NATIONAL NEWS – Utah passes a law limiting child influencers after child abuse scandal

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

Utah voted on Tuesday to add new protections for the children of online content creators following the child abuse conviction of Ruby Franke. Franke was a mother of six, whose YouTube channel gained millions of followers before her arrest in 2023. Governor Spencer Cox signed a law allowing adults to scrub from all platforms the digital content they were featured in as minors. This new legislation also requires parents to set aside money for kids who were featured in content. Ruby Franke’s ex-husband Kevin Franke told lawmakers that he wished he had never let his ex-wife post their children’s lives online and use them for profit. He also said, “Children cannot give informed consent to be filmed on social media, period,” he said. “Vlogging my family, putting my children into public social media, was wrong, and I regret it every day.” Content-creation as an industry is largely unregulated, but Utah has now joined several states to add safeguards in recent years. Illinois, California, and Minnesota have also enacted laws protecting the earnings of young creators and protections that have been taken down.