Examining the child influencer culture
The security and financial regulations for children in the media have been a heavily debated and controversial topic. As social media is a new reality for the future of entertainment, the position minors have in the industry is growing rapidly with the newfound platforms. The safeguarding put into place for minor content has raised concern. As of late, countless documentaries, articles and stories have come out about the mistreatment of children and teenagers, whether they are part of a family channel or have their own. The consistent discourse around the protection of child influencers has led to state-led changes as well as significant gaps between child-parent communication.
Currently, California has taken actions to bridge the disparities between laws protecting child actors and child influencers. According to Davis and Gilbert Law, in California, “Starting January 1, 2025, child influencers are now included within the definition of ‘child performers’ who receive earnings protections under California’s Coogan Law.”
The Coogan Law, which was first passed in 1939, ensures that, “15 percent of a child actor’s earnings go into a trust of the minor’s gross earnings into a trust account for when they reach adulthood,” according to UC Law SF. Now, child influencers are also protected by this law and, “content creators who feature minors in at least 30 percent of their content must deposit 65 percent to an account just for them,” according to Davis and Gilbert Law. This law will also affect marketers, who will now have to verify the existence of an influencer’s Coogan trust account before hiring them and paying 15 percent of earnings directly into that account.
However, these laws that classify child influencers as child entertainers or create financial protections are not universal. According to SAG-AFTRA, Coogan Accounts are only required by California, New York, Illinois, Louisiana and New Mexico. Other states with similar laws are Kansas, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Further, the laws surrounding child influencers are currently limited to financial protections via these accounts.
While the rapidly growing presence of children on social media is fairly new, children have held jobs in the entertainment industry for decades. As a result, laws have been established to protect working children both financially and emotionally.
Entertainment laws regarding children in the state of California require that all contracts intertwined with minors have to be approved by the courts, and a trust fund that contributes towards the child actors is known as the “Coogan Account.”
Elise Camacho and her daughter, both from Thousand Oaks, went through the process of setting up this account when her daughter began acting at six-years-old. “When a payment comes through, 15 percent automatically goes to this Coogan account, which is her account that no one can touch until she’s 18,” Camacho said. “I was kind of surprised that it is only 15 percent that gets directed to that account. I would have thought it would have been more.”
According to “Minors-Blue-Book,”; a document stating legal state guidelines to the entertainment field in the interest of the children; additional says that legislation includes conditions concerning working limitations on night work and resting time. Federal law regarding child labor interacts with state laws to ensure that dangerous and tiring environments are not created.
Leah Plunkett, Harvard Law School professor outlined how there are particular conditions that need to be granted for contracts in the entertainment industry for minors. “Legislatures at the state and federal level should continue to consider and, as appropriate, pass new statutes to offer more protections as technologies continue to evolve,” Plunkett said.
The working hours are tightly regulated to avoid young performers being abused and working too many hours in a day. There is a growing concern about the issue of fame on the internet. “I worry that child influencers will continue to be the star power for a multi-billion dollar global entertainment industry that takes advantage of their talents,” Plunkett said.
According to Syracuse University, financial abuse occurs “when the parent uses money as a weapon to take advantage of a minor. This can be done by stealing a child’s money or by using their personal information for economic gain.” Financial abuse against children can be extremely difficult to catch, as the children will likely be unaware that it is occurring.
Although child influencers have a level of legal protection from financial abuse from the Coogan Law, there are no protections for children regarding where the rest of their earnings are stored. In most cases, the children’s parents have control over their finances, leaving the door open for financial abuse if the parents decide to use their child’s earnings for personal use.
Even if the child influencers were under complete financial protection from managers or parents, the manipulation that occurs behind the scenes with “family channels” can create an environment of emotional abuse. Family channels, typically seen on Youtube, Tiktok or Instagram, are where content creators involve their entire family in posting about their lives. While these videos may seem wholesome and relatable, viewers have no way of knowing what goes on in the household when the cameras are off.
Several former child influencers have come forward in the last few years, exposing the realities behind popular family channels. One of the most notable cases is that of Ruby Franke, an influencer mother of six. Franke’s family was famous for their YouTube channel “8 Passengers” which started in 2015. In February of 2023, Franke was sentenced to prison on account of child abuse after alarming evidence of physical and emotional harm surfaced.
In Franke’s household, abuse came from filming her children without their consent, forcing them to “perform” for the camera and abusing them for monetary gain. Although certain laws allow for a level of protection for minors, there is no way to regulate how minors are treated by the public or how they are treated by those they work with, and abuse can occur not just financially, but also emotionally.
For some children, posting on social media can be an outreach tool, particularly when entering the entertainment industry. Lark Detweiler, professional dancer and an NPHS alumni, became serious about dancing professionally when she went to the Boston Ballet at 13-years-old. She soon started posting on social media with heavy parental supervision from her mother, Julianne Detweiler. “The rule was, if I ever found out she had something private, she would lose it. So I was always included, and I could give my opinions, and I could help her with making sure it was safe,” Julianne Detweiler said.
However, just as easily as one can hit post, millions of strangers on the internet have open access to the children who are sharing their lives online. When an influencer or artist is in the public eye, it is impossible to avoid unwanted exposure, even when certain settings can be altered to provide more privacy. “It’s nice that you don’t have to show likes and you can delete certain comments. But the problem is, that takes maintenance,” Julianne Detweiler said. “I mean, Lark spends all this time deleting these creepy guy posts.”
Inconsistencies in laws that protect children on social media can lead to consequences to their mental health. According to The Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, “People equate child fame with the same symptomatology as addiction – first you love it and then you hate it, and then you find out that you can’t live without it. Sometimes trying to keep that level of fame causes you to do things that you wouldn’t otherwise, and it ends with a lot of mental health issues.
Julianne Detweiler, mother of competitive dancer Lark Detweiler, has observed a noticeable trend when it comes to the well-being of child influencers. “If you look at every child star, the proportion of the ones that have mental health, anxiety, depression and have imploded and ruined their careers or lives is much higher than those that have been protected,” Julianne Detweiler said.
In order to combat health issues of child influencers, organizations such as Quit Clicking Kids, founded by former MTV Entertainment Group CEO Chris McCarthy, have proposed solutions. The organization has brought forward a bill that states that once children reach an age of majority, they can request any video featuring them as a child to be deleted.
According to parents and professors involved with the social media industry, the lack of protections provided on social media for child influencers is apparent, inviting an environment of exploitation. “The problem is, it has become the way people connect, and that can be a good thing, and it can be a really horrible thing,” Jullianne Detweiler said. “Because creepy people feel like they can say anything because they’re hiding behind a screen and don’t care what age your kid is.”
Jullianne Detweiler notes that issues regarding teen usage of social media are complex, with implications to inhibiting or allowing access. “If they don’t have a phone and access to social media, they’re a weirdo, or they think they’re considered a weirdo,” Jullianne Detweiler said. “If they do, it opens them up to so much access from people that shouldn’t have access.” As for the social media services themselves, a commitment to privacy and malicious reply filters is the service that some parents deem necessary.
Overall, parents and professionals both in Thousand Oaks and around the nation are continuing the conversation of what boundaries should be present for children on social media. With a new generation of minors growing up in a culture with child influencers, discussions of the regulations that are best for their safety will continue to circulate.
