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69th Legislature 2025 HB 392
- 1 - Authorized Print Version – HB 392
ENROLLED BILL
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE CHILD DIGITAL PROTECTION ACT; GENERALLY REVISING LAWS
RELATED TO THE CREATION OF PROFITABLE FAMILY VIDEO CONTENT FEATURING MINOR
CHILDREN; PROVIDING FOR TRUST CONTRIBUTIONS OF PROFITS MADE FROM VIDEO CONTENT
FEATURING MINOR CHILDREN; PROVIDING A RIGHT TO REQUEST REMOVAL OF CONTENT;
PROVIDING A PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION; AND PROVIDING DEFINITIONS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Short title. [Sections 1 through 7] may be cited as the "Child Digital Protection Act".
Section 2. Legislative findings and purpose. (1) The legislature finds that social media influencers
can make significant amounts of money from digital content. Some influencers use the influencers' minor
children as subjects of the content. The children featured in family-produced video content generate interest in
and revenue for the content but receive no financial compensation for participation. Unlike in child acting, the
children are not playing a part and lack legal protections in the state.
(2) The legislature further finds that social media influencers who market video content of the
influencers' families, or "content creators", can profit from the personal property rights of the influencers'
children without restriction. Some children are filmed from birth, with highly personal details of the children's
lives shared on the internet for compensation. In addition to severe loss of privacy, the children receive no
consideration for the use and exchange of the children's personal property rights.
(3) The purpose of [sections 1 through 7] is to allow minors to receive proportional compensation
for the use of specified personal property rights in which the minor's parent or parents have reached a specified
profit threshold from the use. Further, the purpose of [sections 1 through 7] is to provide for minors to exercise
control over specified personal property rights on reaching the age of majority.
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Section 3. Definitions. As used in [sections 1 through 7], unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Age of majority" means 18 years of age.
(2) "Content creation" means content shared on an online platform that generates compensation.
(3) "Content creator" means a person or persons 18 years of age or older, including family
members, who creates content performed in the state that generates compensation and includes any
proprietorship, partnership, company, or other corporate entity assuming the name or identity of a particular
individual or individuals or family members for the purposes of that content creator.
(4) "Likeness" means an image, painting, sketch, model, diagram, or other clear representation,
other than a photograph, of an individual's face, body, or part of the individual's face or body, or the distinctive
appearance, gestures, or mannerisms of an individual.
(5) "Minor" means a person under 18 years of age whose principal place of residence is in the
state.
(6) "Name" means the actual or assumed name or nickname of a living or deceased individual that
is intended to identify that individual.
(7) "Online platform" means a public-facing website, web application, or digital application,
including a mobile application. The term includes a social network, advertising network, mobile operating
system, search engine, e-mail service, monetization platform to sell digital services, streaming service and paid
subscription.
(8) "Photograph" means a photograph or photographic reproduction, still or moving, or a videotape
or online or live television transmission of an individual, so that the individual is readily identifiable.
(9) "Video segment" means a self-contained moving visual image that is recorded in an electronic
medium.
Section 4. Trust contribution for profitable video content involving minor child. (1) A content
creator meeting the criteria under subsection (2) shall compensate, under subsection (3), the content creator's
minor child whose likeness, name, or photograph constitutes the video content meeting the criteria in
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subsection (2)(a).
(2) This section applies to a content creator meeting the following criteria at any time within the
previous 12-month period:
(a) (i) the number of views received for each video segment on an online platform or network meet
the platform or network's threshold for generation of compensation; or
(ii) the content creator receives actual compensation for the video content equal to or greater than
$0.10 a view; and
(b) at least 30% of the content creator's compensated video content produced within a 30-day
period includes the likeness, name, or photograph of the content creator's minor child.
(3) A content creator meeting the criteria in subsection (2) shall set aside a percentage, calculated
under subsection (4), of the gross earnings on the video content including the likeness, name, or photograph of
the content creator's minor child in a trust to be preserved for the benefit of the minor on reaching the age of
majority according to the following distribution:
(a) if only one minor child meets the content threshold described in subsection (2)(b), the
percentage required under subsection (4) of total gross earnings on a video segment including the likeness,
name, or photograph of the content creator's minor child that is equal to or greater than the content percentage
that includes the minor child as described in subsection (2)(b); or
(b) if more than one minor child meets the content threshold described in subsection (2)(b) and a
video segment includes more than one of those children, the additive percentage required under subsection (4)
for all minor children in a video segment must be equally divided between the children, regardless of
differences in percentage of content featuring the individual children.
