal claim to a single dollar.
Traditional child performer laws were written for film sets and theater stages. They were not written for a parent and a smartphone in a living room. That gap has left millions of children legally unprotected in an industry that didn’t exist when most labor statutes were drafted.
This guide covers what existing child performer laws say and where they fall short, which US states have passed new legislation specifically for social media creators, how international frameworks compare, what platforms require, and the legal mistakes that put families — and children — at serious risk.
What Are Child Performer Laws and Why Don’t They Fully Cover Social Media?
Child performer laws are regulations that govern the working conditions, earnings protections, and welfare of minors employed in the entertainment industry. In their traditional form, they cover film, television, theater, and commercial advertising — but most were not designed to address social media content creation, and the gap is significant.
The most important US law in this space has its origins in a 1930s child acting scandal.
The Coogan Law: Where It All Started
Jackie Coogan was one of the biggest child stars in Hollywood history, earning an estimated $4 million as a young actor in the 1920s — equivalent to more than $70 million today. By the time he reached adulthood, his mother and stepfather had spent nearly everything. He was left with roughly $250,000.
California’s response was the Child Actor’s Bill, now known as the Coogan Law, passed in 1939 and significantly strengthened in 2000. The law requires that 15% of a minor’s gross earnings be deposited into a blocked trust account — called a Coogan Account — that the child can access upon turning 18. Neither parent, manager, nor agent can touch it.
For decades, the Coogan Law applied strictly to traditional entertainment: films, TV shows, commercials, and theatrical productions. A child starring in a YouTube video or a TikTok brand deal fell into a legal gray area.
The Fundamental Problem: Social Media Is Not Classified as “Employment”
This is the core issue that most coverage of child influencer law misses. Traditional child performer statutes apply when a minor is employed to perform. When a parent creates content featuring their child — even content generating significant commercial revenue — the child is technically not an “employee.” The parent is the creator. The child is a participant.
That classification has allowed family content channels to operate outside the employment-based protection framework entirely. A child filming a 10-hour production day for a studio would be covered by strict working hour limits, mandatory rest periods, and set welfare requirements. A child filming content at home for a family YouTube channel with 10 million subscribers has, historically, had no equivalent protection.
Federal Law: Still Not There
At the federal level in the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has long-standing exemptions for child performers in entertainment — but those exemptions were also not designed with social media in mind. As of 2026, there is no dedicated federal law specifically governing the earnings or welfare of child social media content creators. Several bills have been introduced in Congress, but none have passed into law at the national level.
The absence of federal legislation has pushed individual states to act.
Which US States Have Laws Protecting Child Social Media Creators?
A handful of US states have moved ahead of federal law to establish protections for minors appearing in monetized social media content. The landscape is shifting quickly, with several more states expected to pass legislation in 2025 and 2026.
Illinois: The First State to Act
Illinois became the first US state to pass legislation specifically protecting child social media creators when Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Child Social Media Protection Act into law on August 11, 2023, with effect from January 1, 2024.
The law requires parents who earn revenue from online content — including vlogs, social media posts, and streaming content — that “depicts” their minor child to set aside a proportional share of the earnings in a trust accessible to the child when they turn 18. The proportion is calculated based on how much of the content features the minor.
Illinois’s law does not regulate working hours or set conditions of participation. It is narrowly focused on financial protection — ensuring the child retains a share of the money generated from their likeness and participation.
California: Extending the Coogan Law to Social Media
California followed in 2024 when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1138, extending Coogan Law protections explicitly to child social media influencers and vloggers. Under the extended law, minors who are the subject of monetized social media content are entitled to the same 15% trust account protection that has applied to child actors for decades.
California’s extension is significant because it directly names social media content creation as a category of child performance — closing the definitional gap that had previously excluded kidfluencers from the Coogan framework.
Utah and Other States
Utah passed legislation in 2024 addressing child influencer earnings, requiring parents to document and set aside compensation derived from content featuring minors. Washington and New York have had similar bills introduced in their respective legislatures, with advocacy groups actively pushing for passage.
The legislative trend is clear: states are treating child social media content creation as a form of compensable labor, even when no formal employment relationship exists.
US State Comparison at a Glance
| State | Law | Key Protection | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | Child Social Media Protection Act | Proportional earnings in trust | Jan 1, 2024 |
| California | AB 1138 (Coogan Extension) | 15% in blocked trust account | 2024 |
| Utah | HB 311 (Child Influencer Earnings) | Parental documentation + set-aside | 2024 |
| New York | Proposed | Earnings trust + hour limits | Pending |
| Washington | Proposed | Earnings trust | Pending |
| Federal | No dedicated law | N/A | — |
How Do International Child Influencer Laws Compare?
The United States is not alone in scrambling to regulate this space — but France stands significantly ahead of every other country in the comprehensiveness of its framework.
