(March 7, 2025) In 2025, California finally stepped up. A new law made headlines, mandating that child influencers—kids who racked up millions of views online—must receive a fair share of their earnings. It was hailed as a victory for young content creators. But behind this moment of change was a lesser-known story, one that had begun two years earlier with a determined teenager in Illinois. Before California took action, before lawmakers and digital rights advocates took notice, there was Shreya Nallamothu — an Indian-American high school student who spotted a problem no one else seemed to see.
At just 13, while scrolling through social media during the pandemic, she asked a simple but powerful question: Who is protecting these kids?
The answer? No one. And that’s when she decided to change everything.
Call to Adventure
It started like any other day during the pandemic. A young Shreya, holed up in her family home in Normal, Illinois, scrolled through Instagram, then YouTube, then TikTok. Like millions of teenagers around the world, she sought an escape through social media. But something gnawed at her. Video after video, she saw children much younger than her—laughing, unboxing toys, performing skits, sharing their daily lives. These kids weren’t just online for fun; they were working—creating content that raked in thousands, even millions, of views.
At first, the Global Indian didn’t think much of it. But then a realization struck: What happens to all the money these kids are making?
That moment changed everything. Shreya, who had never envisioned herself as an activist, was about to embark on a journey that would shake up labor laws in the United States and make Illinois the first state to protect child influencers from financial exploitation.
The Problem No One Saw Coming
The more she researched, the more disturbing the truth became. These child influencers, some of whom were still in diapers, were bringing in significant revenue through sponsorships and ad-generated earnings. But there were no laws protecting their financial rights. Unlike child actors, whose income is safeguarded under the Coogan Law (which requires a percentage of a minor’s earnings to be placed in a trust), young YouTubers and TikTok stars had no such safety net.
Worse, the money wasn’t even theirs. Social media platforms didn’t allow minors to own accounts, so their earnings were funneled into their parents’ accounts. There was nothing stopping a parent from pocketing every single cent, leaving the children with nothing but a digital footprint of their childhood for the world to see.
“The fact that these kids are either too young to grasp that or weren’t given the chance to grasp that is really sad,” Shreya later told AP.
The deeper she dug, the more she felt compelled to act. But what could a 13-year-old girl do about it?
Stepping into the Arena
While most kids her age were worrying about online trends, Shreya sat down to write a letter—to her state senator, Dave Koehler. In her letter, she laid out the stark reality: parents were profiting off their children’s digital labor, with no legal obligation to save even a portion for them. The law, she argued, needed to catch up with the times.
Most teenagers would never expect a reply, but to her surprise, Senator Koehler was intrigued. Within weeks, he invited her to discuss the matter further. Soon, they were working together to draft a groundbreaking bill to amend the state’s child labor laws, making Illinois the first in the country to require parents to set aside earnings for their child influencers.
This wasn’t just another viral campaign; this was a legislative movement.
Facing the Challenge
The road to changing the law was anything but easy. Lawmakers, many of whom barely understood the mechanics of social media, needed convincing. Some dismissed the issue as trivial. Others questioned whether the government should be involved in what they saw as “family matters.”
Shreya didn’t back down. With her research in hand and her passion in full force, she explained how the lack of protections for child influencers was no different from child labour exploitation in other industries. She drew comparisons to child actors, whose rights were protected for decades under the Coogan Law. She made it clear that social media was now a billion-dollar industry, and it was time for the law to evolve with it.
Victory—And a Ripple Effect
In August 2023, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the bill into law. Starting July 1, 2024, parents of child influencers in Illinois would be required to set aside 50% of their children’s earnings in a trust until they turned 18, based on the time they appeared in videos.
But what happened next was even bigger. Illinois’ legislation sparked a national conversation. California, home to many of the world’s top influencers, quickly followed suit, introducing similar laws to protect young social media stars. Other states began discussing the implications of the law, wondering if they too should take action. The issue had gone from being invisible to the forefront of digital rights activism.
Shreya had done what few teenagers—or even adults—had done: she had changed the law to protect future generations.
Young Indians in the Diaspora Making an Impact
Shreya’s story is part of a larger movement—one in which young Indians in the diaspora are stepping up to drive real change. Across the United States and beyond, second-generation Indian-Americans are making waves in policy, activism, science, and entrepreneurship. From climate activist Kevin Patel, who has been instrumental in pushing for environmental justice, to Gitanjali Rao, the teenage scientist tackling global water contamination, these young leaders are shaping the future with their ingenuity and determination.
For Shreya, her fight for child influencer protections places her in this growing league of Indian-origin changemakers. The children of immigrants, many of them raised with strong values of education and advocacy, are proving that age is no barrier to making an impact. They are taking on some of the biggest issues of the digital era, from labor rights to misinformation, bringing fresh perspectives and solutions that even seasoned lawmakers have overlooked.
A New Chapter for Child Influencers
Today, Shreya is not just an Illinois high school student. She’s an activist, a changemaker, and an example of how young voices can create powerful change.
Her work is far from over. Even with Illinois’ law in place, child influencers across the country remain vulnerable. The digital landscape is evolving faster than lawmakers can keep up, but Shreya has shown that anyone—no matter their age—can stand up and demand change.
As other states scramble to introduce similar protections, one thing is clear: the movement Shreya started is only beginning. And in an era where social media defines so much of our lives, protecting the youngest content creators has never been more important.
For Shreya, what started as a simple question—Where does their money go?—turned into a fight for justice that reshaped the future of child influencers in America. And she did it all before she even finished high school.
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