A new law in Illinois requires social media influencers who rake in tens of thousands of dollars for exploiting their children on the internet to pay those kids for their appearances in vlogs.
Statutes demanding parents set aside pay for child entertainers already exist in several states. Illinois, however, is the first state to extend the cash-flow conditions to trendsetters and brand ambassadors on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and other Big Tech platforms.
The law, designed by Democrats, doesn’t limit what kind of content children can be featured in. Instead, it grants kids under 16 years old who regularly appear in monetized videos and photos the right to sue if their parents don’t hand over a trust with those earnings when they turn 18.
“Children deserve to be shielded from parents who would attempt to take advantage of their child’s talents and use them for their own financial gain,” Alex Gough, a spokesman for Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who has repeatedly instituted policies that expose minors to the harms of radical gender ideology and irreversible transgender experiments, said in a statement.
Illinois’ new law might look like a good start to rein in greedy adults, but it ultimately won’t stop parents from sacrificing their children’s privacy for profit.
Until users stop clicking on videos that make extremely private or emotional moments into suggestive dances or spectacles, the seemingly fun and family-friendly act of staging or taping every breathing moment of a minor’s life will inevitably become a
