Demi Lovato joins Gavin Newsom as he signs legislation protecting young social media influencers

By Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN

(CNN) — Pop star Demi Lovato met with Gavin Newsom in Los Angeles as the California governor signed two bills into law on Thursday that will provide financial protections for child stars in the digital age.

The two new pieces of legislation aim to help protect young social media influencers and ensure that children and teenagers who perform on online platforms are protected from financial abuse.

“A lot has changed since Hollywood’s early days, but here in California, our laser focus on protecting kids from exploitation remains the same,” Gov. Newsom said in a statement. “In old Hollywood, child actors were exploited. In 2024, it’s now child influencers. Today, that modern exploitation ends through two new laws to protect young influencers on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms.”

Lovato has championed the legislation, as recently highlighted in her Hulu documentary, “Child Star,” which served as her directorial debut and centered around the perils of young fame.

Earlier this month, Lovato sat down with CNN for an interview where she expressed her concern to help young performers working today.

“It’s kind of the wild, wild west in the digital age,” Lovato told CNN, referring to how today’s ever-changing media landscape is different from when she was a child star.

Lovato got her start in show business in the 1990s and early 2000s during the height of kids’ TV, first being cast on “Barney and Friends” and then landing breakout roles on the Disney Channel that catapulted her to teen idol status.

Since then, the entertainment industry has changed immensely with the rise of content created and monetized by digital influencers, and Lovato believes there is a gap in these laws to protect minors working across emerging platforms with new business models.

In her documentary, Lovato met with youth activist and head of the advocacy organization Quick Clicking Kids Chris McCarty, who worked with Lovato to push forward the bills that have now been signed into law by Newsom.

When she spoke with CNN earlier this month, Lovato said she hoped the bills would pass in the state of California, and shared that her goal is to bring the issues to Capitol Hill one day.

On Thursday, Lovato expressed gratitude to Gov. Newsom for his support of the legislation, saying in a statement that the new laws “will ensure children featured on social media are granted agency when they come of age and are properly compensated for the use of their name and likeness.”

One bill signed by Newsom (SB 764) establishes financial and legal protections for minors featured in monetized online content by mandating their parent or guardian set aside a percentage of their earnings in trust accounts. The other bill (AB 1880) expands California’s decades-old Coogan Law to include minors who are employed as content creators on online platforms.

SAG-AFTRA , the actor’s union, commended the new legislation passed on Thursday for young stars in the industry.

“We are grateful that protections now existing for child performers – protections we helped secure long ago – will be expanded to cover content creators and influencers,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the national executive director of SAG-AFTRA. “Regardless of medium or platform, all child performers must be strongly protected.”

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