Child labour is a very complex problem - even leaving aside the completely illegal employment of minors in factories, on farmlands, etc. The line is very thin: a 10-year-old walking the neighbours' dogs might be considered entrepreneurial, but is it really a thing a child should be doing? The sort answer is: it depends. This kind of making money on the side will always be subject to individual assessment. Just like using children to earn money on social media.

Being an influencer or a public figure doesn't end with taking a photo, putting it online with a description written by a sponsor that is also tagged in a given post. The fact remains that there are children of all ages working in social media. Both those who involuntarily fall under the category of "adults", because they are able to make independent decisions, and those who are younger, right down to the completely unaware babies for whom parents are 100% responsible.

The case of then 13-year-old influencer Shreya Nallamothu, who noticed parents were profiting off of their children two years ago, has inspired legislation in Illinois, USA. Now a bill ensuring child social media influencers are compensated for their work was signed into law and will go into effect on July 1, 2024.

"The rise of social media has given children new opportunities to earn a profit. Many parents have taken this opportunity to pocket the money, while making their children continue to work in these digital environments," senator David Koehler, the bill's sponsor, stated in a release.

The law is intended to cover creators under the age of 16 featured in monetised online platforms, including vlogs, Fortune reports.

The sharenting industry has grown exponentially in recent times. Adult influencers are monetising their children right from their birth – and sometimes even when they haven’t been born yet. The problem, of course, is not exclusive to the US.

Poland is currently witnessing a gigantic boom in sharenting in its worst form. Creating content on pregnancy and parenthood is of course not necessarily bad in principle. But more than often we are witnessing influencers who show how they change nappies or others praising products they have not yet used.

There are two major issues that come to mind when discussing sharenting: disregarding children’s privacy and their dignity, which can lead to very unpleasant and dangerous situations (from ridicule and humiliation to the use of photos, videos, etc. for obscene purposes); and forcing children to work and objectifying them – treating like money-making machines.

Illinois will be the first state in the US to require parents of juvenile social media stars to set aside their earnings in a special trust account they can access when they turn 18. If parents or guardians do not comply, they could be sued.

Child influencers will be entitled to a percentage of earnings if:

• the video featuring them at least 10 cents profit per viewing,
• generates
• they appear in at least 30% of the content created in a 30-day period.

The law will apply to people who make real money from their children’s vlogging or create "family videos". Parents who share a photo or video of their child on social media once in a while, or even those whose content accidentally goes viral, will not be subject to the law.

Source: fortune.com