California law lets adult children demand vlog takedowns
Adults who appeared in their family's social media content as children will be able to force it offline under a new California law. Senate Bill No. 1247 takes effect in January 2027.
How a takedown request works
The right belongs to anyone whose parents, legal guardians or family members featured them in social media posts when they were under 18. Once the vlogger is served a notice of removal, there are 10 days to delete the content or edit the requester out of it.
Miss that deadline and the vlogger faces penalties of $3,000 per day from then on. Further damages, injunctive relief and attorney's fees are also possible.
A vlogger who complies faces no consequences. Legal action opens only if the vlogger refuses or takes longer than 10 days.
Who counts as a family vlogger
The law is tuned to professional family vloggers, and three conditions narrow it. The first is money. The vlogger must have earned from the content involving the child. Any of these counts: merch sold off a social presence, brand deals, ad revenue, or tips such as Super Chat. Content that earned nothing is outside the law.
The second is frequency. The vlogger's content must feature a minor in 30% of its output or more. Occasional appearances do not count, even when the content made money.
The third is the relationship. The claim runs only against the child's own parents, guardians or relatives. A classmate of a vlogger's child who ended up in a birthday party video on YouTube would have no claim. Nor can the law be used to take a mother to court over Facebook pictures of an embarrassing Halloween costume.
A duty for the platforms
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and every other site must, in the bill's words, "provide a clear and conspicuous mechanism by which a child influencer can request a vlogger" to remove content. A platform without a built-in mechanism has to receive the requests itself. It must forward each one to the vlogger within three days.
What the text leaves open
One case is not accounted for in S.B. 1247's current form. A parent might sign a financial agreement with a family vlogger so that their child is a recurring presence in the family's videos. Tubefilter guesses the law could apply there, but says the bill does not account for it.
It is a California law only, though Tubefilter expects other states might enact similar protections. YouTube just turned 20, and thousands of children who grew up in family vlogs are now turning 18. The control S.B. 1247 grants is retroactive.
Our take
Much will turn on how the 30% threshold is counted. The source does not say whether it is measured by video count or by screen time. Platforms must offer request mechanisms or take the requests themselves once the law takes effect in January 2027.
Source: Tubefilter