Illinois becomes first state ensuring pay for child social media influencers

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Many across the country have seen families become famous on TikTok and YouTube by recording video blogs or "vlogs" with their kids prominently featured. Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law Friday ensuring young social media influencers are paid for their work in videos with their parents of guardians.

Children under 16 will be entitled to a share of the revenue from videos if they are featured in at least 30% of a vlogger's content each month. Parents or guardians will be required to set up a trust fund so minors can access the money with they are older.

"This is a bill that was brought to me by a young 15-year-old high school student from Normal, Illinois. Her name is Shreya Nallamothu," said Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria). "She was concerned about the risks of children being used in vlogging on the internet, especially where it was monetized and large sums of money were being created by their families in doing that."

Minors will gain access to the money once they turn 18 or become legally independent from their parents or guardians.

The plan gained strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate this spring. Child influencers may seek a private right of action against their parents if they were not properly compensated. Illinois will be the first state in the country to have this type of protection when the law takes effect on January 1, 2024.

"The one thing I would suggest for the future is that this bill does not go far enough," said Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris). "We need to look at social media and the impacts on minors in general, and I look forward to working on that topic in the future."

Koehler and Rep. Sharon Chung (D-Bloomington) agreed this law is an important first step to address social media for kids.

Senate Bill 1782 passed unanimously out of the Senate on May 19. The legislation passed out of the House on a 98-17 vote on May 16. Some House Republicans said they opposed the plan as they feel government should not impede on family relationships.