Rep. Sharon Chung Measure to Preserve Child Labor Rights in ‘Vlogs’ Advances to House Floor

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, is spearheading a measure to preserve child labor rights for minors featured in adult-controlled online content creation, often called ‘vlogs,’ which unanimously passed the House Labor and Commerce Committee and advanced to the House floor for consideration.

“Many kids across our state are not seeing a nickel of the thousands of dollars they generate in contributions to adult-controlled online content creation, and that has to stop,” Chung said. “What we are witnessing on online platforms every day is modern technology advancing beyond the scope of laws written to protect our children from financial exploitation. This measure will ensure that kids get what they deserve for contributing to businesses that are often extremely lucrative.”

Chung’s Senate Bill 1782 requires online content creators who feature children under the age of 16 to put money earned from their content into a trust account for the children and report certain information on the content to the Illinois Department of Labor. That information includes the names and ages of minors part of the vlogging, the number of vlogs that generated compensation, the total compensation received from those vlogs and the amounts deposited into the trust funds set up for the minors. Minors who are making their own content are beyond the scope of this legislation.

This measure passed the Senate unanimously and is set to be considered on the House floor soon.

“Kids featured in vlogs play a role similar to child actors, but with none of the same assurances safeguarding their compensation,” Chung said. “I will always put a premium on securing workers’ rights. No matter the age or profession, people deserve fair treatment for the dollars they help earn.”