Activists offered testimonials to Maryland legislators on Tuesday in support of House Bill 0645, which if passed would not only protect the profits of child influencers featured in monetized online content but would also address privacy concerns, including “the right to be forgotten.”
Ahead of the introduction of the bill, state delegate Jazz Lewis exclusively shared the news with Teen Vogue, saying that he sees the protection of influencer children as a “necessary good.” Under the proposed legislation, children would be guaranteed payment for being featured in certain monetized content, in which they appear for a certain amount of time. The compensation would be held in a trust account, which the child would gain access to upon turning 18.
If passed, this legislation would make Maryland the second state in the country to protect the monetary gains of influencer children, though a handful of other states are considering similar laws. Illinois became the first when they passed SB 1782 in August of 2023. Maryland’s proposed legislation is modeled after Illinois’s law but would include additional protections to ensure that child influencers “may request the permanent deletion of the content” they appear in, obligating the social media platform the content lives on to honor the request.
Activists including Cam Barrett, a 25-year-old creator known on TikTok as @softscorpio who shares their experiences of being overshared as an adolescent, and Chris McCarty, the 19-year-old advocate behind Quit Clicking Kids, gave testimonials in support of the bill.
“As a former content kid myself I know what it’s like to grow up with a digital footprint I never asked for,” Barrett told Maryland House of Delegates Economic Matters Committee. “As my mom posted to the world my first ever menstrual cycle, as she posted to the world the intimate details of me being adopted, her platform grew and I had no say in what was posted.”
Barrett went on to explain the anxiety she developed from being posted online without her consent and her motivations for their activism. “I plead with you to think about this generation of children who give their parents free labor to maintain a social media presence,” they said. “Maryland has the opportunity to protect the child influencers who reside in this state from facing a monetized childhood, only to be met with nothing in return at 18, along with having no say in a digital footprint they never asked for.”
In McCarty’s testimony, they asked the legislature to imagine a family gathered for a holiday with someone holding a camera. “Now, imagine a similar family,” they said. “Similar but not the same. They’re gathered for a holiday too. But this time someone pulls out a smartphone instead of a camcorder. This time, the children who embarrass themselves must live with antics that will be recorded, shared, and may live forever online. The content shifts from home videos to grades, mental and physical health struggles, and even other compromising situations. This information is then used as clickbait to generate intrigue and revenue for a monetized family channel.”
McCarty ended their testimony by “urging Maryland to be a leader in child safety and tech policy.”