HARRISBURG, Pa. — The youngest stars of social media could get additional protection and pay under a proposed change to Pennsylvania’s child labor law.
Republican representative Torren Ecker, who represents Cumberland County, proposed a bill that would regulate child influencers and celebrities on social media.
"We have lots of child labor laws to protect children from working long hours in factories," said Representative Ecker. "I think this is modernizing for another way children can be exploited."
Ecker said the work of child influencers is largely unregulated across the country. He said this opens the door for children to be exploited by working long hours and making little money, all while generating millions of views on social media.
“We know that children can’t enter into contracts, especially really young children in some of these videos," said Ecker. "So there’s no protection that the star of the video is actually getting compensated for the time they’re putting in.”
Ecker's proposed law follows in the footsteps of Illinois, which became the first state in the US to regulate child influencers.
Under the new Illinois law, child influencers can file lawsuits against their parents or legal guardians if money made from producing online content isn't set aside for them; the law targets children younger than 16 years old.
“There’s definitely a movement across the country to tackle this issue and make sure we’re protecting our children from these social media situations," expressed Ecker.
Representative Ecker put out co-sponsoring memos to other legislators and is hoping the bill garners bipartisan support. Officials hope that the bill will be a commonsense measure to protect children in the ever-evolving landscape of social media.