Children are now an integral part of social networks. Already present at the time in simple YouTube videos or Instagram posts with their parents, today some literally become “influencers” in their own right. Who doesn’t know little Lily-Ana, who cooks with her dad, or little Leya always with her mom. These two children have experienced success through the TikTok app which brings a new way to create content with their children.
Old and new ways of exposing your children on social networks, this requires a legal framework when there is advertising behind it. Failure to follow these terms can result in legal issues for both parents and the brand sponsoring the content. But what are these rules and what does French law really say about it?
Before the 2020 law protecting child influencers – which will be discussed later in this article – the presence of children in sponsored content falls under the labor code. In fact, child influencers are on the same rules as child models. They are therefore subject to the same laws present in the Labor Code. Thus, child influencers, to appear on sponsored content, must be registered with a modeling agency beforehand. It is this agency that will produce the Children’s Contracts, essential for the production of this advertising on social networks.
Some influencer agencies partner directly with modeling agencies and automatically enroll the children of their talents in these agencies so that the regulations of the Labor Code and the law governing the commercial exploitation of minors are respected. Maison Made in is also associated with a modeling agency for children.
For the registration of a child in a modeling agency, the parents must inform many elements. If these are not transmitted, it will be impossible to establish a contract to make it appear on sponsored content.
Setting up a child contract involves costs. Indeed, depending on the format, the number of contents and the age of the child, the contract will be more or less expensive. This child contract is added to the price at which the content creator sells his post, his real or his story, so be careful to take it into account in your total influencer budget to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Another very important point is that employment contracts for children can only be authorized on days when they are not in school, i.e. during school holidays, Wednesdays or Saturdays. Of course any shooting on Sunday is prohibited. Also note that a child can only do two shoots in a week.
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Since 2020, a new law has regulated the work of “child influencers” on online video platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.). It thus completes the jurisdiction under the Employment contract which is only used in the context of child labor and fills a legal void because nothing was provided until then to protect the image of children on the Internet. Indeed, this new law aims to regulate the commercial exploitation of the image of minors on online platforms. This first application framework was supplemented by a decree relating to the supervision of the commercial exploitation of the image of children under the age of sixteen on online platforms. These legal texts specify the conditions under which people can “create, produce and broadcast videos on the Internet, mainly featuring minors under the age of sixteen, in a lucrative context. “. In addition, these rules allow the child to open a right to digital oblivion that they can exercise alone without their parents.
Whatever the type of content, whether ephemeral or not, when a child appears on sponsored content, it is essential that he or she has an employment contract and a right to the image. Sponsored content is monitored by the authorities, especially those with the presence of a child.
The brand sponsoring this content must refuse the preview and ask the content creator to re-shoot because the child’s participation must be anticipated to allow the necessary steps to be taken to carry out a child contract and to provide the right of image.
The question is analyzed from two angles: That of image rights: There is no image right to be paid when a model cannot be identified but the situation of influencers is specific. Indeed, their community “knows” them and often “knows” the family members as well. It is therefore not only the image that is at stake but also the notoriety of these people. Therefore, if a child’s face is not shown but it is clear to anyone following the influencer on their social media that it is their daughter or their son, it could be possible to consider that this involves the personality rights of the child concerned.
That of labor law: If the photos were taken “on the fly”, in a context of daily life, without any constraint for the child, and above all, that the latter is not recognizable, it could be argued that It is not a salaried activity. But as mentioned in the first point, if the child is identified by the subscribers, then it could be likely to fall under modeling and therefore have to be the subject of an employment contract.
Yes, when the presence of a child is required on sponsored content, an employment contract and image rights are required. Indeed, the same points apply as for the previous question.
Now more controlled, the jurisdiction concerning the working methods of child influencers but also their image on the internet must be respected. Like any unenforced law, brands and parents may suffer the consequences.
As a brand, when you want to highlight your products or services by showing a child, really think about not forgetting these essential points. The simplest option is to go through an agency that knows the process and that will not cause you reprisals in the event of an inspection. At Maison Made in, the majority of the talents we support are parents, so we have been very careful to respect these conditions for many years.
If you want to be accompanied by an agency for your future campaign with the appearance of children in the content, call Maison Made in.
