Bill
HB 1016
Requires trust accounts and records to protect minors earning from online content, enabling removal of their footage and civil action for noncompliance.
Jurisdiction: Oklahoma
Session: 2026
Committee Substitute
Author(s): Rep. McCane; Rep. Deck
Co-sponsors: Sen. Bergstrom; Rep. Michelle McCane
Purpose
- Establishes a framework to regulate compensation, records, and protections for minors who appear in online content (content creation) and earn revenue through online platforms.
- Enables civil action for enforcement and provides for removal of content featuring minors upon request.
- Creates trust-account requirements and specifies an effective date.
Key Definitions (Section 1)
- Content creation: Online video content production shared on an online platform in exchange for compensation.
- Content creator: An individual 18 years or older (including family members) who creates video content in Oklahoma for compensation. Does not include a minor producing their own content.
- Online platform: Any public-facing website or app (including social networks, monetization platforms, streaming services, search, email, etc.).
Main Provisions and Changes
1) Determination of a Minor’s Involvement (Section 2)
- A minor is deemed engaged in content creation if, in the previous 12 months, at least one of the following occurs:
- At least 30% of a compensated video segment features the minor’s likeness/name/photo, with measurement based on time the minor appears vs. total segment length.
- The segment’s views meet the platform’s compensation threshold or the creator earned at least $0.10 per view.
- The creator earned $10,000 or more in compensation.
2) Records Retention (Section 2, Subsection B)
- All content creators whose work features a minor must maintain records until the minor turns 21, including:
- Minor’s name and age verification.
- Amount of compensation earned for the reporting period.
- Total minutes of content creation involving compensation.
- Total minutes a minor was featured.
- Total compensation generated from content featuring the minor.
- Amount deposited into the minor’s trust account (see Section 3).
3) Trust Account for Minor (Section 3)
- Gross earnings from content featuring the minor must be set aside in a trust account for the minor until they reach legal adulthood.
- Distribution of funds:
- If only one minor meets the threshold, at least 50% of the minor-involved content’s revenue (relative to the minor’s share) must be allocated to the minor.
- If multiple minors meet the threshold and appear in the same segment, the percentage share must be equally divided among all qualifying minors.
- Trust account requirements:
- Funds must be accessible only to the minor.
- Account must be held by a bank or trust company (per state law).
- Funds become available upon the minor turning 18 or upon emancipation.
- The account must comply with the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (Title 58).
4) Content Removal on Request (Section 3, Subsection C)
- Content containing a minor’s likeness must be deleted and removed from the online platform within 7 days after a written request (by the minor aged 13 or older or an adult whose likeness appears).
5) Civil Action and Damages (Section 4)
- A minor meeting the Section 2 criteria may file a civil action against a content creator who knowingly or recklessly violates the act to enforce the trust-account provisions.
- Remedies may include:
- Actual damages
- Punitive damages
- Court costs, including attorney fees and litigation costs
- The act does not supersede other remedies and does not affect parties not involved (neither the content creator nor the minor).
6) Civil Action for Noncompliance with Records (Section 5)
- If a content creator fails to maintain required records, the minor may sue for damages and enforcement.
7) Exemption from Minimum Age Provisions (Section 6)
- Minors compensated under this act are exempt from the state’s minimum age provisions in certain labor statutes (Oklahoma Statutes, Title 40, §71).
Effective Date
- This act becomes effective November 1, 2026.
Impact and Oversight
- Targeted at online content creators who feature minors and earn revenue through platforms.
- Establishes concrete financial safeguards (trust accounts) and stricter recordkeeping.
- Provides a mechanism for minors or guardians to seek enforcement and content removal.
- Requires cooperation from content creators, platforms, and the Attorney General for enforcement.
Notes
- The bill includes amendatory committee substitutes and passed through multiple legislative committees with unanimous or near-unanimous support in committee stages.
- The law contemplates alignment with existing Oklahoma trust and transfers to minors statutes for account management.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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