Social media content

AN ACT Relating to social media content creation; adding a new 1
chapter to Title 19 RCW; and prescribing penalties.2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The definitions in this section apply 4
throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires 5
otherwise.6
(1) "Content creator" means an individual who creates, posts, 7
shares, or otherwise interacts with digital content on a social media 8
service. Content creators include, but are not limited to, vloggers, 9
podcasters, social media influencers, and streamers.10
(2) "Compensated social media video content" means video content 11
shared on a social media service: 12
(a) That meets the social media service's threshold for providing 13
compensation to the vlogger; or 14
(b) In relation to which a third-party advertiser provided 15
compensation to the vlogger. 16
(3) "Compensation" means any money, property, product, virtual 17
currency or item, service, income, gross proceeds of sales, fees, 18
commissions, royalties, dividends, other emoluments however 19
designated, and anything of value whatsoever. 20
(4) "Department" means the department of revenue.21
H-2813.2
HOUSE BILL 2400
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Reeves, Walen, Callan, Zahn, Ramel, Pollet, and
Bernbaum
Read first time 01/13/26. Referred to Committee on Consumer
Protection & Business.
p. 1 HB 2400
(5)(a) "Social media service" means a public-facing website or 1
application that: 2
(i) Displays content that is primarily generated by account 3
holders and not by the social media company; 4
(ii) Permits an individual to register as an account holder and 5
create a profile that is made visible to the general public or a set 6
of other users defined by the account holder; 7
(iii) Connects account holders to allow users to interact 8
socially with each other within the website or application;9
(iv) Makes available to each account holder a list or lists of 10
other account holders with whom the account holder shares a 11
connection within the system; and 12
(v) Allows account holders to post content viewable by other 13
users. 14
(b) "Social media service" does not include: 15
(i) Email; 16
(ii) Cloud storage; or 17
(iii) Document viewing, sharing, or collaboration services.18
(6) "Substantial nexus" has the same meaning as in RCW 82.04.067.19
(7) "Third-party advertiser" means any person including any 20
proprietorship, partnership, company, or other corporate entity that 21
has a contractual relationship with and provides compensation to a 22
vlogger in relation to advertising a product or service.23
(8) "Vlogger" means a person who creates compensated social media 24
video content and includes any proprietorship, partnership, company, 25
or other corporate entity assuming the name or identity of a 26
particular individual or family for the purposes of that content 27
creation. "Vlogger" does not include any person under the age of 18 28
who produces their own content. 29
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) A vlogger meeting the criteria under 30
subsection (2) of this section is deemed to be engaged in business 31
activity and must register with the department under RCW 82.32.030.32
(2) This section applies to a vlogger with a substantial nexus 33
with Washington who, within the previous 12-month period, received a 34
total of $12,000 or more in compensation from compensated social 35
media video content. 36
(3) For purposes of applying this section, compensation must be 37
determined without any deduction on account of any costs, interest, 38
p. 2 HB 2400
discount, taxes, or any other expense whatsoever paid or accrued and 1
without any deduction on account of losses. 2
(4) A violation of this section is punishable as provided in 3
section 7 of this act. 4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) A social media service or any third-5
party advertiser with a substantial nexus with Washington shall 6
establish a trust account for the benefit of a minor child of a 7
vlogger when the minor child's likeness, name, or photograph is 8
present in a video segment published by the vlogger and the social 9
media service or third-party advertiser compensates the vlogger in 10
relation to the video segment. The social media service or third-11
party advertiser shall fund the trust account in accordance with 12
subsection (2) of this section. The funds in a trust account must be 13
preserved for the benefit of the minor, made available to the former 14
minor upon reaching age 18, and paid into an account of the former 15
minor's choosing upon request.16
(2) A social media service and a third-party advertiser must set 17
aside an amount of compensation in a trust account as provided in 18
this section. For any video segment that includes the likeness, name, 19
or photograph of the vlogger's minor child, the social media service 20
or third-party advertiser must withhold a pro rata percentage of the 21
total compensation the social media service or third-party advertiser 22
would otherwise provide to the vlogger in relation to the video 23
segment and deposit the withheld funds in the minor's trust account. 24
For the purpose of this section, "pro rata percentage" means an 25
amount equal to the percent of time the vlogger's minor child 26
appeared or was referenced in a video segment. 27
(3)(a) Where only one minor child's likeness, name, or photograph 28
is included in a vlogger's video segment, the percentage of total 29
compensation on any video segment including the likeness, name, or 30
photograph of the minor child that must be deposited in the minor's 31
trust account is equal to the amount provided in subsection (2) of 32
this section. 33
(b) Where more than one minor child's likeness, name, or 34
photograph is included in a vlogger's video segment, the compensation 35
with respect to that video segment must be equally divided between 36
the minor children according to subsection (2) of this section, 37
regardless of differences in percentage of content provided by the 38
individual children. 39
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(4) A violation of this section is punishable as provided in 1
section 7 of this act. 2
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Beginning April 1, 2027, and by April 1st 3
of each year thereafter, a social media service with a substantial 4
nexus with Washington must submit a report with the following 5
information to the department:6
(1) The total number of accounts of content creators on the 7
social media service; 8
(2) The total number of accounts of content creators on the 9
social media service who are located in Washington;10
(3) The total number of accounts of content creators on the 11
social media service who meet the social media service's threshold 12
for providing compensation; 13
(4) The total number of accounts of content creators on the 14
social media service who meet the social media service's threshold 15
for providing compensation who are located in Washington;16
(5) The total number of accounts of content creators on the 17
social media service who meet the social media service's threshold 18
for providing compensation, are located in Washington, and are under 19
age 18; 20
(6) The total number of accounts of content creators on the 21
