- HB322, sponsored by Rep. Owens passed through the Utah Legislature and is aimed at protecting child actors and children featured in social media content.
- The bill also allows children featured in social media to delete certain content after they turn 18.
- Utah is not the first state to pass legislation like this, sd both Illinois and California have recently passed laws with the same goal.
Utah now joins several other states in setting legislation to protect children featured in their parents’ social media content after the Legislature passed a bill to set financial and other protections for kids featured in online content.
HB322 would help to protect children financially, but would also allow children featured in content to have it deleted after they turn 18. The bill also sets up financial protection for child actors in traditional media.
On Friday, the last day of the 2025 legislative session, HB322 passed through its final vote in the Senate unanimously. It will now go to the governor’s desk for his signature.
The bill’s sponsor, Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, said this bill is important because of the high number of influencers and content creators in Utah. A large portion of those creators produce family oriented content.
One of these influencers is MyKayla Skinner, who came into the public eye at a young age as a gymnast. Skinner, a former University of Utah star, retired from gymnastics after competing at the Summer Olympics in 2021, then turned her focus to social media.
Skinner and her husband Jonas Harmer have produced content together, including YouTube videos, and they now have a 16-month-old daughter named Charlotte. Their daughter is frequently included in their online content.
“We use social media kind of as almost like a journal, we just post about what’s going on in our lives, what’s happening, especially with Charlotte,” Harmer said. “It’s nice that so many people can see it, because our friends and family and MyKayla’s fans can see what we’re up to.”
Harmer and Skinner said they both support setting protections for children who are featured in content. They also shared that they have had a mostly positive experience with featuring Charlotte in their social media content.
Owens added that this bill focuses on situations where the family is making a lot of money from online content and that is largely dependent on children being in the content.
Financial protections for children in social media
The bill sets up a system for children to be financially compensated if they are featured in monetized social media content. In order for parents to be required to pay their kids, the child has to be in at least 30% of the content and making $20,000 a year. The parents also have to be clearing $150,000 a year after expenses.
“I kind of think that’s awesome,” Skinner said. “If a parent’s gonna sit there and use their kid for social media and making money, it’s like their kids are being used and not getting anything from it.”
Skinner added that it is a hard issue though because some people could see it as they’re making this content so that they can earn a living and take care of their children with the money they earn.
Owens said he wanted it to be flexible to work for different families, so the bill provides three different ways for the children to be paid. There are two free market methods, and if those methods don’t work for them, there is a backup formula to calculate how much the children should be paid.
“We are trying to keep a lot of flexibility but have a core of protection for the kid,” Owens said.
Harmer shared that he and Skinner already have a bank account set up for their daughter, so when she is featured in sponsored content or they monetize any content she is in, they put a portion of that into the account.
“I think it’s awesome,“ Harmer said about setting these financial protections for children in social media. ”We definitely subscribe to that. I think that’s a great idea."
Providing a ‘take down’ right for kids featured in social media
HB322 would make it so children who are featured in content can have specific pieces of content taken down after they turn 18. This can be for content that they feel is embarrassing or harming to their reputation.
The bill also provides a court process in case there is a disagreement between the person trying to take down content and the person who put up the content.
“Well, it’s only fair that they should be protected financially and then if they find something embarrassing, I think you should have the right to take it down if you change your mind about how other people put you on social media,” Owens said.
Harmer and Skinner shared that as Charlotte gets older it will be her decision whether or not to be featured in their social media content. Skinner added she understands that social media isn’t for everyone.
“We’d love for Charlotte to be a part of it and have her approval, and not just post things without her consent, right? I don’t ever want her to be posted in something that she doesn’t like or doesn’t agree to,” she said.
Protections for child actors in traditional media
The bill also provides protections for child actors who work in traditional media such as film, television or commercials. There are 10 other states that have similar statutes covering child actors.
Under HB322, after a child makes $40,000 a year the parent will be required to put 15% of that into a trust.
What other states have passed similar legislation?
Illinois was the first state to pass legislation to protect children featured in social media content, per CNN.
In 2023, Illinois passed a bill that requires parents to put aside a portion of earnings from online content based on the percentage of content the child is featured in. Like with Utah’s HB322, it only applies if the child is featured in more than 30% of the content in a year.
Minnesota followed Illinois in 2024 and passed similar legislation, according to Axios.
In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two pieces of legislation to help set protections for children featured in social media content.
One of the bills, SB 764, “establishes financial and legal protections for minors featured in monetized online content by mandating their parent or guardian set aside a percentage of their earnings in trust accounts,” according to CNN.
The other piece of legislation, AB 1880, expands California’s decades-old Coogan Law, to now include children who are employed as online content creators.