Assemblymember Juan Alanis: “I thank Governor Newsom for signing AB 1880 and for his commitment to addressing the unique challenges minors face as online content creators in the rapidly growing digital entertainment industry. Child content creators deserve the same protections under the Coogan Law as their counterparts in traditional entertainment.  With this bill, California takes a significant step in protecting the financial rights and well-being of child online influencers by extending critical protections against exploitation and ensuring they receive a fair share of earnings from their content.”

Senator Steve Padilla: “I want to thank Governor Newsom for helping uphold California’s legacy of protecting child performers from financial abuse. As the entertainment industry evolves, our laws must evolve with it to remain relevant to ensure protections for vulnerable young performers.”

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director: “We are grateful that protections now existing for child performers – protections we helped secure long ago – will be expanded to cover content creators and influencers. Regardless of medium or platform, all child performers must be strongly protected.”

The Newsom administration has been hard at work protecting children from the risks of social media and smartphones. Last week, Governor Newsom signed SB 976 by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), which prohibits online platforms from knowingly providing an addictive feed to a minor without parental consent. The bill also prohibits social media platforms from sending notifications to minors during school hours and late at night. On Monday, he signed AB 3216, the Phone-Free School Act, to require every school district, charter school and county office of education to adopt a policy limiting or prohibiting the use of smartphones by July 1, 2026.