Montana Title 30. Trade and Commerce § 30-25-302. Legislative findings and purpose

(1) The legislature finds that social media influencers can make significant amounts of money from digital content.  Some influencers use the influencers' minor children as subjects of the content.  The children featured in family-produced video content generate interest in and revenue for the content but receive no financial compensation for participation.  Unlike in child acting, the children are not playing a part and lack legal protections in the state.

(2) The legislature further finds that social media influencers who market video content of the influencers' families, or “content creators”, can profit from the personal property rights of the influencers' children without restriction.  Some children are filmed from birth, with highly personal details of the children's lives shared on the internet for compensation.  In addition to severe loss of privacy, the children receive no consideration for the use and exchange of the children's personal property rights.

(3) The purpose of this part is to allow minors to receive proportional compensation for the use of specified personal property rights in which the minor's parent or parents have reached a specified profit threshold from the use.  Further, the purpose of this part is to provide for minors to exercise control over specified personal property rights on reaching the age of majority.