Proposed law would compensate Ohio ‘Kidfluencers’

Ohio Democrats want children working as social media influencers to keep the money they earn, and they hope a celebrity can influence the rest of the General Assembly.

Actor and singer Alyson Stoner recently joined lawmakers to introduce the Kidfluencer Protection Act to ensure proper compensation for child influencers.

Only Illinois has a similar law.

“Currently, there are few widespread resources providing guidance on responsible, ethical, age-appropriate digital citizenship for children,” Stoner said at a news conference. “Further, given workplaces often do not include children, they are an easily overlooked population when it comes to establishing proper protections, and regardless, there are limited ways to monitor the safety and living conditions of kids on social media.

"Taking steps to safeguard a portion of child influencers’ earnings and their right to privacy is a crucial step in minimizing the harm that hundreds of thousands of children have experienced across traditional and digital media.”

The law would require adult vloggers who feature minors in content to put a certain amount of money in a trust that can be accessed when the child turns 18.

The amount of money would be a “minimum contribution” of half of the percentage of time the name, likeness or photograph of a vlogging minor was featured multiplied by the gross earnings of that vlog over a year.

When a minor turns 18, they can request their image or likeness be removed from any vlog.

“Kidfluencers often do not see a dime of the earnings they gross,” Rep. Michele Grim, D-Toledo, said. "They are largely at the will of their guardians or other adult vloggers to determine what of their childhood is filmed and posted on the internet for profit. This is a largely unregulated industry where swift action is needed to protect minors."