Utah passes bill that protects children featured on their parents’ social media

SALT LAKE CITY — Child influencers featured on their parents’ social media content will soon receive financial protection due to the passing of a bill called “Child Actor Regulations.”

HB322, sponsored by Rep. Doug Owens, D-Millcreek, was passed through the Legislature on the last day of the 2025 legislative session.

 

Flashback to a local child abuse case

In August 2023, Ruby Franke, a former family vlogger who was very popular in Utah, was arrested for child abuse. In December that same year, she pleaded guilty to four second-degree felony charges of aggravated child abuse. Then in February 2024, she was sentenced to four terms of one-to-15 years in prison.

This led Franke’s eldest daughter, Shari, to speak out to lawmakers in October 2024 about the dangers of family vlogging. She said that as a child she was fully aware that she was “an employee” and that “vlogging has brought severe emotional stress.”

This is one of the extreme cases of family vlogging negatively impacting children. But what about the non-extreme cases?

How the law protects child influencers

Before the bill became law, Rep. Owens said he wanted to raise awareness of how children are being impacted when they are filmed for mass media.

“It really comes out of a traditional Hollywood kind of setting, and Utah is a big center for film production and also for social media content production. So we’re trying to just protect the kids where there is a lot of money in play and the kids are not benefiting at all from it.”

Now that it’s law, children will not only be compensated for being featured in monetized content but also be able to request for that content to be deleted or edited after they turn 18.

Specifically, this will only affect children who are in at least 30% of the content and earn at least $20,000 a year. The parents also have to be making at least $150,000 in a calendar year.

KSL Legal Analyst Greg Skordas said he thinks this is a good way to prevent parents from taking advantage of their children.

“I think that it’s a good way to protect children. It’s also a good way to protect the family so that people don’t just waste the money and blow it away on something. Maybe set it aside for the child, maybe pay them something like we’re talking about here so that their efforts are rewarded. And when the kid turns 18, there’s still something to show for their efforts,” Skordas said. “… I think it’s a proposed cure to something we’re just seeing far too much in this country.”

Related:

• Lehi man arrested for allegedly choking child while on probation for child abuse
• The status of child care in Utah, post 2025 legislative session
• Jeff Caplan’s Minute of News: Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be influencers