France Passes Law Giving Child Influencers Same Protections As Young Actors, Models

France has approved a new law extending established protections for child actors and models to young digital creators.

The legislation, passed unanimously Oct. 6, limits the number of hours children under 16 can work and requires that their earnings be held in a dedicated bank account they can access once they turn 16, the BBC reports. It also establishes a “right to be forgotten,” which means that if a child creator formally requests that a social media platform remove their content, the platform must oblige. And further, it mandates that if a business wants to work with a child creator in any capacity, permission to do so must be obtained from French authorities.

“Child labor is forbidden in France unless there are special dispensations, including on the internet,” Bruno Studer, the MP who sponsored the law, told French newspaper La Tribune.

To be clear, the law does not apply to child influencers outside of France, and does not cover every single French child with a YouTube channel or Instagram account. It only applies to under-16s who spend “significant” amounts of time producing content and earn an equally significant amount of money from said content, per the BBC. (Exact figures for what counts as “significant” aren’t clear.)

Child influencers–and adults who make content for children–are regularly among the top-watched and top-earning creators on platforms like YouTube. In 2018 and 2019, now eight-year-old YouTuber Ryan Kaji (26.7 million subscribers) was ranked the site’s top moneymaker, having brought in an estimated $22 million in 2018 and $26 million last year.