A pair of newly-enacted laws in California that aim to protect minors featured in social media content is giving rise to no shortage of chatter on social media. In particular, social media users have been sharing theories about how a number of heavily-followed influencers have up-and-moved out of California after two new laws went into effect early this year. The laws at issue require that parents and guardians who monetize their children’s online presence establish a trust for those kids and also require parents to maintain records of how often their children appear in their online content and how much money they earn from those posts, among other things.
The Background in Brief: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two pieces of legislation – Assembly Bill 1880 (Coogan Law) and Senate Bill 764 (Child Content Creator Rights Act) – into law last year, with both laws coming into effect on January 1 …
> Child Content Creator Rights Act: SB 764 requires parents that feature their child/children in at least 30% of their compensated content to set aside a percentage of their gross earnings in trust accounts for those minors; it also calls on parents to maintain and make available records of the number of compensated posts, the total number of minutes the minor was included in the compensated posts, and the amount deposited in the minor’s trust.
> Coogan Law: AB 1880 expands California’s long-standing Coogan Law to extend protections to minors that are employed as content creators on online platforms, such as YouTube. Specifically, the law requires that 15 percent of a child’s earnings from entertainment-related work – regardless of whether they are earning through traditional media or online content creation – be placed in a blocked trust account.
In putting these laws into place, California follows in the footsteps of Illinois, which became the first state to enact a law protecting child influencers in 2023, requiring parents who feature their children in monetized social media content to compensate them and set aside a portion of earnings in a trust for the minor, which they can access upon turning 18. Minnesota passed a similar bill, which will go into effect this summer, that prohibits children under the age of 14 from “engaging in the work of content creation” and requires adult content creators to delete content if a minor appearing in the content requests removal.
The TikTok Plot Behind the “Influencer Migration”
The passage and subsequent enactment of the two laws, alone, did not spark much social media-centric controversy. However, the timing of the legislation appeared to coincide with the move (and/or announcement of impending moves) of a number of influencers and “family vloggers” out of California to other U.S. states, including Tennessee, which prompted a wave of theories among the TikTok community. The “Nashville Influencer Migration,” as it has been coined on the popular platform, has spurred dozens of videos and a growing amount of engagement.
At the heart of the TikTok plot is the notion that a handful of big-name influencers that heavily feature their children on their social media channels are fleeing the Golden State in order to sidestep rising protections for minors working in the digital media industry. In short: conspiracy theorists on TikTok (and YouTube and Reddit, too) maintain that in order to avoid setting aside cash for their children, these influencer families are relocating to Nashville.
In the event that the popular theory is not, in fact, the truth (and it very well might not be), there may be a different reason why these family vloggers are ditching California. There is a notable variation between the law in California and Tennessee that has nothing to do with children in the digital media space: Tennessee is one of a handful of states with no personal income tax. Another potential that has been widely floated? Tennessee is more closely aligned with these family vloggers’ conservative values.
Regardless of the real motives behind the alleged influencer exodus, the timing of the relocations – paired with the rollout of California’s new child-protection laws – has undoubtedly ignited a broader conversation about accountability, digital labor, and the rights of minors in the age of online fame. Whether driven by financial strategy, ideological alignment, or a desire to sidestep regulation, the movements of these high-profile families underscore the latest tension between the rapidly evolving influencer economy and the legal frameworks racing to keep up. As more states consider similar legislation, the laws that may be behind the so-called “influencer migration” may be less of an isolated event and more of a preview of what is to come.
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