HB 1723

This bill provides that a minor is engaged in the work of content creation if the following criteria are met at any time during the previous 12-month period:  At least 30% of a content creator's compensated video content produced within a 30-day period included the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor. Content percentage is measured by the percentage of time the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor or if more than one minor regularly appears in the content creator's content, any of the minors, visually appears or is the subject of an oral narrative in a video segment as compared to the total length of the segment.  The number of views received per video segment on an online platform met the platform's threshold for generating compensation or the content creator received actual compensation for video content equal to or greater than 1¢ per view. As used in this bill, a "minor"" means an individual who is under 18, is not emancipated, and is a resident of this state. PROHIBITION AGAINST CERTAIN MINORS ENGAGING IN CONTENT CREATION This bill prohibits a minor under 14 from engaging in the work of content creation. A content creator who features a minor working in violation of this prohibition, or a parent who permits a minor under the parent's control or custody to engage in the m inor's own content creation in violation of this prohibition, is subject to a civil penalty of $2, 000 per violation. As used in this bill, a ""parent"" means a parent, guardian, or individual who has custody of, or caregiving authority over, a minor. This bill requires the content creator to also compensate the minor by creating a trust account, as described below. Each instance of a minor working in violation of this prohibition is considered a separate violation. All civil penalties owed must be paid to the commissioner of labor and workforce development, to be used for the administration of this bill. Proceeds This bill requires a minor who is 14 or older, but under 18, to produce, create, and publish the minor's own video content and to receive 100% of the proceeds of the minor's compensation for the minor's own content creation. Exemption This bill clarifies that a minor who appears incidentally in a video that depicts a public event that a reasonable person would know to be broadcast, including a concert, competition, or sporting event, and is published by a content creator is not engage d in the work of content creation. RECORDKEEPING This bill requires a content creator whose video content features a minor who is 14 or older, but under 18, engaged in the work of content creation to maintain all of the following records and retain the records until the minor reaches 21:  The name and documentary proof of the age of the minor engaged in the work of content creation.  The amount of content creation that generated compensation during the reporting period.  The total number of minutes of content creation for which the content creator received compensation during the reporting period.  The total number of minutes a minor was featured in content creation during the reporting period.  The total compensation generated from content creation featuring a minor during the reporting period.  The amount deposited into the trust account for the benefit of the minor engaged in the work of content creation as required below. This bill requires the content creator to provide notice to the minor of the existence of the records and the records to be readily accessible to the minor for review. TRUST ACCOUNT This bill requires a content creator to set aside gross earnings on the video content that includes the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor in a trust account to be preserved for the benefit of the minor until the minor reaches 18, according to on e of the following distributions:  If only one minor meets the content threshold described above, the percentage of total gross earnings on a video segment including the likeness, name, or photograph of the minor that is equal to or greater than half of the content percentage that includes the minor.  If two or more minors meet the content threshold described above, and a video segment includes two or more of those minors, the percentage for all minors in a segment must be equally divided between the minors regardless of differences in percentage of content provided by the individual minors. Account Criteria This bill requires a trust account to meet all of the following criteria:  The money in the account is available only to the minor engaged in the work of content creation.  The account is held by a state or national bank, savings and loan association, credit union, or trust company.  The money in the account becomes available to the minor engaged in the work of content creation upon the minor attaining 18 or upon a declaration that the minor is emancipated.  The account meets the requirements of the Tennessee Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. Civil Action - Other Relief If a content creator violates the provisions of this bill relative to the trust account, then this bill authorizes the minor to commence a civil action to enforce such provisions. In such an action, the court may award actual damages, including any comp ensation owed, punitive damages, and the costs of the action, including attorney fees and court costs. However, the provisions of this bill relative to the trust account do not have an effect on a party that is neither the content creator nor the minor w ho engaged in the work of content creation. In addition to the civil action described above, this bill authorizes the minor to commence a civil action against a content creator for injunctive relief or other relief the court finds just and equitable. The powers and remedies provided in