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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
video content; minors; employment; compensation
Purpose
Prescribes requirements for content creators who include a minor in video content.
Background
The federal Communications Decency Act of 1996 states that providers of interactive computer services cannot be treated as the publisher or speaker of information provided by another content creator. A provider or user of an interactive computer service must not be held liable on account of: 1) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to, or availability of, material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or 2) any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers, or others, the technical means to restrict access to the material. A provider of interactive computer services must, at the time of entering an agreement with a customer for the provision of interactive computer services and in a manner deemed appropriate by the provider, notify such customer that parental control protections, such as computer hardware, software or filtering services, are commercially available that may assist the customer in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. Such notice must identify, or provide the customer with access to information identifying, current providers of such protections (47 U.S.C. § 230).
Statute outlines circumstances when a person commits sexual exploitation of a minor. Sexual exploitation of a minor is a class 2 felony. If the minor is under 15 years of age, it is punishable as a dangerous crime against children (A.R.S. §§ 13-705 and 13-3553).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
Content Creation and Compensation to Minors
1. Requires a minor, if included in video content at any time within a previous 12-month period, to be compensated if all of the following criteria are met:
a) at least 30 percent of the content creator's compensated video content produced within a 30-day period includes the likeness, name or photograph of the minor;
b) the number of views received per video segment on the online hosting platform satisfies the online hosting platform's threshold to generate compensation or the content creator receives actual compensation for the video content equal to or more than $0.10 per view; and
c) the content creator receives actual compensation for the video content of at least $15,000 in the prior 12-month period.
2. States that the content percentage is measured by the percentage of time the likeness, name or photograph of the minor visually appears or is the subject of an oral narrative in the video segment as compared to the total length of the segment.
3. Allows a minor who is at least 13 years of age to produce, create and publish their own video content and be entitled to all compensation for their own content creation.
4. Requires a content creator who features a minor who is eligible for compensation in their video content to maintain all the following records until the minor reaches 21 years of age:
a) the name and documentary proof of the age of the minor who was featured in the video content;
b) the number of posts that generated compensation during all reporting periods;
c) the total number of minutes of the posts that the content creator received compensation for during the reporting period;
d) the total number of minutes each minor was featured in posts during the reporting period;
e) the total compensation generated from posts featuring a minor during the reporting period; and
f) the amount deposited in the trust account for the benefit of the minor engaged in the video content.
5. Requires the content creator, at regular intervals, to provide notice to the minor of the existence of the required records.
6. Requires the records to be readily accessible to the minor for review.
7. Allows the minor, if the content creator does not maintain the required records, to commence an action to enforce the compensation to minors requirement.
8. Allows the court to award to a minor who prevails in any action brought in accordance with the compensation to minors requirement the following damages:
a) injunctive relief;
b) actual damages;
c) punitive damages; or
d) the costs of the action, including attorney fees and litigation costs.
Trust Accounts for Minors
9. Requires a content creator to compensate a minor who was featured in the content creator's video content.
10. Requires the content creator to deposit gross earnings on the video content that includes the likeness, name or photograph of the minor in a trust account that is to be preserved for the benefit of the minor until the minor is at least 18 years of age according to either of the following distributions:
a) in which only one minor meets the content threshold for compensation, the percentage of total gross earnings on any video segment, including the likeness, name or photograph of the minor, that is equal to or more than half of the content percentage that includes the minor; or
b) in which more than one minor meets the content threshold for compensation and a video segment includes the likeness, name or photograph of more than one minor, the percentage prescribed for one minor is equally divided between all minors, regardless of any difference in content percentage provided the minors and deposited in a separate trust for each minor.
11. Requires a trust account, at a minimum, to:
a) be held by a bank, corporate fiduciary or trust company;
b) hold the monies for the minor only; and
c) disburse the monies in the account to the minor:
i. when the minor is at least 18 years of age;
ii. on the minor's emancipation; or
iii. on the account meeting the requirements of the Arizona Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.
