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Family vloggers on YouTube have always rubbed me the wrong way. Indeed, as a general rule of thumb, the content children consume on the platform should not be considered educational or stimulating. Mental health experts actually believe that many of them are dangerous. But the influence of media on children extends beyond what children watch, to the content they create and appear in, often against their will.
Parents and families who are supposed to protect their children and care about their safety and well-being are exposing their children to online audiences for engagement, views, and profit.
Until recently, Ruby Franke was one of those parents, documenting her then-husband and family's life on her YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which featured her six children extensively. She has also been working as a mental health coach since 2022 and runs a parenting channel with her business partner Jodi Nunn Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt is particularly accused of taking advantage of the irresponsibility of his license, including misdiagnosing men with pornography and sex addictions. Both channels have since been deleted and erased from the platform.
But by 2020, Franke was facing multiple allegations of child abuse. She threatened to restrict her diet, banned one of her sons from her bedroom for seven months as punishment for pranking her brother, and forbade her two youngest children from receiving Christmas presents. did. According to CBSNews, they were “selfish.”
But it turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg. In August 2023, Franke's 12-year-old son climbed out of Hildebrandt's house through a window and ran to a neighbor's house in search of food and water. A neighbor saw duct tape on his ankles and wrists and called the police, who rescued him and his 10-year-old sister. They were immediately taken to the hospital to treat open wounds, weakness and malnutrition.
Subsequent court proceedings revealed that Franke and Hildebrand regularly tortured the two children, forcing them to do manual labor, denying them food and water, shackling their hands and feet, and injuring them with cayenne pepper and honey. It was discovered that he had been subject to severe torture, including treating the victims. Suspicion. Last month, they were found guilty of child abuse and each face up to 30 years in prison.
It's important to realize that not all family vlogging channels are going to be like this. In fact, video blogs in general, which aim to introduce viewers to the creator's daily life, seem harmless enough most of the time. Even family video blogs, when done safely and correctly, can help viewers who are trying to raise their children, such as how to pack their child's lunch or help them with homework if they have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). can offer genuine advice.
Parents and families who are supposed to protect their children and care about their safety and well-being are exposing their children to online audiences for engagement, views, and profit.
Sofia Aguilar
Without the help of a supportive family network, parenting can be lonely and isolating, especially in Western societies like the United States. These feelings lead people to seek attention and sympathy from external sources, such as family vlog channels and their predecessors, mom blogs.
But when kids and money are involved, things start to get complicated.
First, if children are minors, only their parents are responsible for their privacy, as children do not have the legal authority to consent to how their images are taken or shared. While this is definitely a safeguard, it can raise serious ethical issues if parents or guardians are exploiting their children for content. There are also no labor laws regarding working conditions for child influencers, so legally they only have to give permission for themselves.
And while there may be plenty of toddlers under two who can say “no,” adults rarely seriously consider those boundaries even when kids get older. But sometimes they don't have the language to consent in the first place, much less the emotional capacity to understand what's going on. They are forced to participate in their own lives as objects and are made to believe by adults that what they feel has no importance or weight. This makes it easier for parents to emotionally abuse their children and take advantage of their children's inability to assert themselves due to their age.
And with the exception of Illinois, which passed such a law shortly after Franke's arrest, there are currently no laws protecting the financial income of children who appear in their families' YouTube videos, leaving them with huge profits. It's also easier to raise.
This is a clear difference from child actors under California's Coogan Act. Child actors' wages are set aside in a trust that they can access once they turn 18. Studios also have to follow strict guidelines to ensure child actors don't work beyond a certain number of hours. They go to school for more than the number of hours per day.
But let's be honest: mom blogs, family vlogs, momfluencers on Instagram, and all the different types of family content aren't all that different from the situations child actors face in Hollywood. Even with legal protection, they are often at the mercy of predatory authorities, subject to mental and physical abuse, and may have trouble adjusting to normal adulthood or abusing drugs. there is. We've seen this happen to countless stars from Disney and Nickelodeon, and we've seen it replicated with a new generation of children's influencers, with little sign of improvement or cultural change. I'm seeing it happening.
If politicians are to ensure the safety and well-being of future generations, they need to extend legislation similar to Coogan's to social media activity and introduce stricter regulations. This means we need to recognize child influencers as professional workers and give them the ability to profit financially from society. Protect the content you appear in and keep those funds separate from your parents.
One big problem is that, unlike mainstream entertainment, family video blogging often takes place in the private sphere of the home, making it difficult for governments to regulate. Still, there are countless ways to protect children when creating content. Of course, you can just listen when your kids say no.
Sofia Aguilar is a first-year graduate student in the Library and Information Science program. Her column appears weekly. You can contact her at: [email protected].
Published March 5, 2024 at 12:32am