GEOFF BENNETT: Legislative efforts to protect children online typically center on their privacy.

But thanks to the efforts of an Illinois teenager, the finances of some of the youngest digital workers could also be better protected in the future.

Correspondent Lisa Desjardins has more.

LISA DESJARDINS: Child and teen social media stars can captivate millions of fans with content ranging from goofy pretend play to fashion and makeup tips.

They also can rake in thousands, even millions of dollars.

But unlike for kids in Hollywood, no law requires that those earnings be set aside for them to use later as adults.

That changes partially next summer, when a new first-of-its-kind law takes effect in Illinois.

Joining me now are the bill's primary sponsor, State Senator Dave Koehler and Shreya Nallamothu, the now 16-year-old high schooler who brought the issue to his attention and helped push it over the finish line.

Thank you to both of you for talking about this show.

Shreya, I want to talk with you.

You are not a YouTube influencer yourself.

What drove you to push for this change?

SHREYA NALLAMOTHU, Advocate For New Law: I saw a lot of child influencers on my YouTube or TikTok feed.

And I started to notice that there was definitely some exploitation happening, which is what led me to this idea.

LISA DESJARDINS: What tipped you off that there could be exploitation?

SHREYA NALLAMOTHU: I saw clips of a family channel where they filmed a prank which ended with their daughter crying.

WOMAN: Cole and Sav pranked their 4-year-old, Everleigh, into thinking she'd have to give away their beloved family dog, Carl.

SHREYA NALLAMOTHU: And they still uploaded that to YouTube, because that kind of content rakes in more views and more money, even though that child probably didn't want that on the Internet.

LISA DESJARDINS: Senator Koehler, I don't think you're a YouTube influencer either.

(LAUGHTER) STATE SEN. DAVID KOEHLER (D-IL): I'm not, no.

LISA DESJARDINS: How did you get involved?

What made you want to push for this?

STATE SEN. DAVID KOEHLER: Well, Shreya was the starting point.

She sent a letter, and it came to my office.

And so my staff read this.

And I have younger staff that do pay attention to this.

And they came to me and said: "This is important.

You need to pay attention to this."

LISA DESJARDINS: Senator Koehler, explain what this law does precisely.

STATE SEN. DAVID KOEHLER: This sets up some parameters.

It says, if a child is in a certain portion of videos and the money is received from that, they get to have a certain part of that money set aside in a trust fund so that, when they turn 18, they can realize some of the fruits of their labor.

The enforcement of this -- and this is what I think the simplicity of it is -- is not with the state of Illinois.

We have too much we can't handle already.

So this really is a right of legal action.

So, when a child turns 18, they can look back and they can say, yes, my parents used me in videos all throughout my childhood and made lots of money, but I have nothing.

So they have a right to then take legal action and recover some of that.

LISA DESJARDINS: At its core, we're talking about really child labor law here, essentially.

Can you help us with the scope of how many kids and teens you think this could protect and how much money?

What are we talking about?

STATE SEN. DAVID KOEHLER: This is pretty pervasive, that some families use this as a business, really generating a lot of money.

When their child does unique things, they are able to maximize the profit of this.

So we set this up really as a child labor law.

LISA DESJARDINS: Shreya, you are Gen Z. I have a son who is the next generation.

I think we're going to go with Generation Alpha.

He's in elementary school.

If you talk to any of those kids, they all want to be YouTubers, if you ask what they want to be when they grow up.

But what have you learned about the trade-off of becoming a YouTuber through doing this?

SHREYA NALLAMOTHU: Yes, being a YouTuber definitely seems super glamorous.

It makes a lot of money.

It's very lucrative, and you get fame.

But, if you're a child, child influencing is still working.

And so you're turning your childhood into content and uploading that onto the Internet, where it's permanent, and you can't take that down anymore.

So there's definitely a sacrifice in terms of the quality of your childhood, when you become a child influencer.

STATE SEN. DAVID KOEHLER: Originally, we had in the law that the child upon becoming adult could look back and could remove any unwanted video that they had on the Internet.

Technologically, that's difficult to do.

We are going to be working with the attorney general in Illinois to see how we can deal with this as a privacy and consumer protection part.

Technologically, it's a little difficult.

I don't quite comprehend how you do that.

But we're going to give it an attempt.

SHREYA NALLAMOTHU: A lot of the burden that comes with being a child influenza is in that mental health aspect and the fact that just all of your videos are on the Internet forever, and you have no recourse to take -- to take them down.

And they happened when you were too young to really understand what social media was.

LISA DESJARDINS: And, Shreya, have you had interest from anyone else in other states?

Do you think this has a future perhaps elsewhere in the country?

SHREYA NALLAMOTHU: Yes, I really hope to see Illinois become a trendsetter law.

And I'm glad that we have been able to show other states that regulating this industry and technology is possible.

So, I definitely hope to see more states doing stuff like this in the future.

LISA DESJARDINS: And, Senator, to you.

What did you learn about younger generations, including your own staff?

STATE SEN. DAVID KOEHLER: We had Shreya testify in person.

We had a young woman from Washington state, Chris McCarty, who has been following this issue in that state.

She testified by video.

These two young people did a tremendous job.

They just kind of blew the committee away.

We passed this into the Senate unanimously.

MAN: Senate Bill 1782 is declared passed.

STATE SEN. DAVID KOEHLER: And so I learned that we're in good hands.

The next generation is surely fit to continue on and make progress.

LISA DESJARDINS: Shreya, you are now a political influencer.

I'm wondering, what are your thoughts about what could be ahead for you?

SHREYA NALLAMOTHU: I'm not sure.

The field of politics is definitely intriguing.

I was lucky enough to be able to see the process of a bill becoming a lot up close.

You learn about it and social studies and civics class, but to be there and testify for the bill was just on another level.

It was such an amazing experience.

Maybe it's something I want to pursue in the future, but we will see.

LISA DESJARDINS: Senator Dave Koehler of Illinois and also Shreya Nallamothu, thank you both very much.

STATE SEN. DAVID KOEHLER: Thank you.

SHREYA NALLAMOTHU: Thank you.