After 88 Years, Illinois Now Forces Family Vloggers to Trust 50% of Kids' Earnings
aakashgupta · x · 2026-09-25
Until 2024, toddlers could earn family vlog channels millions while legally being owed $0 in every US state. Child actors have had protections since California's Coogan Law of 1936—triggered when Jackie Coogan found his parents had spent his fortune—but kids in family vlogs were excluded: the law saw a parent filming their child, not an employer filming talent.
That's changing:
- Illinois now requires up to 50% of gross earnings go into a trust when a kid appears heavily in monetized content, and children can sue their parents to enforce it.
- Minnesota caps how much kids under 14 can appear in monetized videos and lets them demand old footage be deleted.
- France passed its version back in 2020.
Meanwhile, PewDiePie announced he's ending his family vlogs after 4.5 years, saying he wants to give his son Björn privacy and the choice of a public life: "I do not love being famous, I kind of hate it… Björn deserves his own privacy."
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