Google and Facebook are working on rules around children’s work on social media

Google and Facebook are working on rules around children who appear in Instagram posts or YouTube videos. There are many legal questions surrounding the work children do for Instagram posts or YouTube videos.

Google and Facebook tell The Guardian they are working with experts to create rules about how to interact with accounts and channels where children play a major role, such as YouTube channels about unboxing toys and Instagram posts featuring fashion for children . Those kids and the parents who operate the accounts sometimes have a lot of followers.

One of the legal questions is who is the employer of the children who do work. An American law professor tells the newspaper that social media companies may be co-employers, because they also earn money from advertisements around uploads with those children in them. As a result, they would be jointly responsible for the welfare of those children and should monitor the length of working hours.

Another issue is the distribution of income. Under US law, which includes Google and Facebook, all income from children’s work must go to those children, but they are not allowed to have accounts of their own. As a result, the money ends up with parents and children may not see anything of it in return. Facebook has, among other things, used children who figure on a popular Instagram account in the marketing campaign of its video calling device Portal, but many accounts and channels of and with children have sponsorship deals.

It is unknown what the rules of Facebook and Google will look like or when they will come.