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I've always been uncomfortable with kidfluencers. 4-year-olds in YouTube and TikTok videos aren't really making the choice to be there. Their parents are dressing them up, giving them activities, telling them what to do/say, and basically using them as "talent". If the kid's having fun, if the kid can say "No", if there aren't any stakes and it's just a parent/child bonding activity, that's one thing. But once it becomes a business, once a family's welfare is dependent on the performance of a child - that's when I get particularly worried. Hollywood has a long history of children being taken advantage of by well-meaning-but-incompetent (at best) and greedily-abusive (at worst) parents. The influencer world is the Wild West, and I have no doubt that many of the kids you see on your kids favorite YouTube channels or your favorite parenting blogs are not having a good time, and/or won't reap the benefits of their work in the long run. California has tried to protect child stars for years, with the most recent revisions coming in 2000 to California law, making it "necessary for a minimum of 15% of a child actor’s earnings to be placed in a trust fund (no longer at the discretion of the judge). Additionally, the 15% must come from the child-actor’s gross income, not their net income, protecting it from being reduced by “management” or “secretarial” fees. Finally, the income earned by a child actor is legally recognized as the child actor’s property. It is no longer the property of their parent or guardian." (Library of Congress blog) A similar law exists in NYC, but not in other states, and - critically - child actors are exempt from federal labor laws, so they NEED state legal protection. I'm thrilled to see another state enacting a law to protect minors in this new and evolving world of digital media. Let's hope other states follow suit. How do you feel about kidfluencers? --- #CreatorEconomy #Creators #InfluencerMarketing #Influencers #Entrepreneurs #Business #Innovation #Marketing #DigitalMarketing #Law #management #parenting #digital https://lnkd.in/dckzSyR5
If there was a platform that provided a clearing service, so members could be paid on the platform - then perhaps the platform could enforce this by not paying out and holding a certain percentage until the member reached 18. Would that work ?
Miguel O.
1y
A few years back my son wanted to read books on youtube. So we did it. I asked my LinkedIn network. People mailed him many books. A couple of times I had to pressure him into it "because you committed to it." Then I realized how wild that was and what it would be like if things really took off. We let it go because he wanted to be a real kid out in the world. It's wild how many parents aren't guarding the minds of their children and putting them infront of a screen/camera for their own convenience/desires.
Andy Wang
1y
Judging by the struggles of many kid actors, it’s important to protect kids in digital media.
Feels like these 'laws' should be part of the terms and conditions on platforms
There are platforms where anyone above 13 can have their own profile. An increasing number of these are influencers and are generating revenue from sponsored content. A lot of states / countries do not even have regulations around this, but even if they did have regulations, how would one enforce it ? How would you ensure that a certain percentage is indeed going into a trust that is in the child's name ?
Same. I can't get rid of the feeling that there's always an element of abuse in kidfluencing and sharenting and truly believe this sphere should be regulated.
I’m not a fan of kidfluencers. There’s too must risk of them being taken advantage of financially and stress on their mental health at a such an early age. 👎
I am not a fan of kidfluencers either. Being a mother myself, I believe this is the time to experiment lots of things. If we keep pushing them to do things that we believe they might like makes it quite overwhelming for them. I hope this bill sheds some light on what's happening globally.
need to be 18 to be on the platform at all - how about that?
COO, Fixated - Digital Media Veteran / Building Digital Businesses, Moving Culture
1yI'm against it. I've been around too many parents of kidfluencers at VidCon treating them like products. There are family channels doing it the 'right way' but it's too tempting to do it the 'wrong way' once big checks start rolling in.