social media service who are vloggers who include their minor 22
children in compensated social media video content;23
(7) The total number of accounts of content creators on the 24
social media service who are vloggers located in Washington who 25
include their minor children in compensated social media video 26
content; 27
(8) The total number of video segments in the preceding year for 28
which compensation was provided to a vlogger posted by vloggers who 29
include their minor children in compensated social media video 30
content; 31
(9) The total amount of revenue received by the social media 32
service in the preceding year from advertising related to content 33
published by all content creators on the platform;34
(10) The total amount of revenue received by the social media 35
service in the preceding year from advertising related to content 36
published by vloggers who include their minor children in compensated 37
social media video content; 38
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(11) The total amount of revenue received by the social media 1
service in the preceding year from advertising related to content 2
published by vloggers located in Washington who include their minor 3
children in compensated social media video content; and4
(12) An explanation of any limitations on accurately providing 5
the information identified in this section. 6
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) Upon the age of 18 and until an 7
individual reaches age 23, an individual may request the permanent 8
deletion of any specified video segment, audio segment, image, text, 9
or other post that includes the likeness, name, or photograph of the 10
individual taken or recorded at the time the individual was under the 11
age of 18, from any social media service on which it was published or 12
appears, if the video segment, audio segment, image, text, or other 13
post was monetized on any social media service. A request by an 14
individual under this section must include a link to, or a digital 15
copy of, the video segment, audio segment, image, text, or other post 16
to which the request applies.17
(2) Within 30 days of receiving a request under this section, a 18
social media service must take all reasonable steps to permanently 19
delete the specified video segment, audio segment, image, text, or 20
other post containing the requestor's childhood likeness, name, or 21
photograph, or comply with subsection (3) of this section.22
(3) As an alternative to deletion, a social media service may 23
remove or obscure the requesting individual's childhood likeness, 24
name, or photograph from the specified video segment, audio segment, 25
image, text, or other post. 26
(4) After a request is submitted under this section, a social 27
media service must continually monitor content on its platform and 28
take all reasonable steps to permanently delete, or comply with 29
subsection (3) of this section, with respect to the video segment, 30
audio segment, image, text, or other post to which a request was 31
timely submitted under subsection (1) of this section if the video 32
segment, audio segment, image, text, or other post is published again 33
by any person at any time. A social media service shall comply with 34
this subsection (4) within 30 days of a video segment, audio segment, 35
image, text, or other post being published again by any person.36
(5) A violation of this section is punishable as provided in 37
section 7 of this act. 38
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NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (1) Social media services with a 1
substantial nexus with Washington must make information available to 2
users regarding the registration requirement of section 2 of this 3
act, the rights of minor children of vloggers to compensation under 4
section 3 of this act, and the rights of individuals related to 5
content removal under section 5 of this act.6
(2) A violation of this section is punishable as provided in 7
section 7 of this act. 8
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. (1) A violation of section 2 of this act 9
is punishable by a civil penalty of $1,000, enforceable by the 10
department or the attorney general.11
(2)(a) A violation of section 3 of this act is enforceable 12
through a civil cause of action in district or superior court, 13
subject to the jurisdictional limit of district courts in RCW 14
3.66.020, by an individual in whose benefit a trust account was or 15
should have been established pursuant to section 3 of this act. Upon 16
finding a violation of section 3 of this act, a court may award 17
actual damages or impose a statutory penalty, whichever is greater, 18
to be awarded to the harmed individual, in addition to their costs of 19
the suit, and a reasonable attorney's fee. A court may also provide 20
injunctive relief and any other relief the court finds just and 21
equitable to enforce section 3 of this act. 22
(b) Actual damages for a violation of section 3 of this act is 23
the amount of compensation a social media service or third-party 24
advertiser should have deposited to an individual's trust account 25
pursuant to section 3 of this act, plus a reasonable amount of 26
interest to be determined by the court. 27
(c) Statutory damages for a violation of section 3 of this act 28
are: 29
(i) $50,000 for a failure to establish a trust account; and30
(ii) $50,000 for each video that includes the likeness, name, or 31
photograph of the vlogger's minor child visually or as the subject of 32
an oral narrative in a video segment for which a trust account 33
deposit was required pursuant to section 3 of this act but not made.34
(3) A violation of section 4 of this act is punishable by a civil 35
penalty of $1,000, enforceable by the department or the attorney 36
general. 37
(4)(a) A violation of section 5 of this act is enforceable 38
through a civil cause of action in district or superior court, 39
p. 6 HB 2400
subject to the jurisdictional limit of district courts in RCW 1
3.66.020, by an individual who submitted a timely request under 2
section 5 of this act. Upon finding a violation of section 5 of this 3
act, a court may impose a statutory penalty, to be awarded to the 4
harmed individual, in addition to their costs of the suit, and a 5
reasonable attorney's fee. A court may also provide injunctive relief 6
and any other relief the court finds just and equitable to enforce 7
section 5 of this act. 8
(b) The statutory penalty for a violation of section 5 of this 9
act is $10,000 per violation. Each video segment, audio segment, 10
image, text, or other post to which a request applies is a separate 11
violation and penalty. 12
(5) A violation of section 6 of this act is punishable by a civil 13
penalty of $5,000, enforceable by the department or the attorney 14
general. 15
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. If any provision of this act or its 16
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the 17
remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other 18
persons or circumstances is not affected.19
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Sections 1 through 7 of this act 20
constitute a new chapter in Title 19 RCW.21
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