(Castle Country Radio) - A bill that would require Utah parents to set aside money their children earn making online content is headed to Gov. Spencer Cox.
HB322, which also would allow adults to remove online content they made as kids from web platforms, passed the Utah Senate, 27-0, in the final hours of the 2025 legislative session Friday. It had previously passed the House.
The bill would require online creators who make more than $150,000 a year from content featuring kids to set aside 15% of those earnings into a trust fund that the children can access when they turn 18. The bill also sets the same rule for money child performers earn for appearing in movies or TV production.
Kevin Franke testified in support of the bill in February, recounting the “8 Passengers” YouTube channel in his now ex-wife, Ruby Franke, launched in 2015 featuring their six children. He called the bill “a great first step towards protecting child influencers here in the state of Utah, and there is much more to do in the future.”
“Children cannot give informed consent to be filmed on social media, period,” Franke said in a statement he read to a House committee on Feb. 19. “If we, as adults, cannot understand the emotional and psychological impacts of sharing our lives to millions of strangers online, how can we expect our children to understand them?”
Read the full story at Sltrib.com
By Sean P. Means
March 11, 2025
