Wild Card

 Family Vloggers and Influencers

Ever since the rise of the internet, a variety of different people and groups have amassed followings on popular sights such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. With the rise of "relatable" content on these sights during the 2010s, many creators switched to a vlogging format in order to appeal to a large amount of people. Although many of these vloggers appeal to a high school or college demographic, such as Brooklyn and Bailey, many families have created vlog channels in order to display their lives online. 

Several vlog families became popular in the late 2000s, with many of them still being popular today. One extremely popular vlogger was Ree Drummond, most commonly known as the Pioneer Woman. Another popular channel was CuteGirlsHairstyles, a channel that focused on providing hairstyle inspiration while also occasionally posting fun videos about the McKnight family's activities. This channel, like many during the beginning stages of family vlogging, featured many kids from the families but kept a layer of anonymity in order to protect the privacy of the family. 

While many of these family vlog channels were extremely wholesome during the beginning of their popularity, many channels began to implement unethical tactics in order to gain viewers. What were once casual vlogging channels soon turned into "family influencers," with the families' children becoming the most popular aspects of the channels. This became increasingly popular once it became easy for content creators to monetize their content, thus making their vlogs a significant source of income. According to the University of Chicago, some family vloggers have been able to make up to $40,000 a year from their vlogs alone. Since many family vlog channels have begun to rely on this income in order to take care of their relatives, this has led to countless channels using framed scenarios, overexaggerated stories, and child exploitation in order to draw in viewers and generate more money. 

The increase in child exploitation due to family vlogs has caused severe issues for their privacy, mental health, and overall well-being. Several of the "family vlog kids" are now adults and have spoken publicly about the experience of their childhoods being broadcasted all over the internet. Many of them were ostracized or bullied at school because details about their issues with health, school, or family relationships were publicized. According to TODAY, a four year old child of Jeraldine Blackman, an Australian influencer by the name of @theblackmanfamilyofficial, became worried when a stranger approached her. Apparently he recognized the child from dancing videos that had been posted to the family's social media pages. This interaction is just one of the many risks that come when children are made dangerously accessible to strangers through the creation of this content. When parents rely on their children for income, this places extremely high pressure on them which can leave lasting effects into adulthood. 

One of the most well-known cases of child exploitation in family vlogging is the Ruby Franke case, the creator of the YouTube channel "8 Passengers". At first glance, the channel potrayed the family of eight as being happy and loving, but behind the camera Ruby Franke, alongside her business partner Jodi Hildebrant, secretly abused the child stars. The family was mentally and physically abused when Ruby was unhappy with their behavior during filming, ranging from shouting to prohibiting certain members from eating. In 2023, Ruby and Jodi were arrested and convicted of child abuse before being sentenced to thirty years in prison. These events sparked the creation of a Hulu documentary which has furthermore shed some light on the dangers of family vlogging. 

As of now, very few laws have been put in place to protect the children of family vloggers. In August of 2023, the state of Illinois passed a law that requires financial compensation for child family vloggers. Other states followed suit, with some requiring only financial compensation while others, such as Minnesota, provide the children with the right to privacy. Out of the 50 states, only eleven currently have laws set in place. In order for these children to lead safe and healthy lives, it is important for all states to address the dangers of exploiting children through online content.

 It is extremely important for family vloggers and influencers to take measures to keep their children safe in the eyes of the public. Some ways to accomplish this are not providing specific details about their children, not including them in content unless given permission by the child, and keeping the content family-friendly. This form of media used to be much safer because these measures were consistently taken, but far too many content creators rely on unethical methods in order to draw in a crowd. Until proper laws are passed that require safety measures, it is up to each individual creator to keep their family safe and use ethical means to produce content.