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Dem bill aims to compensate kids in family vlogging videos • Arizona Mirror [1]
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Date: 2024-01
You may recognize them as the young dancer from Missy Elliot’s “Work it” music video, or from their plethora of roles on the Disney Channel as a child.
Now, actor Alyson Stoner is taking a stand against child exploitation in Hollywood, specifically through social media and family vlogging channels. The former child star has taken to YouTube to detail the harsh and traumatic realities of being a child in the spotlight.
Stoner’s advocacy has inspired legislators around the country to draft protections for the children of family vloggers — including here in Arizona, where Rep. Nancy Gutierrez has introduced a pair of bills aimed at getting fair compensation for those child performers.
Under the Tucson Democrat’s House Bill 2565, a child who appears in enough of a creator’s monetized content is entitled to a share of the channel’s earnings.
“My main goal is to protect children and their earnings as they work as children,” Gutierrez said . “There’s really no protections for these children right now, which is why we are seeing this kind of legislation popping up around the country.”
Illinois was the first state to pass similar protections for child influencers in 2023. Since then, bills have been proposed in various states like Ohio, where Stoner joined lawmakers earlier this month to endorse the “Kidfluencer Protections Act”.”
“I want Arizona kids to have those same protections,” Gutierrez said .
Gutierrez isn’t just setting her sights on the vloggers whose kids are featured on YouTube and TikTok, though. She is also sponsoring House Bill 2564, which addresses child performers of all kinds. It would require a child performer’s employer to set aside a percentage of the child’s gross earnings into a trust, of which one of the child’s guardians would be named the trustee.
The bill comes less than a month after Utah mom and family vlogger Ruby Franke plead guilty to 4 counts of aggravated child abuse in a case that has garnered national attention. Known for her YouTube channel “8 Passengers,” Franke gained a following for her parenting advice. At its peak, the now-deleted channel once had over 2 million subscribers.
The channel’s frequent videos featured moments of everyday life for Franke and her six kids. However, viewers began to question Franke’s parenting style after multiple instances of harsh discipline seen in their content, such as withholding food.
Gutierrez said that Franke’s case, as well as awareness raised by Stoner, drove her to draft this bill. She said she hopes that the proposal sparks a conversation about the treatment of kids in the media, and how we can best protect them.
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