By Madelyn Ilarraza
Girlhood and adolescence is one of the most complicated and emotional times in a woman’s life. Imagine everyday of your childhood being filmed for millions of strangers to see, from your first period, to your first date, The constant invasion of privacy and lack of autonomy that children of family vloggers experience isn’t even regulated by most states’ laws. Last year, California implemented Senate Bill 764, which requires that influencers that feature their children in the majority of their content must set aside 30% of their earnings to the children. Since the passage, many family vloggers have fled California and moved to southern and midwestern states which have no laws protecting their children.
YouTube and TikTok are the most common platforms for child exploitation. In her memoir, “The House of My Mother,” Shari Franke details her experience growing up in an infamous vlogger family, and the abuse and neglect she faced by the hands of her parents. The YouTube channel she was featured on, 8 Passengers, was one of the pioneering family vlogging channels on the internet. She was filmed the whole time she was home, with her only space for privacy being school and sports practice.
A few different creators on TikTok document their whole child’s life – even before it actually starts – from pregnancy to the present. In recent years, one mother has come under fire for the content she posts surrounding her toddler aged daughter. The posts had up to hundreds of thousands of “favorites,” meaning that people bookmark and/or download the video. Some deduced that the majority of these saves come from pedophiles, and are most likely the target audience. The mother was made aware of this, and continued to post her child in adult clothing and sexualized thumbnails. She denied the reality that she doesn’t know what people do with the videos she posts, and how they interpret them.
Young girls are sexualized in every aspect of life, but it is astronomically increased when their parents parade them around online and intentionally put them in hypersexualized situations. There are countless videos of two children being set up on fake dates, or asked inappropriate questions. These children are robbed of their childhoods in exchange for being their families’ cash cows. What’s disguised as family friendly and wholesome content, is something much more sinister. You cannot ethically post your child online, on such public platforms. There is a potential audience in the millions, and you never know who will be watching. These parents rely on their children for views and money, and do not care if they have to digitally traffic them in order to achieve it.