Kid Influencers | Graphic by Abigail Abbott | The Wright State Guardian
The treatment of child actors and influencers has been a massive topic of discussion in recent years. On Jan. 10, 2024, State Representatives Michele Grim of Toledo and Lauren McNally of Youngstown proposed a bill to give protection to these children.
Children in the media
On more than one occasion, a former child star has seemingly “gone off the deep end” or is revealed to have been abused. Recently, Maxine Productions and Sony Pictures Television released a docu-series, “Quiet On Set,” which details the abuse of child stars on Nickelodeon.
Children have been in the media for a while now. According to Brittanica, the first ever child to star in a movie was Jackie Coogan, starring in Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 movie “The Kid.” Since then, there have been several child stars that have come and gone from the public eye.
Today, children show up and are famous across several platforms. There are classic acting methods like movies, broadway and television, each of which has its subsets, and then there are more modern means as well. There has been a rise in social media, and there has also been a rise in family vlogging channels and children influencers.
But it has never been easy for these little actors and influencers. Long hours and strict set days can take a toll on a child’s mental health, and sometimes these actors have to deal with other abuse.
States like California and New York have laws that protect actors from wrong-doings on set. For example, after Coogan reached adulthood, he discovered that all of his child acting money had been spent. The California Child Actor’s Bill, or Coogan’s Law, which protects the personal, professional and monetary rights of child actors in California, was later created in response to this infringement.
According to the Department of Labor, in the state of New York, every child performer has to have a special permit to perform. It has to be temporary, and it has limitations that protect the child from long work hours.
The bill
In the state of Ohio, child actors only have to adhere to general child labor laws. There are no special permits required, no financial protections and no teachers required to keep learning going on set, which many other states are required to provide. This leaves family vloggers and parents with kid influencers with very few regulations.
The Kidfluencer Protection Act aims to fix this issue. In this bill, representatives hope to protect children who are considered to be acting. “Acting” includes vlogging or any other way that may give money for content. In this bill, parents of these children are required to set up accounts, and every earning made by their child will go into the account, which is very similar to the accounts that are a part of Coogan’s Law. Additionally, children are to have special permits to work.
“Currently, videos featuring children are viewed three times more than videos that don't. What we can’t do is monetize children at the expense of their childhood,” Representative McNally said. “Our jobs as adults and parents is to ensure our actions are not at the detriment of our children. We can’t put the weight of providing a family on [the child’s] shoulders.”
Currently, the bill is in the early stages of development and has not been passed through the House of Representatives yet; however, the bill writers are hopeful about it being passed through.
“We feel as though this is another form of child labor,” Representative Grim said. “I think that many of our constituents can agree that child labor is not a thing that we can stand for as Ohioans.”
Student response
Students of Wright State University were shocked that there are not yet any laws to protect children and advocated heavily for the bill.
“I think if there is one thing that docu-thing that came out recently taught us, we need to do right by these kids,” Maxwell Bacon, a Sociology major, said. “Did you see what happened with Honey Boo Boo? Her mom took her money for drugs. That's just straight-up theft.”
Nessa Ankrom, an Elementary Education student, also commented on the bill.
“I’m surprised that there isn’t at least something. I feel like it's extremely dangerous to not have any regulations, even if we aren’t a film-heavy state,” Ankrom said.
Overall, students are upset that Ohio has nothing to protect children who are subjected to the public eye, but they are happy that representatives are now taking action.
