Illinois Becomes First State to Protect Children of Social Media Influencers

“It’s easier to tell you what my mom didn’t post,” says the child of one social media influencer, who recounted their first menstrual cycle being posted without consent to their mother’s 10,000 followers on Facebook years ago. 

Now children of social media influencers will have some protections, at least in Illinois. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1782, which passed the Senate unanimously, on Aug. 11, 2023. The legislation was first proposed by 13-year-old Shreya Nallamothu, who thought of the idea for a school project and sent a letter to State Senator David Koehler. Nallamothu says, “I realized that there’s a lot of exploitation that can happen within the world of ‘kidfluencing.’ And I realized that there was absolutely zero legislation in place to protect them.” She also noted, “Child influencing… is work at the end of the day. It’s labor and they deserve to be compensated for their labor.”

The law “entitle[s] influencers under the age of 16 to a percentage of earnings based on how often they appear on video blogs or online content.” That money will then be held in a trust until the child is 18. 

So far, Illinois is the only state to enact such protections for children. A similar bill has been stalled in Washington state’s legislature for months.

Discussion Questions

1. Should parents be able to post details or photos of their children’s lives to social media without consent? Why or why not?

2. Should children of social media influencers be entitled to compensation? Why or why not?

3. Should other protections for children of influencers or child influencers be enacted? Explain your answer(s).

Sources

Peter Hancock, “Illinois Senate Passes Bill Protecting ‘Child Influencers,’” abc7chicago.com, Mar. 30, 2023

Fortesa Latifi, “Illinois Just Passed the Country’s First Law Protecting Children of Influencers,” teenvogue.com, Aug. 11, 2023

Claire Savage, “Child Social Media Stars Have Few Protections. Illinois Aims to Fix That,” apnews.com, May 14, 2023