Family vlogs/minor children

AN ACT Relating to protecting the interests of minor children 1
featured on for-profit family vlogs; amending RCW 63.60.020 and 2
63.60.040; adding new sections to chapter 63.60 RCW; and creating a 3
new section. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that social 6
media influencers can make significant amounts of money from the 7
digital content they produce. Some influencers use their minor 8
children as subjects of that content. Those children are generating 9
interest in and revenue for the content, but receive no financial 10
compensation for their participation. Unlike in child acting, these 11
children are not playing a part, and lack legal protections.12
(2) The legislature finds that social media influencers who 13
market video content of their families, or "vloggers" can profit from 14
the personal property rights of their children without restriction. 15
Some children are filmed, with highly personal details of their lives 16
shared on the internet for compensation, from birth. In addition to a 17
severe loss of privacy, these children receive no consideration for 18
the use and exchange of their personal property rights.19
(3) The legislature intends to allow minors to receive 20
proportional compensation for the use of specified personal property 21
H-1113.1
HOUSE BILL 1820
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Reeves, Ramel, and Pollet
Read first time 02/04/25. Referred to Committee on Civil Rights &
Judiciary.
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rights where their parents have reached a specified profit threshold 1
from that use. The legislature also intends to provide for minors to 2
exercise control over specified personal property rights upon 3
reaching the age of majority. 4
Sec. 2. RCW 63.60.020 and 2008 c 62 s 2 are each amended to read 5
as follows: 6
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in 7
this section apply throughout this chapter. 8
(1) "Age of majority" has the same meaning as provided in RCW 9
26.28.010.10
(2) "Deceased individual" means any individual, regardless of the 11
individual's place of domicile, residence, or citizenship at the time 12
of death or otherwise, who has died within ten years before January 13
1, 1998, or thereafter. 14
(((2))) (3) "Deceased personality" means any individual, 15
regardless of the personality's place of domicile, residence, or 16
citizenship at the time of death or otherwise, whose name, voice, 17
signature, photograph, or likeness had commercial value at the time 18
of his or her death, whether or not during the lifetime of that 19
individual he or she used his or her name, voice, signature, 20
photograph, or likeness on or in products, merchandise or goods, or 21
for purposes of advertising or selling, or soliciting the purchase or 22
sale of, products, merchandise, goods, or services. A "deceased 23
personality" includes, without limitation, any such individual who 24
has died within fifty years before January 1, 1998, or thereafter.25
(((3))) (4) "Fund-raising" means an organized activity to solicit 26
donations of money or other goods or services from persons or 27
entities by an organization, company, or public entity. A fund-28
raising activity does not include a live, public performance by an 29
individual or group of individuals for which money is received in 30
solicited or unsolicited gratuities. 31
(((4))) (5) "Individual" means a natural person, living or dead.32
(((5))) (6) "Likeness" means an image, painting, sketching, 33
model, diagram, or other clear representation, other than a 34
photograph, of an individual's face, body, or parts thereof, or the 35
distinctive appearance, gestures, or mannerisms of an individual.36
(((6))) (7) "Minor" means a person under the age of 18 whose 37
principal place of residence is in the state of Washington.38
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(8) "Name" means the actual or assumed name, or nickname, of a 1
living or deceased individual that is intended to identify that 2
individual. 3
(((7))) (9) "Person" means any natural person, firm, association, 4
partnership, corporation, joint stock company, syndicate, receiver, 5
common law trust, conservator, statutory trust, or any other concern 6
by whatever name known or however organized, formed, or created, and 7
includes not-for-profit corporations, associations, educational and 8
religious institutions, political parties, and community, civic, or 9
other organizations. 10
(((8))) (10) "Personality" means any individual whose name, 11
voice, signature, photograph, or likeness has commercial value, 12
whether or not that individual uses his or her name, voice, 13
signature, photograph, or likeness on or in products, merchandise, or 14
goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or solicitation of 15
purchase of, products, merchandise, goods, or services.16
(((9))) (11) "Photograph" means any photograph or photographic 17
reproduction, still or moving, or any videotape, online or live 18
television transmission, of any individual, so that the individual is 19
readily identifiable. 20
(((10))) (12) "Signature" means the one handwritten or otherwise 21
legally binding form of an individual's name, written or authorized 22
by that individual, that distinguishes the individual from all 23
others. 24
(13) "Vlogger" means an individual or family that creates video 25