France: The Global Standard
France passed Law No. 2020-1266 on October 7, 2020 — the world’s first national law specifically governing child influencer activity on online platforms. The law treats child social media content creation as a form of regulated child labor and establishes protections modeled on those that apply to child actors in film and television.
Under the French law:
- Parents must register with regional authorities before publishing commercial content featuring a minor.
- Children are entitled to work permits with limits on filming hours, similar to protections for child actors.
- A portion of earnings must be placed in a blocked account (Caisse des Dépôts) until the child turns 16.
- Platforms are required to take down content at the request of the child once they are old enough to make that decision.
- Regional authorities can suspend a child’s participation if welfare concerns are identified.
The French law also established, for the first time anywhere, a child’s right to be forgotten in a social media context — meaning content created when they were a minor can be removed from platforms at their request. This is a legal concept other countries have yet to codify.
United Kingdom: Outdated Framework Under Review
The UK governs child performers through the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 and various local authority licensing requirements. These laws require performance licenses for children under 16 appearing in commercial productions — but “commercial production” has not been definitively extended to cover social media content.
Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has been reviewing its framework for child content creators under the broader Online Safety Act 2023, which places stronger duties on platforms. However, as of 2026, no dedicated UK law specifically governs earnings protection for child social media creators in the way California’s or France’s law does. Several child welfare organizations, including the NSPCC, have publicly called for legislative reform.
Australia: Sector Review Underway
Australia’s child performer regulations fall under a combination of state-level child employment laws and the Fair Work Act. Most state frameworks require child performance permits for commercial content, but enforcement in the social media context has been inconsistent.
The Fair Work Commission has conducted reviews of how child labor protections apply to digital content creation, but no dedicated federal legislation has been enacted. Australian child welfare advocates have pointed to the lack of earnings protection for children in monetized family content as a significant policy gap.
European Union: Data Protection as a Partial Substitute
Across the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides some relevant protections: it grants special status to children’s personal data, requires higher standards of consent for data processing of minors, and gives individuals the right to request deletion of personal data — including images published online. However, GDPR was not designed as a child performer law and does not address earnings, working conditions, or welfare on set.
Individual EU member states have varying national frameworks. France remains the strongest example within the EU for comprehensive social media-specific protection.
What Do Platforms Actually Require for Minors in Content?
Platform policies are not laws — but violating them carries immediate practical consequences and, in some cases, overlaps with legal data protection obligations.
Age Minimums and Account Rules
Every major platform prohibits accounts for users under 13 — a baseline established by the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In practice, enforcement relies heavily on self-reported age at signup.
For minors between 13 and 17:
- TikTok offers “Family Pairing,” which allows parents to link their account to their child’s and control content visibility, messaging, and screen time. Accounts for users under 16 cannot send or receive direct messages.
- Instagram introduced “Teen Accounts” in 2024, which apply default protective settings — limited contact from unknown adults, restricted content categories, and time management tools — for users under 16, with parental approval required to change settings.
- YouTube requires that minors participate through a parent- or guardian-managed account. YouTube’s Partner Program (monetization) requires account holders to be 18 or older; parents manage the financial relationship on behalf of minors who appear in family channels.
Monetization: Who Holds the Money?
On YouTube, monetization — AdSense revenue, memberships, Super Chats — is associated with the channel account, which legally belongs to the adult account holder. The child appearing in the content has no formal claim through the platform. This is precisely the gap that state laws like California’s Coogan extension are designed to fill.
On TikTok, the Creator Fund and Creator Rewards Program payments go to the registered account holder. Business accounts are required to belong to an adult. Children under 18 cannot independently enter creator monetization programs.
Platform policies do not require parents to share, document, or set aside any portion of earnings with the child featured in the content. That obligation, where it exists, comes from state or national law — not from the platform.
COPPA and Data Protection
Under COPPA, platforms must obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal data from users under 13. This applies to names, photos, videos, location data, and device identifiers. Parents who publish content featuring children under 13 on third-party platforms may also have obligations under COPPA depending on whether they operate commercially.
In the EU, GDPR’s provisions on children’s data apply to any platform processing data of minors. Publishing a child’s image commercially online involves processing of personal data and requires a lawful basis — which, for young children, must be parental consent.
Legal Mistakes Parents and Family Channels Commonly Make
Most family content creators are not exploitative — they are simply unaware of where the law now stands. But good intentions do not create legal compliance.
Not Opening a Protected Earnings Account
Even in states with Coogan-style laws, many parents have not opened the legally required trust accounts. The accounts must be established with a licensed financial institution and documented — failure to do so is a direct statutory violation in California and Illinois for qualifying channels.
In my review of family content creator compliance discussions across legal forums and creator communities, the single most common gap is earnings documentation: many parents cannot produce records of how much revenue their content has generated, let alone prove any portion was set aside.
Treating the Channel as a “Family Activity” Rather Than a Business
When a channel generates advertising revenue, brand deal income, or merchandise sales, it is a business — regardless of how casual the filming looks. Once commercial activity exists, employment law questions arise: Is the child performing services for compensation? Who holds the duty of care?
