Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- HB 322, introduced in Utah, aims to protect minors in entertainment and social media.
- Sponsored by Rep. Doug Owens, it mandates financial protection for minors and content removal rights.
- The bill responds to concerns about children's rights in social media content.
SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that would provide protection for minors involved in entertainment and social media content has been introduced in the Utah Legislature.
The bill would help financially protect child actors and children featured in their parents' social media content. It also allows kids who appear in social media content to eventually ask for that content to be deleted.
HB322, "Child Actor Regulations" is sponsored by Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek.
Owens said that since Utah is one of the top states for generating family-oriented social media content, this bill is important in helping to protect those kids.
What would the bill do?
According to Owens, the bill does two main things. The first is it has parents protect their kids financially.
This applies to both traditional actors and kids who are in social media content that generates revenue. It requires parents to put aside a share of the income into a trust for the child to have when they reach adulthood.
"If people are making money from their kids, then the kids ought to get a share of that income at least. That's one way to protect them, at least a little bit," Owens said.
The second thing the bill does is it allows these kids who are in social media content to delete content when they turn 18. This can be things that are embarrassing or things that they just don't want out on social media anymore.
This bill gives them the power to remove that content from a social media platform.
Why was this bill written?
"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.
The representative said he first started drafting this bill about a year and a half ago after a mom in his district whose child was in a commercial reached out to him. He later decided to add kids involved in social media to the bill as well.
"Social media folks got involved, because they thought, well, if you're going to protect actors in traditional media, why not also protect performers in social media context?" Owens said.
According to Owens, this bill doesn't specifically have anything to do with the Ruby Franke case, but he did mention Shari Franke's plea for protections of children in social media. He said this bill acts as a starting point for protecting children featured in their parent's social media content.