(4) (a) For video segments that include the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor that is
equal to or greater than 30% but less than 50% of the compensated video content, the trust contribution under
subsection (3) must be equal to 10% of the gross earnings.
(b) For video segments that include the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor that is equal to
or greater than 50% but less than 75% of the compensated video content, the trust contribution under
subsection (3) must be equal to 25% of the gross earnings.
(c) For video segments that include the likeness, name, or photograph of a minor that is equal to
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or greater than 75% of the compensated video content, the trust contribution under subsection (3) must be
equal to 50% of the gross earnings.
(5) Content percentage is measured by the percentage of time the likeness, name, or photograph
of the content creator's minor child visually appears or is the subject of an oral narrative in a video segment, as
compared to the total length of the video segment.
Section 5. Right to be forgotten -- requests to remove content involving minor child after
reaching age of majority. (1) On reaching the age of majority, an individual previously covered under [section
4] may request the permanent deletion of a video segment that includes the likeness, name, or photograph of
the individual from an online platform or network that provided compensation to the individual's parent or
parents in exchange for the video content.
(2) An online platform or network shall take all reasonable steps to permanently delete the video
segment for which a request under subsection (1) is made.
(3) A contract with an online platform or network for the exchange or use of video content that
would reasonably be anticipated to include greater than a nominal use of a content creator's minor child must
include notification to the online platform or network of the minor child's future rights as provided in this section.
Section 6. Private right of action -- remedies. (1) An individual harmed by a violation of [sections 4
and 5] may maintain a cause of action for the following remedies:
(a) injunctive relief;
(b) damages in an amount that is the greater of:
(i) $1,500; or
(ii) actual damages sustained to the individual as a result of the violation; and
(c) recovery for any profits that are attributable to the violation not included in the calculation of
actual damages under subsection (2)(b).
(2) To prove profits under this section, an individual shall submit proof of gross revenues
attributable to the violation and the violating party shall prove the party's deductible expenses.
(3) An individual shall bring a cause of action under this section within 7 years of the discovery of
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the violation or before the individual reaches 26 years of age, whichever is later.
Section 7. Duty to maintain and provide information -- injunctive relief. (1) A content creator
whose content meets the criteria under [section 4(2)] shall maintain the following records annually and shall
provide the records to the minor on request:
(a) the name and documentary proof of the age of the minor engaged in the work of content
creation;
(b) the number of video segments that generated compensation as described in [section 4(2)];
(c) the total number of minutes of the video segments for which the content creator received
compensation;
(d) the total number of minutes each minor was featured in video segments;
(e) the total compensation generated from video segments featuring the minor; and
(f) the amount deposited in the trust fund established under the requirements of [section 4(3)] for
the benefit of the minor.
(2) The records provided for in subsection (1) must be retained and maintained by a content
creator until the minor reaches the age of majority, at which time the content creator shall provide the records to
the individual previously covered by [section 4].
(3) If a content creator whose video segment meets the criteria under [section 4(2)] fails to
maintain the records as provided in subsection (1), the minor may maintain a civil action under [section 6].
Section 8. Codification instruction. [Sections 1 through 7] are intended to be codified as a new part
in a new chapter in Title 30, and the provisions of Title 30 apply to [sections 1 through 7].
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I hereby certify that the within bill,
HB 392, originated in the House.
___________________________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
___________________________________________
Speaker of the House
Signed this _______________________________day
of____________________________________, 2025.
___________________________________________
President of the Senate
Signed this _______________________________day
of____________________________________, 2025.
HOUSE BILL NO. 392
INTRODUCED BY K. ZOLNIKOV
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE CHILD DIGITAL PROTECTION ACT; GENERALLY REVISING LAWS RELATED
TO THE CREATION OF PROFITABLE FAMILY VIDEO CONTENT FEATURING MINOR CHILDREN;
PROVIDING FOR TRUST CONTRIBUTIONS OF PROFITS MADE FROM VIDEO CONTENT FEATURING
MINOR CHILDREN; PROVIDING A RIGHT TO REQUEST REMOVAL OF CONTENT; PROVIDING A PRIVATE
RIGHT OF ACTION; AND PROVIDING DEFINITIONS.