A parent films a toddler unboxing your product. It’s adorable, it converts, and it may now be regulated labor. That is the new reality of child labor law compliance for minors in sponsored posts. Several US states now treat monetized family content as work, with trust requirements, age limits, and deletion rights attached. Brands that pay for that content can’t assume the legal burden sits only with the parent.
Why family creator content became a labor issue
Traditional child performers have long had protections. Contracts, work permits, and set-aside rules (California’s Coogan Act is the best known) all assume a formal engagement. Family content skips that step. Nobody signs a contract to film dinner.
Lawmakers noticed. California’s bill sponsors pointed out that Coogan protections only extend to child performers under contract, so children in family posts were not guaranteed access to the profits their likeness generated. The new laws close that gap.
Why should a brand care? Because you are the paying party. When a minor is the commercial centerpiece of your campaign, regulators, plaintiffs’ lawyers, and the press will not stop at the parent’s account.
What the state laws actually require
The patchwork is moving fast, so treat the following as a snapshot and confirm current text with counsel.
Illinois: the first mover
Illinois was an early mover among US states in protecting the earnings of minors featured in online influencer content. Creators must set aside a portion of compensation in a trust, scaled to how heavily the minor appears. The money becomes available at 18 or on emancipation.
The trigger is specific. The duty applies when a minor appears in a substantial share of a vlogger’s compensated content over a recent period and the platform’s view or payment thresholds are met. Creators must also keep records that let the child verify deposits, and minors get a private right of action against adults who ignore the rules.
Minnesota: age limits and deletion
Minnesota went further. Its law sets a minimum age for content creation work and requires creators to delete content when the child, or the adult that child became, asks. Effective July 1, 2025.
Read that again. A deletion right collides head-on with a perpetual usage license. If your contract grants perpetual paid-social rights to a clip featuring a nine-year-old, you may be holding an asset the law lets the child revoke.
California: a 65% rule
California’s SB 764 requires creators who feature minors in at least 30% of their content to set aside 65% of a proportionate share of gross earnings in a trust. It took effect January 1, 2025.
The legal duty to fund the trust usually falls on the creator, but the reputational and contractual fallout lands on the brand that paid for the content.
Where brands get exposed
Most statutes target the adult creator. So where does a brand’s risk really come from? Three places.
- Contract validity. If a campaign depends on a creator who is unlawfully using a child under 14 in Minnesota, the deliverable itself may be non-compliant.
- Usage rights. Whitelisting and paid amplification extend the child’s exposure far beyond the original post. Our look at organic to paid posts covers the disclosure side. The child-likeness side is just as live.
- Enforcement and press. State attorneys general are active in this space, as we outlined in State AGs vs FTC. A campaign built on a child’s unpaid labor makes a very easy headline.
Likeness is the common thread. Our piece on state right of publicity laws explains why a parent’s signature may not fully cover a child’s image, especially once that child is an adult.
A privacy layer most teams forget: COPPA
Labor and trust laws are only half the picture. The FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule governs data collected from children under 13. The agency’s amended rule is effective June 23, 2025, and per the Federal Register notice, most regulated entities have until April 22, 2026 to comply.
Why does that matter for a sponsored post? If your campaign includes giveaways, landing pages, or pixels aimed at kid audiences, you may be collecting personal information from children. Parents featuring their own kids in an ad is not the same as targeting children, but the line gets blurry fast with toy, snack, and edtech brands. Have privacy counsel review any campaign where children are both the subject and the audience.
A practical vetting workflow
Here is the checklist I would hand an influencer ops team tomorrow. It isn’t legal advice, but it will surface the right questions early.
- Ask the screening question at intake. Does a minor appear in more than occasional content? Capture the minor’s age and the creator’s state of residence.
- Estimate the share. Ask the creator how much of their monetized output over a recent month features the child. Document the answer.
- Add a compliance warranty. The creator represents that they comply with applicable child labor, trust, and set-aside laws, and will provide evidence on request.
- Add a takedown clause. Define what happens if the child or a guardian invokes a deletion right. Who pulls paid ads? On what timeline? Who bears the cost?
- Rework usage terms. Avoid perpetual rights over a child’s likeness. Our guide to buyout clauses shows how to price limited terms instead.
- Keep records. Store the contract, the screening answers, and any proof of trust funding in one audit-ready folder.
Should you just avoid kids altogether?
Rarely necessary. Incidental appearances, such as a child briefly in frame, generally sit below the statutory thresholds in the laws described above. The risk concentrates where a child is the star and the revenue engine. Those are the creators who deserve deeper diligence, and sometimes a pass.
Categories with youth sensitivities need extra care. Betting, alcohol, and similar sectors already face scrutiny, as covered in our analysis of youth appeal in betting deals. Putting a child in any of those ads is a hard no.
Operational realities for agencies
Agencies carry a second problem: scale. A roster of 400 creators cannot be vetted by hand. Build the screening questions into your onboarding form or creator platform so the answer is a required field, not an afterthought. Then flag any “yes” for review by legal.
Also track the legislative map. Other states had similar bills pending as these laws passed, so the list of states has almost certainly grown. A quarterly review of creator-residence states against current law is cheap insurance.
FAQs
Does child labor law apply to a brand if a minor appears in a creator’s sponsored post?
The state trust and set-aside duties described above generally fall on the adult creator. Brands still face contractual, reputational, and enforcement risk, so they should require warranties and documentation. Ask counsel how the specific statutes apply to your campaigns.
What is the 30% threshold in child influencer laws?
Illinois, Minnesota, and California use a threshold tied to how much of a creator’s content features the minor. Once the threshold is met, trust requirements kick in.
Can a brand use a child’s likeness in paid ads?
Possibly, but with caution. Minnesota’s deletion right and right of publicity rules can limit long-term use. Use time-limited licenses, get proper guardian consent, and have a takedown process ready.
Does COPPA apply to influencer campaigns?
It can. COPPA covers the collection of personal information from children under 13. If a campaign gathers data from kid audiences, privacy review is needed. The amended rule’s main compliance date is April 22, 2026, per the Federal Register.
What should an influencer contract say about minors?
Include a compliance warranty, disclosure of the child’s age and appearance frequency, a takedown and deletion clause, limited usage terms, and the right to request proof of trust funding.
Next step: add a minor-appearance screening question and a deletion-rights clause to your creator contract template this week, then send it to counsel for state-by-state review.
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