12. Allows a minor, if a content creator knowingly or recklessly violates the trust account requirements, to commence an action to enforce the trust account requirements.
13. Allows the court to award to a minor who prevails in any action the following damages:
a) injunctive relief;
b) actual damages;
c) punitive damages; or
d) the costs of the action, including attorney fees and litigation costs.
14. States that the trust account requirements do not affect a right or remedy available under any other Arizona law.
15. States that the trust account requirements do not apply to a party that is not a content creator or a minor who is engaged in the work of video content.
Content Removal Requests
16. Allows, on the general effective date, an individual who is at least 18 years of age or is an emancipated minor and who was featured in a content creator's video content as a minor to request that the content creator delete or edit the video content from the online hosting platform to remove the minor's uniquely identifiable information.
17. Requires online hosting platforms to provide an easily accessible mechanism through which a removal request can be submitted to delete or edit the video content from the online hosting platform to remove the minor's uniquely identifiable information.
18. Allows the mechanism to include tools that enable individuals to submit a request directly to the content creator.
19. Requires removal requests to include all information reasonably requested to identify the minor in the video content.
20. Requires online hosting platforms that do not provide a mechanism that enables an individual to submit a request directly to the content creator to notify the content creator within a reasonable time period but not longer than 30 days on receipt of a request to remove video content.
21. Requires the content creator to delete the video content from the online hosting platform or edit the video content from the online hosting platform to remove the minor's uniquely identifiable information within 72 hours of receipt.
22. Allows an individual who requested removal, if the content creator fails to remove the content within a reasonable period of time but not more than 30 days on receipt from the online hosting platform, to commence an action against the content creator to enforce content removal requirements.
23. Prohibits an online hosting platform from being a party to the action against a content creator if the online hosting platform complies with the content removal requirements.
24. Allows the court, if the individual who requested removal prevails in an action, to grant any of the following:
a) injunctive relief;
b) actual damages;
c) punitive damages; and
d) the costs of the action, including attorney fees and litigation costs.
25. Requires the online hosting platform, if a content creator fails to take action after a reasonable period of time but not more than 30 days, to review and take all reasonable steps that are consistent with the hosting platform's policies to remove the content from the online hosting platform, unless:
a) the individual who was featured in the content creator's video content as a minor does not submit sufficient, accurate information;
b) the online hosting platform finds that the video content is sufficiently newsworthy or of other public interest that outweighs the privacy interests of the minor involved; or
c) an online hosting platform is not liable for good faith determinations.
26. States that an online hosting platform is not liable for any claim that is based on the online hosting platform's good faith reliance on the information submitted and for removing content that was identified by an individual even if it is later revealed that the individual who made the request did so in error or in bad faith.
27. States that the content removal requirements do not:
a) affect a right or remedy available under any other Arizona law;
b) impose liability on an online hosting platform for content that is created by a third party; or
c) impose liability for conduct that is consistent with the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996.
Unlawful Financial Benefit
28. Deems it unlawful to financially benefit from knowingly or intentionally producing or distributing publicly, including by computer, any visual depiction of a minor with the intent to sexually gratify or elicit a sexual response in the viewer or any other person.
29. Requires an online hosting platform, if a minor is included in the video content, to develop and implement a risk-based strategy to help mitigate risks related to the monetization of the knowing and intentional sexualization of a minor.
30. Requires the risk-based strategy to be documented and reassessed on a reasonable recurring basis.
31. Allows an online hosting platform to use existing trust and safety systems and policies to satisfy the risk-based strategy requirement.
32. Allows the risk-based strategy, at the discretion of the online hosting platform, to include any of the following:
a) policies that govern content and related monetization;
b) restrictions of features on content featuring minors;
c) the use of automated systems to identify and enforce against potentially problematic content and accounts;
d) the inclusion of guardrails to mitigate against systems that are of interest to offenders; and
e) quality assurance processes recurring at reasonable intervals to ensure that mitigations are working as intended.
