Untitled Page

Author	Asst Prof Shivangi Tiwari
Organisation/Institution	National Law University, Odisha
Country	INDIA
Panel	Children and Law
Title	Child Influencers and the Law: Towards a Rights-Based Framework for the Monetised Digital Childhood
Abstract	The rise of digital platforms has transformed children into highly visible economic actors, with millions of minors regularly appearing in monetised content across YouTube, Instagram, and emerging short-video platforms. While this visibility generates significant revenue for families and content networks, it has also exposed a critical legal vacuum concerning the autonomy, consent, and long-term welfare of child content creators. This paper examines how the commercialisation of childhood in the digital economy routinely sidelines the child’s agency and permits the systematic violation of their informed consent. Unlike traditional child performers governed by labour and entertainment laws, child influencers operate in unregulated domestic spaces where parental control, platform incentives, and opaque algorithms shape the child’s participation. The absence of clear legal standards means children are often compelled—implicitly or explicitly—to perform, disclose personal details, or engage in emotionally taxing content without understanding its permanence or consequences. Their digital identities, created before they acquire capacity, continue to exist indefinitely, affecting future autonomy, privacy, and psychological development. Using a doctrinal and child-rights perspective, the paper analyses emerging regulatory responses such as France’s 2020 law on child influencers, the EU’s GDPR protections for minors, and scattered platform guidelines. It contrasts these with the near-complete regulatory silence in Asian jurisdictions, including India, where consent mechanisms, earnings protection, working-hour limits, and digital-rights safeguards for minors are absent. The paper argues that safeguarding child influencers requires a shift from parental “permission” to a rights-based framework grounded in evolving capacities, affirmative consent, and institutional oversight. It proposes a structured legal model incorporating independent welfare checks, revenue trusteeship, mandatory platform obligations, and a “right to be forgotten” specifically tailored for minors in the creator economy. The findings aim to spark urgent debate on protecting children’s autonomy in an increasingly monetised digital childhood.
Biography	Shivangi Tiwari is an Assistant Professor of Law at the National Law University Odisha, India, specialising in corporate and commercial laws, economic offences, and dispute resolution. She holds integrated undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law from Hidayatullah National Law University, India. Her work is anchored in improving legal systems’ responsiveness to public welfare, with research interests spanning tax dispute resolution through arbitration, corporate criminal accountability, and the regulation of economic offences in securities markets. She has presented and published research on themes at the intersection of taxation, financial regulation, and commercial justice. She is currently pursuing her PhD from National Law University developing her doctoral research proposal on arbitrability of tax matters in India, with a focus on India’s emerging direct tax reforms and comparative global best practices. Alongside her academic work, she has authored a book titled Insuring Lives: A Comprehensive Analysis of Life Insurance Law in India, reflecting her interest in the functioning of insurance markets and consumer-protection frameworks. At NLUO, she teaches Mergers and Acquisition, Corporate Criminal Liability, Direct Taxation, and Transfer of Property Law and contributes to academic planning, course design, and student mentorship. Her broader research engagement includes examining institutional effectiveness, regulatory accountability, and the evolving role of alternative dispute resolution in complex economic governance.