As family vlogging and influencer-driven content creation have grown into multimillion-dollar industries, state lawmakers are confronting a critical gap in child labor law: children who appear regularly in monetized online content often have no legal claim to the earnings they help generate. Tennessee is now at the forefront of this issue with SB 1469, a bill that passed both legislative chambers with near-unanimous bipartisan support and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee on April 16. Effective July 1, the law makes Tennessee one of the most assertive states in the country on child labor protections in content creation.
Key Provisions of SB 1469
The act establishes regulatory tiers based on age and applies to creators earning at least $15,000 annually from video content in which a minor appears in 30 percent or more of posts within any 30-day period:
- Ages 14 to 17: When a minor aged 14 to 17 appears in a creator’s qualifying monetized content, the creator must deposit a proportional share of gross earnings into a trust account accessible to the minor upon turning 18. If two or more minors qualify, earnings are split equally among them.
- Self-Generated Content: Minors aged 14 to 17 who independently create and publish their own content are entitled to retain 100 percent of those earnings.
- Right to Deletion: A minor featured in the content may request that any qualifying content in which they appeared as a minor be permanently deleted. This request may also be made by an adult who was under 18 years of age when their likeness was used in the content.
A Growing Multi-State Trend
Tennessee’s law is part of a broader legislative movement applying traditional child labor law protections to the digital economy. Similar measures enacted by other states include:
- Illinois SB 1782/Public Act 103-0056 (2024): The first state to enact a child influencer protection law, Illinois now requires vloggers to set aside a proportional share of earnings for children under 16 featured in at least 30 percent of monetized content within a 30-day period.
- California AB 1880/Chapter 610 (2024): California extended its existing child entertainment protections, commonly associated with Coogan’s Law, to cover minors who appear in online content that generates revenue.
- Utah HB 322 (2025): The act requires a portion of earnings from monetized content featuring minors be held in trust, while addressing recordkeeping and parental disclosure obligations.
What It Means for Creators and Industry
As states build out differing frameworks, content creators, talent agencies and platforms operating across multiple jurisdictions face an evolving and fragmented compliance landscape. Definitions of qualifying content, compensation thresholds and enforcement mechanisms vary from state to state, creating practical challenges for those whose audiences and operations span multiple markets. While no federal standard currently exists for child influencer protections, the pace of state-level activity signals growing pressure for broader legislative alignment.
FOCUS will continue to monitor developments on labor laws and content creation across the country.
by Tom O’Connor 4/27/26
