The idea of the mommy vlogger, or family vlog channel, is not a new phenomenon. Families have been documenting their everyday lives since the dawn of social media platforms, only growing since the start of YouTube. What was once an innocent hobby for some families, has now turned into a rigorous business, which not only exploits the children involved, but one that has no laws to protect them. In this “business,” children have been given opportunities to reel in large profits. With some of these family channels raking in millions of dollars a year, the children deserve a cut of that pay, similar to child actors.
Illinois state Sen. David Koehler recently drafted Senate Bill 1782, signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker which will go into effect on July 1, 2024. This law will ensure that adolescent social media influencers have a right to the money they earn. It will cover all children under 16 who appear in monetized videos or posts. This puts Illinois on the map as the first state to produce a law of this manner. While it is important that these children are receiving the money they are earning, where are the laws that will protect them from the content their parents are exploiting them for?
The conversation surrounding the need for these laws has been at the forefront of social media following the arrest of family vlogger Ruby Franke last week, on two counts of child abuse. Franke was the creator of her family vlog channel, 8 Passengers, where she and her husband Kevin recorded the lives of their 6 children. Ruby was infamous for filming her children at highly vulnerable, and often inappropriate times. She was also known for her incredibly strict parenting, which she filmed herself enforcing on to her children.
Ruby admitted to taking away her eldest son’s bed for seven months, laughing when the situation was brought up on film; this was the same child that was sent to a wilderness camp for 10 weeks. Oftentimes food was explained to be a privilege in their household, the children expressed how they had no friends, and they were constantly being punished for normal juvenile behavior.
These were just some of the horrific things that were all filmed and uploaded for viewing, which earned the family money, and to which Ruby admitted that the channel brought in millions of dollars and viewers. Over the years that the channel was active, viewers have called police and CPS countless times in order to get the children help from the abuse that was posted on the internet, but nothing was ever done. We now know that much much worse was happening behind closed doors after her youngest son escaped out of a window to ask a neighbor for food and water, which resulted in the arrest of the matriarch.
This is just one example of the thousands of families that are profiting from exploiting their children. If Youtube had pulled the plug on the channel years ago, when fans started voicing their concerns, or if CPS had taken the case seriously, these children would be in a much safer environment. It is vital that some action be taken in order to prevent more things like this from happening.
Obviously it is impossible to know what is happening in every single household, but when families are posting their everyday lives, and something seems off, things need to be investigated. Additionally the platforms that are being used to share this content need to take more action., Youtube and Instagram need to have stricter guidelines on the content of juveniles that can be posted. Parents should not be able to turn their children into a business venture, and profit off of their exploitation.