content in exchange for compensation, and includes any 26
proprietorship, partnership, company, or other corporate entity 27
assuming the name or identity of a particular individual or family 28
for purposes of that content creation.29
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 63.60 30
RCW to read as follows: 31
(1) A vlogger meeting the criteria under subsection (2) of this 32
section must compensate the vlogger's minor child whose likeness, 33
name, or photograph constitutes the video content meeting the 34
criteria in subsection (2)(a) of this section, in accordance with 35
subsection (3) of this section. 36
(2) This section applies to a vlogger meeting the following 37
criteria at any time within the previous 12-month period:38
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(a)(i) The number of views received per video segment on any 1
internet platform or network met the platform or network's threshold 2
for generation of compensation; or 3
(ii) The vlogger received actual compensation for video content 4
equal to or greater than $0.10 per view; and 5
(b) At least 30 percent of the vlogger's compensated video 6
content produced within a 30-day period included the likeness, name, 7
or photograph of the vlogger's minor child. Content percentage is 8
measured by the percentage of time the likeness, name, or photograph 9
of the vlogger's minor child visually appears or is the subject of an 10
oral narrative in a video segment, as compared to the total length of 11
the segment. 12
(3) A vlogger meeting the criteria in subsection (2) of this 13
section must set aside gross earnings on the video content including 14
the likeness, name, or photograph of the vlogger's minor child in a 15
trust, to be preserved for the benefit of the minor upon reaching the 16
age of majority, according to the following distribution:17
(a) Where only one minor child meets the content threshold 18
described in subsection (2)(b) of this section, the percentage of 19
total gross earnings on any video segment including the likeness, 20
name, or photograph of the vlogger's minor child that is equal to or 21
greater than the content percentage that includes the minor child as 22
described in subsection (2) of this section; or 23
(b) Where more than one minor child meets the content threshold 24
described in subsection (2)(b) of this section and a video segment 25
includes more than one of those children, the additive percentage 26
described in (a) of this subsection for all minor children in any 27
segment must be equally divided between the children, regardless of 28
differences in percentage of content provided by the individual 29
children. 30
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 63.60 31
RCW to read as follows: 32
(1) Upon the age of majority, any individual to whom as a minor 33
child section 3 of this act previously applied may request the 34
permanent deletion of any video segment including the likeness, name, 35
or photograph of the individual from any internet platform or network 36
that provided compensation to the individual's parent or parents in 37
exchange for that video content. 38
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(2) An internet platform or network must take all reasonable 1
steps to permanently delete the video segment for which a request 2
described in subsection (1) of this section has been made.3
(3) Any contract with an internet platform or network for the 4
exchange or use of video content that would reasonably be anticipated 5
to include greater than a de minimis use of a vlogger's minor child 6
must include notification to the internet platform or network of the 7
minor child's future rights as provided in this section.8
Sec. 5. RCW 63.60.040 and 2004 c 71 s 2 are each amended to read 9
as follows: 10
(1) For individuals, except to the extent that the individual may 11
have assigned or licensed such rights, the rights protected in this 12
chapter are exclusive to the individual, subject to the assignment or 13
licensing of such rights, during such individual's lifetime and are 14
exclusive to the persons entitled to such rights under RCW 63.60.030 15
for a period of ten years after the death of the individual except to 16
the extent that the persons entitled to such rights under RCW 17
63.60.030 may have assigned or licensed such rights to others.18
(2) For personalities, except to the extent that the personality 19
may have assigned or licensed such rights, the rights protected in 20
this chapter are exclusive to the personality, subject to the 21
assignment or licensing of such rights, during such personality's 22
lifetime and to the persons entitled to such rights under RCW 23
63.60.030 for a period of seventy-five years after the death of the 24
personality except to the extent that the persons entitled to such 25
rights under RCW 63.60.030 may have assigned or licensed such rights 26
to others. 27
(3) The rights granted in this chapter may be exercised by a 28
personal representative, attorney-in-fact, parent of a minor child 29
except as limited in section 3 of this act , or guardian, or as 30
authorized by a court of competent jurisdiction. The terms "personal 31
representative," "attorney-in-fact," and "guardian" shall have the 32
same meanings in this chapter as they have in Title 11 RCW.33
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