Several legal professionals specializing in entertainment law have noted publicly that the “it’s just a family vlog” framing does not hold up once significant commercial income is involved. The legal test is whether a minor is appearing in content produced for commercial purposes — not whether the content looks professional.
No Written Record of Consent or Participation Agreements
For older children, establishing documented consent for participation in commercial content is increasingly important — both as a legal record and as a protection against future disputes. France’s law enshrines a child’s right to request removal of content; US states are likely to follow. Without documentation of how content was created and what the child’s involvement was, creators face significant exposure.
Ignoring Working Hours Entirely
No US state has yet enacted specific working hour limits for child social media creators. But the absence of explicit law is not the same as an absence of risk. Child welfare investigators in several states have applied general child welfare standards to cases involving excessive filming schedules. The Ruby Franke case — in which a Utah family content creator was convicted on child abuse charges in February 2024 — was not primarily a labor law case, but it brought widespread attention to how the absence of regulated hours in the social media context can contribute to harmful environments for children.
Relying on Platform Compliance as Legal Compliance
Platforms set policies for their business needs. They are not legal counsel. Following TikTok’s or YouTube’s terms of service does not mean you are in compliance with California’s Coogan Law, Illinois’s Child Social Media Protection Act, France’s influencer law, or COPPA. These are separate and parallel obligations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Coogan Law apply to YouTube and TikTok family channels?
As of 2024, California’s AB 1138 explicitly extended Coogan Law protections to child social media influencers. If a minor’s participation generates income — through ads, brand deals, or platform payments — the 15% set-aside requirement applies to qualifying creators in California. Illinois has a parallel law applying a proportional set-aside for commercially monetized content featuring minors. Other states have not yet passed equivalent legislation.
What happens if parents don’t follow child performer laws?
Consequences vary by jurisdiction. In California and Illinois, failure to establish legally required trust accounts for minors’ earnings can result in civil liability — the child can sue for the withheld earnings upon reaching adulthood. In France, non-compliance can result in platform reporting obligations, suspension of content creation rights, and referral to child welfare authorities. Reputational and legal consequences can also arise from any associated tax or financial misreporting.
At what age can a child consent to appearing in social media content?
This question has no universal legal answer. Under most legal frameworks, a child under 18 cannot enter binding commercial contracts. However, no jurisdiction currently requires a child’s legal consent before a parent may include them in social media content. France’s law created a “right to removal” that minors can exercise; US states have not yet codified an equivalent right. This is one of the most actively debated areas in emerging child digital rights law.
Are there working hour limits for child content creators?
As of 2026, no US state has enacted specific working hour limits for child social media content creation. Traditional child performer laws set strict hour limits on film and television sets — for example, California limits children under 6 to a maximum of six hours on set per day. These rules do not automatically apply to home-filmed social media content. Several advocacy organizations have called for equivalent protections to be introduced.
Does COPPA apply to family YouTube channels?
COPPA applies to websites and online services that collect personal data from children under 13 — or that are directed at children. YouTube channels that are directed primarily at children are subject to COPPA obligations, which affects whether and how the channel can serve personalized ads. The FTC has issued fines to channels that served behavioral advertising to child audiences without COPPA-compliant consent. Parents who run channels directed at young children should treat COPPA compliance as a baseline legal obligation.
Can a child later sue their parents over social media earnings?
Potentially, yes. In California and Illinois, if a parent was legally required to establish an earnings trust for a minor and failed to do so, the child has a legal basis to pursue that money upon reaching adulthood. Outside of those states, the legal path is less clear, but civil claims based on unjust enrichment or breach of fiduciary duty have been raised in analogous entertainment law cases. The emerging nature of this area means case law is still developing.
What is France’s “right to be forgotten” for child influencers?
Under France’s 2020 child influencer law, a minor who appeared in social media content can request that platforms remove that content once they reach an age of legal capacity. This right is codified in law and enforceable against platforms operating in France. No equivalent statutory right exists in the United States at the federal level, though GDPR provides a general right to erasure for EU residents, including minors. Advocacy groups in the US and UK are actively pushing for similar protections.
Conclusion
Child performer laws and social media content creation are on a collision course — and the law is accelerating to catch up. What was once a regulatory blind spot is now an active legislative priority in multiple jurisdictions.
The practical reality for parents and family creators is this: if your content generates commercial income and features a minor, you are operating inside an increasingly regulated space. Ignorance of state law does not protect you from civil liability. Platform terms of service do not substitute for legal compliance. And the children in your content have financial rights that the law is now beginning to enforce.
Your action step this week: If you operate a commercially monetized channel or account featuring a minor, check whether you are in a state with existing earnings protection laws — California, Illinois, and Utah are the current leaders. If you are, consult a family entertainment attorney about whether a Coogan-style trust account is required, and establish one if it is.
The children in this content can’t protect their own interests. The law increasingly requires that someone does.
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