33. Requires online hosting platforms to make publicly available information that includes:
a) the requirements and information that explain the risks and steps that are necessary to protect minors who appear in video content; and
b) any information about the online hosting platform's policies, settings and best practices for featuring minors that are:
i. publicly available;
ii. easily understandable to both adults and minors; and
iii. informed by research and outside expertise.
34. Allows a minor to commence an action to enforce the unlawful financial benefit requirements.
35. Prohibits an online hosting platform from being a party to an action relating to the unlawful financial benefit requirements if the online hosting platform has complied with the risk-based strategy and information disclosure requirements.
36. Allows the court to award to a minor who prevails in any action brought in accordance with the unlawful financial benefit requirements the following damages:
a) actual damages;
b) punitive damages; or
c) the costs of the action, including attorney fees and litigation costs.
37. States that the unlawful financial benefit requirements do not:
a) affect a right or remedy available under any other Arizona law;
b) affect any lawfully authorized investigative or protective or intelligence activity of a law enforcement or intelligence agency of the United States, Arizona or a political subdivision of Arizona;
c) apply in the case of an individual acting in good faith to report unlawful activity or in pursuance of a legal, professional or other lawful obligation;
d) apply in the case of a document production or filing associated with a legal proceeding;
e) apply to an online hosting platform with regard to content provided by content creators unless the online hosting platform intentionally solicits or knowingly and predominantly distributes unlawful content;
f) impose liability in a manner that is inconsistent with the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996; or
g) impose liability on an online hosting platform for content that is created by a third party or require proactive monitoring of user-generated content.
Miscellaneous
38. Defines content creator as a parent or legal guardian who resides in Arizona and who creates an image or video content that is performed in Arizona in exchange for compensation.
39. Includes, in the definition of content creator, a parent or legal guardian who is a:
a) vlogger;
b) podcaster;
c) online influencer; or
d) streamer.
40. Excludes, from the definition of content creator, any minor who produces the minor's own video content.
41. Defines minor as a natural person who is under 18 years of age and who resides in Arizona.
42. Defines online hosting platform as a public or semipublic internet-based service or application that has account holders in Arizona and that meets any of the following criteria:
a) connects account holders with other account holders, which allows the account holders to interact socially within the service or application;
b) allows public posting or account holder-generated content without visibility being limited to a particular social graph; and
c) allows interaction with other account holders' content outside a limited social graph that includes content recommendations from individuals that the account holder does not follow.
43. Defines social graph as the list of individuals on an online hosting platform that an account holder is connected to by using a friending function or other similar functionality.
44. States that the friending function does not include subscribing to content from another account holder.
45. Defines uniquely identifiable as an individual who is able to identify another individual based on personal identifying information that includes:
a) the name;
b) the contact information;
c) an image; or
d) a voice.
46. Excludes, from the definition of uniquely identifiable, the individual who submits a privacy removal request.
47. Defines video content as content shared on an online hosting platform in exchange for compensation including content that is created by a content creator.
48. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committee
1. Clarifies that an online hosting platform is prohibited from being a party to an action against a content creator relating to content removal requests if the online hosting platform complies with the content removal requirements.
3. Clarifies that an online hosting platform must make publicly available information that includes the requirements, rather than the legal requirements, that explain the risks and steps necessary to protect minors who appear in video content.
4. Prohibits an online hosting platform from being a party to an action relating to the unlawful financial benefit requirements if the online hosting platform has complied with the risk-based strategy and information disclosure requirements.
5. States that the unlawful financial benefit requirements do not impose liability on an online hosting platform for content that is created by a third party or require proactive monitoring of user-generated content.
House Action Senate Action
COM 1/27/26 DP 9-0-2-0 RAGE 3/4/26 DPA 7-0-0
3rd Read 2/23/26 56-0-4
Prepared by Senate Research
March 6, 2026
JT/ci