A growing share of family, parenting, and lifestyle creators feature their kids on screen. The laws governing that content have changed dramatically — four U.S. states have passed "kidfluencer" laws since 2023, and sixteen more have bills in motion. This page is what we'd want a brand partner to know before they brief a creator whose campaign will include minors. It's a guide, not a legal opinion.
Five years ago, the laws governing monetized content featuring children were the same laws that governed Hollywood child actors — California's 1939 Coogan Law. As of 2026, four states have specific kidfluencer statutes, federal rules tightened, and pending legislation is moving in roughly a third of state legislatures.
All four enacted laws share a structure: a percentage of gross earnings from qualifying content must be held in trust until the minor reaches adulthood. The differences are in the thresholds, percentages, takedown rights, and who can be sued. None of these laws currently impose direct liability on brands or marketers who contract with creators — but the regulatory trend is unambiguous, and several pending bills would change that.
Two federal frameworks govern this space regardless of which state a brand or creator is in. Both have tightened significantly in the last 18 months.
Updated October 2024. The FTC's revised guides apply to all influencer content, including content featuring minors. Material connection between brand and creator must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously — "clear and conspicuous" means in the caption, spoken word, and visual elements as needed, not just the platform's "Paid Partnership" tag.
Penalty exposure: up to $43,000 USD per violation. The brand, the creator, and any agency in between share responsibility. Relying on a creator to "know the rules" is not a defense.
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act governs collection of data from users under 13. The FTC's January 2025 amendments added two requirements that affect creator campaigns: opt-in parental consent for any targeted advertising or third-party data disclosure involving children's data, and explicit data-retention limits.
Applies when: the content or platform is directed at children, or the operator has actual knowledge a user is under 13. If your creator's audience is primarily under-13, COPPA applies to your campaign data.
Each major platform has tightened its handling of monetized content featuring minors. Platform-level enforcement happens regardless of state law and is the most common reason a campaign featuring children gets pulled — usually with no warning and no appeal.
Branded Content tagging is required on every monetized post featuring a creator's children. Meta restricts paid amplification of content featuring minors in ways adults don't face — some Branded Content Ads creative is auto-blocked when the system detects children in the frame. The "Paid Partnership" tag alone does not satisfy FTC disclosure; brands must require additional in-caption disclosure.
TikTok's Branded Content Toggle is mandatory for sponsored posts, including those featuring minors. Spark Ads (whitelisting paid ads through a creator's account) face additional review for content featuring identifiable children. TikTok's community guidelines prohibit certain types of content involving minors regardless of intent, which can cause campaign content to be removed without notice.
YouTube has demonetized large categories of family-vlogger content since 2023 and limits comment functionality on videos identified as "made for kids." "Made for Kids" designation removes most monetization options — including personalized ads, end screens, and Super Chat. Brand partnerships on these videos require additional disclosure and may require separate negotiation with the channel.
If a creator you're working with plans to feature their children in sponsored content, your contract and campaign brief should address these items before the deal is signed. None of this requires a lawyer to prepare — but if your spend is significant, having one review the contract is money well spent.
State law follows the creator, not the brand. A creator based in Illinois operating under SB 1782 has trust obligations a creator in Texas does not. Ask the creator to confirm in writing where they file taxes — this determines which laws apply to their compensation handling.
If the creator is filming someone else's child (a friend's kid, a niece, a partner's child from another relationship), the creator must have written consent from that child's legal guardian — not just be the adult present at the shoot. This goes in your contract as a creator representation.
Don't rely on the creator to figure it out. Specify where the #ad or "paid partnership with [Brand]" disclosure must appear — caption, spoken intro, or both. Specify that platform-native tagging is required in addition to in-caption disclosure, not as a substitute.
Several state laws now grant minors the right to request takedown of content featuring them once they turn 18. Your usage license clause should acknowledge this rather than try to override it (statutory rights override contract terms). Plan as if posted content may need to come down in 5-15 years.
Don't pay for content where children appear in: bathing/changing settings, in revealing clothing, in physically demanding stunts, in content discussing adult products (alcohol, gambling, weight-loss, supplements). Platform policies prohibit some of this regardless of parental consent, and the regulatory direction is making the list longer, not shorter.
State laws increasingly require detailed recordkeeping — what was paid, what content qualified, what percentage of screen time involved the minor. Your campaign brief and contract become part of the creator's compliance file. Maintain copies for at least seven years.
We get asked regularly whether brands can "hire child influencers" through Jem. The short answer is: we don't operate a marketplace for booking minors. We do support brands working with adult creators whose content includes their own children, subject to the legal framework above. Here's the honest version.
Browse adult creators making family, parenting, and kids'-product content. Contracts with FTC disclosure built in, escrow payments, content approval workflows — the whole compliance stack baked into the platform. From $69/mo, month-to-month.