How a California Lawmaker Is Trying to Protect Child Creators

Former parenting vlogger Ruby Franke was sentenced this week and could face decades behind bars after pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse. Before her arrest, Franke posted videos on YouTube promoting a severe style of parenting her six children, including depriving them of food and banning her son from his room so he was forced to sleep on a bean bag for months. 

The case raises difficult questions about what protections are in place for young people whose lives become social content. At a political level, efforts to help young creators are gaining more traction, with state laws largely focused around making sure creators are protected financially.

Today, I spoke with California State Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego), who authored the Child Content Creators Rights Act—recently passed in the California Senate and now on its way to the state Assembly—about why he decided to focus on this issue and how there’s more to be done. The bill requires money-making creator accounts that feature minors in 30% of posts to set aside a portion of earnings for those children to access when they hit adulthood.