Is the US Protecting Child Influencers?

Image By: Rolling Stone UK

The concept of “family vlogging” is a relatively new addition to the lexicon, and it may at first seem relatively harmless. Families can rack up views and brand deals while bringing in quality income by uploading content to social media platforms of their children engaged in fun, wholesome family activities. It’s a family business, and one that can often operate from inside the home. Indeed, many of these family content creators choose to homeschool their children, in order to optimize quality time and content production. However, looking beyond the surface of this apparently rosy lifestyle, it’s disturbing to realize that this near-constant videography is work, and children often don’t reap the benefits of it. Not only are child influencers having their daily activities recorded, branded, and monetized, but they are also being exposed to the dangers of social media, fully unprotected by the law. It is long overdue that governments recognize the often exploitative nature of family vlogging and child influencing, and pass legislation to protect youth at risk. 

Ever since the early days of Hollywood, child actors have been protected under the Coogan Laws, which were passed by the California legislature in 1939 to safeguard the earnings of youth in the entertainment industry and prevent abuse and exploitation. Today, the law requires that at least 15% of earnings go into a trust, only to be accessed once they are adults. However, these laws do not extend to social media platforms, meaning parents are free to make monetary and lifestyle decisions regarding their children’s online presence. For those with a large audience on platforms such as Instagram or YouTube, a single sponsored post can bring in between $10,000 to $50,000 USD. These massive sums of money mean that some families come to rely entirely on posting content of their children to fuel their lifestyles, which introduces a questionable business dynamic into a parent-child relationship. 

The audience demographics who engage with this content is cause to raise another moral eyebrow. In 2019, YouTube came under fire after videos of young girls playing games and doing gymnastics were overrun with lewd comments. YouTube has pledged to remove comments that violate its guidelines and do more to protect children on the platform, but the fact remains that it is such a large digital space that it is difficult for the company to truly be safe for children. While social media platforms bear some of the burden for ensuring youth are protected, the onus also falls on individual parents who are making it easy for images of their children to be accessible to pedophiles. Additionally, there is the issue of basic consent— many children are too young to understand the implications of digitizing their entire life, and cannot genuinely consent to allowing their parents to upload images and videos of what should be private childhood moments. Children, who are often eager to please their parents, likely do not understand the risks woven into the framework of their online presence. 

The heart of the issue lies in the tricky space between the privacy of family life and the obligation of the state to protect children from abuse. Parents are allowed much more leeway with their children than traditional employers, so it's difficult to gauge the point at which the law can intervene. However, prompted by increased calls for change from civic-minded youth who have recognized the problematic nature of child influencing, a wave of legislative action has come forth in the last few years. In August 2023, the state of Illinois was the first in the United States to pass a law requiring adults who post minors online to set aside a portion of the profits in a trust, and gives children the right to take legal action if necessary. In Washington state, local politicians have been working on a bill since 2021 similar to the Illinois one, but that would also require parents to delete monetized videos of their children at their request once they come of age. As of the beginning of 2024, California, Pennsylvania, and Maryland say they are following suit. These demands for legal action have been bolstered by the recent arrest of Ruby Franke, matriarch of the popular family vlogging channel “8 Passengers,” who pleaded guilty in December 2023 to four felony counts of aggravated child abuse. “8 Passengers,” which featured the personal life of Franke, her husband, and their six children was one of the earliest well-known family channels, and its public demise has inspired increased awareness in the push for legal protection for children. 

Ideally, the recent media attention and individual state action taken to curb the harmful effects of child influencing can garner national traction and eventually legal action on the federal level. Discouragingly, however, Republican-led states have been loosening child labor laws in recent months. An Arkansas law from March 2023 eliminated permits requiring employers to verify a child’s age and parental consent, and an Iowa law from May of last year now allows teenagers to work more jobs and for longer hours. Hopefully, the overt dangers of the unregulated, multi-billion dollar influencing industry will continue to attract attention and eventually draw bipartisan support and inspire congressional action.