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57 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 537 (2023-2024)
Don't Forget to Like, Follow, and Regulate: An Argument for the Expression of Protections for Child Social Media Influencers

handle is hein.journals/umijlr57 and id is 553 raw text is: DON'T FORGET TO LIKE, FOLLOW, AND REGULATE: AN ARGUMENT FOR THE EXPANSION OF PROTECTIONS FOR CHILD SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS Caroline Waldo* ABSTRACT Child social media influencers, colloquially known as kidfluencers, have skyrocketed to fame alongside the growth of social media. However, traditional childlaborlawsdonotconsideronlineinfluencing workorthesekidsto be child performers. Thus, these children do not receive any form of legal protection for their presence online, leaving them open to exploitation and severe harms. This Note explores the lack of protection provided to kidfluencers, ultimately proposing a new federal labor law to expand child actor protections to kidfluencers. Part I of this Note provides a brief history of the landscape by reviewing landmark Supreme Court cases on the rights of the child, detailing the introduction of child labor laws and child actor protections, and surveying the meteoric rise of social media and 'family vloggingin the field of child labor. Part II explores the poten- tial harms that kidfluencers could face due to the lack of regulation in the 'family vloggingfield. Part III proposes a reform for the current legal schema to protect child influencers, ultimately culminating in a new federal labor law expanding current protections to protect child actors and introducing a privacy aspect to preserve children's right to consent. TABLE OF CONTENTS IN TRO D U CTIO N ...........................................................................................538 I. BACKGROUND: RIGHTS OF THE CHILD FROM THE FACTORIES To FACEBOOK ......................................................................................540 A. Defining the Rights of Parent vs. State vs. Child...............................540 B. The Introduction of Child Labor Laws............................................... 543 * J.D. Candidate, May 2024, the University of Michigan Law School. Thank you to Professor Frank Vandervort for supervising and providing valuable input on the first draft ofthis paper. Huge thanks to the entirety of the JLR editorial board for your incredible work and patience in carrying this note over the finish line. I am forever grateful to all my friends for believing in me, listening to me, and sending me every TikTok and article they saw about this topic. Special thanks to Tia Ray, who convinced me that a silly idea could become a published Note. Finally, thanks to my family for their unending love and support in law school and beyond. 537

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