this bill are cumulative and supplementary to all other powers and remedies otherwise provided by law. The invocation of one power or remedy does not exclude or prohibit the use of another available remedy. This bill provides that a waiver or limitation, or a purported waiver or limitation, of a protection or requirement provided under this bill is void as unlawful and against public policy. A court, arbitrator, or tribunal must not enforce or give effect to a waiver or limitation, notwithstanding a contract or choice of law provision in a contract. DELETION OF CONTENT This bill requires video content containing the likeness of a minor to be deleted and removed from an online platform by the person who shared the content, the account holder, or another person who has control over the account when the request is made by a minor who is 14 or older whose likeness appears in the content, or by an adult who was under 18 when the pe rson's likeness was used in the content. ""ONLINE PLATFORM"" DEFINED As used in this bill, an ""online platform"" does not include any of the following:  A broadband internet access service.  An email service.  An internet service, internet application, or website (i) that consists primarily of content that is not generated by account holders or users, but rather is preselected by the service, application, or website provider; and (ii) for which interactive functionality is incidental to, directly related to, or dependent upon, such preselected content.  Online shopping, if the interaction with other account holders or users is predominantly limited to the ability to send, receive, request, or settle funds, comment on transactions, display goods for sale, engage as consumers about products and reviews, or share a wish list.  An internet service, internet application, or website that primarily provides career development opportunities.  A cloud storage or cloud computing service.  An online service, application, or website in which interaction between users is predominately used for technical support, or limited to reviewing products offered for sale by electronic commerce or commenting on such reviews shared by other users.  Peer-to-peer payment platforms, if the interaction with other users or account holders is generally limited to the ability to send, receive, or request funds and to like or comment on such transactions, or other functions that are focused on sending, receiving, requesting, or settling payments between users or account holders. ON MARCH 19, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1469, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 makes the following revisions:  Increases from 1¢ per view to 10¢ per view the actual compensation the content creator must receive in the prior 12 -month period for video content in order to meet one of the bill's elements for a minor engaging in the work of content creation.  Requires, additionally, for a minor to be engaged in the work of content creation, the content creator to receive actual compensation for video content of at least $15, 000 in the prior 12 -month period.  Removes the prohibition on a minor under 14 from engaging in the work of content creation and removes such related penalties.  Clarifies that a minor who appears incidentally in a video that is published by a content creator is not engaged in the work of content creation.  Creates penalties for not deleting video content as required in the bill. If the responsible content creator fails to take action after a reasonable period of time, but no longer than 30 days, the minor may commence an action to enforce the requirement to delete the content. The court may award a minor who prevails in such an action i njunctive relief, a ctual damages, p unitive damages, and r easonable costs of bringing the action, including attorney's fees and court costs. VISUAL DEPICTIONS OF MINORS  Prohibits a person from knowingly producing or distributing publicly a visual depiction of a minor with the intent to sexually gratify or elicit a sexual response in the viewer or any other person and benefit financially from doing so. L iability for a violation must be consistent with federal law.  Creates a penalty for a person who violates the above prohibition or attempts or conspires to do so. The depicted minor may bring an action to recover a ctual damages, p unitive damages, and r easonable costs of litigation, including attorney's fees.  Exempts the following from the prohibition above (i) a lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a law enforcement or intelligence agency ; (ii) a n individual acting in good faith to report unlawful activity to law enforcement or in pursuance of a legal or professional or other lawful obligation ; (iii) a document produced or filed as part of a legal proceeding ; and (iv) a n online platform, with regard to content provided by creators, unless the online platform intentionally solicits, or knowingly and predominantly distributes, such content. REQUIRED RISK-BASED STRATEGY  Requires a social media platform that engages in content creation by persons known by the platform to be a minor to develop and implement a risk-based strategy to help mitigate risks related to monetization of the intentional sexualization of known minors. The strategy must be documented and reassessed on a reasonable recurring basis .  Requires s ocial media platforms to ensure that information about the social media's content policies, settings, and best practices for content featuring minors are publicly available, understandable to both adults and minors, and informed by research and outside expertise. The information must inform content creators that content may be subject to various legal requirements, and explain risks and steps to protect minors appearing in posts from exploitation."