Governor Newsom joins Demi Lovato to sign legislation to protect the financial security of child influencers

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Sep 26, 2024

What you need to know: Governor Newsom joined Demi Lovato to sign AB 1880 (Alanis) and SB 764 (Padilla), bills to protect the financial well-being of child influencers.

Los Angeles, California - Governor Gavin Newsom signed two pieces of legislation today to ensure children and teenagers who perform in online content are protected from financial abuse. The legislation has been championed by former child star and current singer and activist Demi Lovato.

SB 764 (Padilla) establishes financial and legal protections for minors featured in monetized online content (i.e., child vloggers) by mandating their parent or guardian set aside a percentage of their earnings in trust accounts.

AB 1880 (Alanis) expands the Coogan Law to include minors who are employed as content creators on online platforms, such as YouTube. The Coogan Law is a decades-old statutory scheme that protects child performers and creators by ensuring that their employers place at least 15 percent of their gross earnings in trust till they reach adulthood.

"A lot has changed since Hollywood's early days, but here in California, our laser focus on protecting kids from exploitation remains the same. In old Hollywood, child actors were exploited. In 2024, it's now child influencers. Today, that modern exploitation ends through two new laws to protect young influencers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms."

Governor Gavin Newsom

"In order to build a better future for the next generation of child stars, we need to put protections in place for minors working in the digital space. I'm grateful to Governor Newsom for taking action with this update to the Coogan Law that will ensure children featured on social media are granted agency when they come of age and are properly compensated for the use of their name and likeness."

Demi Lovato

Assemblymember Juan Alanis: "I thank Governor Newsom for signing AB 1880 and for his commitment to addressing the unique challenges minors face as online content creators in the rapidly growing digital entertainment industry. Child content creators deserve the same protections under the Coogan Law as their counterparts in traditional entertainment. With this bill, California takes a significant step in protecting the financial rights and well-being of child online influencers by extending critical protections against exploitation and ensuring they receive a fair share of earnings from their content."

Senator Steve Padilla: "I want to thank Governor Newsom for helping uphold California's legacy of protecting child performers from financial abuse. As the entertainment industry evolves, our laws must evolve with it to remain relevant to ensure protections for vulnerable young performers."

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director: "We are grateful that protections now existing for child performers - protections we helped secure long ago - will be expanded to cover content creators and influencers. Regardless of medium or platform, all child performers must be strongly protected."

Bigger picture

The Newsom administration has been hard at work protecting children from the risks of social media and smartphones. Last week, Governor Newsom signed SB 976 by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), which prohibits online platforms from knowingly providing an addictive feed to a minor without parental consent. The bill also prohibits social media platforms from sending notifications to minors during school hours and late at night. On Monday, hesigned AB 3216, the Phone-Free School Act, to require every school district, charter school and county office of education to adopt a policy limiting or prohibiting the use of smartphones by July 1, 2026.

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