In our 2024 alert, Whose money is it? How Coogan’s Law and the Child Content Creator Rights Act affect young creators, we discussed two California laws that address minors in the creator economy. Now, California has expanded its protections for children who appear in monetized social media content.
California expands its child influencer protections
Assembly Bill 1880 expanded California’s Coogan Law to include minors who work as content creators and enter into direct contractual relationships with third parties. That law expressly covers content creators such as vloggers, podcasters, social media influencers, and streamers.
Senate Bill 764, the Child Content Creator Rights Act, addressed a different situation: children who appear in monetized content created by a parent or other family member. Among other requirements, SB 764 requires certain family vloggers to set aside a portion of their earnings for minors who appear in at least 30% of their content.
Beginning January 1, 2027, Senate Bill 1247 (SB 1247) adds a privacy right to California’s existing financial protections. Once a qualifying child influencer turns 18, the law gives that person a way to require the removal or editing of certain paid content from childhood.
What does SB 1247 require?
SB 1247 adds Sections 6665 through 6667 to the California Family Code.
The law defines a “child influencer” as a person who is at least 18 years old and was featured as a minor in paid content on a social media platform. “Paid content” is image or video content shared on a social media platform by a vlogger for which the vlogger receives compensation.
For purposes of SB 1247, a “vlogger” is a parent, legal guardian, or family member who received compensation for sharing images or videos featuring the child influencer, where content featuring that child constituted at least 30% of the person’s content shared on social media platforms.
A social media platform must provide a clear and conspicuous mechanism for a child influencer to request that qualifying paid content be deleted or edited. If the mechanism does not allow the request to be made directly to the vlogger, the platform must notify the vlogger within three business days.
The vlogger then has 10 business days after receiving the request or notice to delete the paid content or edit it so that the child influencer is no longer featured.
Unlike the compensation provisions addressed in the Child Content Creator Rights Act, SB 1247 does not condition this removal right on the vlogger earning at least $1,250 per month. The new law has its own definitions of covered paid content and vloggers.
What are the consequences for failing to comply?
A child influencer may bring a civil action against a vlogger who violates the law. Available relief includes actual damages, statutory damages of $3,000 for each day of violation, injunctive relief, and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
In deciding whether to grant injunctive relief, a court must consider the emotional harm or substantial embarrassment caused by the content, any increased risk of harassment or compromised safety, loss of control over personal information, and harm to future opportunities.
The daily statutory damages make the 10-business-day response period particularly important. Family vloggers should be able to identify covered content and act promptly when a request arrives.
What about content that has already been licensed or sold?
The issue may become more complicated when family vlog content has been licensed, distributed, or sold to a studio, streaming service, brand, or other third party.
SB 1247 places the removal obligation on the statutory “vlogger” and imposes separate procedural requirements on social media platforms. It does not expressly address every downstream use of content after a vlogger licenses or transfers rights to someone else.
For Los Angeles and Southern California entertainment companies, agencies, creators, and other businesses acquiring this type of content, the point is primarily contractual. Agreements involving family vlog libraries should consider future SB 1247 requests and address whether the creator retains the rights necessary to comply, who will handle a takedown or edit, and how the parties will allocate the associated costs and risks.
Preparing for SB 1247
SB 1247 takes effect January 1, 2027. Family vloggers should determine which existing paid content may fall under the statute and establish a process to respond to removal requests within the required time. Social media platforms should review how qualifying requests will be submitted and transmitted.
Studios, brands, agencies, streaming services, and other businesses working with family vlog content should also consider SB 1247 when negotiating content licenses and acquisitions. A removal request made years after content was created may affect that content’s continued availability and value, making the issue worth addressing when the rights are first negotiated.