To the Honorable Members of the Utah State Legislature,

We, the undersigned content creators, child-focused production companies, small business owners, parents, and advocates for digital entrepreneurship featuring children, respectfully urge you to reconsider House Bill 322 (HB0322) and work toward a more balanced solution that protects minors without harming ethical Utah businesses, discouraging digital entrepreneurship, or overregulating responsible content creators and parents.

We recognize and appreciate the intent of the bill’s sponsors to protect children, a goal we wholeheartedly support. However, HB0322, in its current form, has unintended consequences that could disrupt Utah’s thriving creator economy, impose unrealistic financial burdens on small businesses, and mischaracterize ethical child-centered or family-run content.

Rather than broad, sweeping regulations that could force ethical creators out of Utah, we call for targeted improvements that align with existing child labor protections in entertainment while preserving responsible oversight for productions that include minors, family autonomy, and digital innovation.

Key Concerns with HB0322
1. Unintended Government Overreach into Small Businesses and Digital Media Productions Featuring Minors

Parents and child-focused production companies have long responsibly guided their children’s participation in entertainment, from film and television to digital media. HB0322 assumes exploitation by default rather than recognizing that most content is created ethically, collaboratively, and with responsible oversight.

The bill’s one-size-fits-all approach creates excessive intervention into family decision-making, treating all content featuring minors as inherently exploitative.

Existing child labor laws already regulate minors in entertainment, and these should be enforced before adding new and excessive restrictions.

2. Threat to Utah’s Creator Economy and Digital Small Businesses

Ignores Production Costs: The bill mandates that all earnings from content featuring minors go directly to them, failing to recognize standard business expenses like equipment, marketing, editing, and operational costs that make content possible.

Unfairly Targets Digital Creators: Unlike child actors in film and television who receive fair wages, HB0322 demands that digital creators forfeit all revenue without recognizing the financial investments parents and production companies make in content production.

Risk to Utah’s Economy: Utah has emerged as a national leader in family-friendly digital media, attracting businesses, investors, and millions in tax revenue. This bill jeopardizes Utah’s standing by pushing digital entrepreneurs to relocate.

Risk to Utah’s Reputation as a Business-Friendly State: Utah has long been ranked as one of the top states for entrepreneurship. HB0322 undermines that reputation by signaling to digital businesses that Utah is not a supportive environment for innovation.

Impact on Tax Revenue and Job Growth: Digital creators generate millions in state and federal tax revenue and employ full-time staff, contractors, and freelancers in Utah. Forcing creators to relocate means lost revenue, fewer jobs, and a shrinking digital economy.

3. Retroactive Content Removal Poses Legal and Financial Risks

The bill allows individuals to demand the removal of content upon turning 18, even if it was created ethically and consensually with parental guidance.

This provision creates a legal and financial burden, requiring creators to maintain indefinite records of contracts and agreements.

Disrupts small businesses by forcing creators to delete content that may have helped support their families for years.

Ignores the reality that responsible social media creators already respect their children's wishes when it comes to featuring them in content. Alternative Approach: Instead of an absolute deletion requirement, Utah should consider a structured mediation process where minors and their families can resolve content disputes without retroactive financial punishment.

4. Unintended Censorship of Positive, Educational, and Family-Friendly Content

Many social media creators produce uplifting, educational, and faith-based content that brings families together.

The bill’s overly broad scope discourages parents and production companies from sharing wholesome content, removing age-appropriate, family-focused media from digital platforms.

Impact on Family-Friendly Media: Unlike Hollywood or large media companies, family-run content creators and small production companies rely on digital platforms to share age-appropriate, positive content. If overregulation discourages parents from including their children in ethical content, Utah’s digital media industry will shift toward corporate-driven, non-family content instead of wholesome, locally produced media.

5. HB0322 Overcorrects Instead of Targeting Actual Bad Actors

We acknowledge the importance of addressing child exploitation in digital media and support measures to hold abusers accountable. However, this bill overcorrects, placing undue burdens on law-abiding small and family businesses rather than focusing on clear cases of abuse.

Punishing Child-Focused Digital Creators and Family-Owned Businesses While Leaving Large Corporations Unaffected: HB0322 targets small, family-run content businesses and production companies that rely on shared efforts to create content. Large corporations and traditional media companies are not subject to the same financial strain, creating an unequal playing field that disadvantages Utah-based entrepreneurs.

Instead of penalizing ethical production companies and families, lawmakers should focus on prosecuting clear cases of child endangerment and financial abuse.

A More Balanced and Effective Approach
We call on legislators to work with social media creators, legal experts, and child advocates to refine HB0322 in a way that protects minors without harming responsible businesses.

-Enforce Existing Child Labor Laws First: Utah already has well-established child labor protections that govern fair wages and safe conditions in film, theater, and television. Social media should follow the same proven legal framework rather than introducing an untested new law that disproportionately targets digital creators.

-Define Child Exploitation Clearly – Prevent actual cases of abuse without criminalizing ethical family-friendly content.

-Implement Fair Revenue-Sharing Models – Ensure minors receive fair compensation while recognizing parental and production investments in content creation.

-Revise Content Removal Policies – Protect minors' rights without placing retroactive financial burdens on family-run and other small businesses and production companies.

-Align Social Media Laws with Traditional Entertainment – The film and television industries already protect minors through Coogan-style trust laws—a much more balanced and enforceable solution than HB0322’s current provisions.

-Encourage Collaboration, Not Overregulation – We propose a Legislative Working Group or Industry Roundtable where policymakers can hear from Utah’s digital entrepreneurs, production companies, parents, and legal experts before finalizing this legislation.

We Stand for Fair Laws for Social Media Creators, Responsible Child-Focused Content, and Ethical Digital Innovation

Instead of rushing this bill through, we urge lawmakers to take a more thoughtful, collaborative approach that protects children while preserving the digital economy that benefits so many Utah families.

Sign the Petition Below to Support Ethical Social Media Creators, Digital Entrepreneurs, and Parental Rights!