And it’s not just about labour issues. A 2024 study published in the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy found child influencers experience specific negative impacts, “such as affecting individuals’ work-life balance, their education, how safe they felt online and physically, how they maintained friendships, pressure to increase their profile and their mental health well-being.” This doesn’t even take into account the sexual exploitation that is rife in kidfluencing spaces, which a 2024 New York Times investigation broke down in nauseating detail. According to journalists Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Michael H. Keller, “thousands of so-called mom-run accounts examined by The Times offer disturbing insights into how social media is reshaping childhood, especially for girls, with direct parental encouragement and involvement.”
Loving your kids isn’t protection from exploitation
Obviously, as a child of mega celebrities, Brooklyn has probably not faced the same kind of exploitation as the children in that Times exposé, or even as Claire. But I’d argue these disparate examples are still on the same spectrum. They all involve a blurring of the lines between leisure and labour, and private, public and professional. They all subvert the child’s needs and desires in favour of revenue generation. And all those things matter, even if the labour looks or seems fun.
The other thing that makes this spectrum of exploitation so troubling is that it doesn’t necessarily look or feel like abuse; in fact, it can seem totally loving. Last year, Netflix released a three-episode series about Tiffany Smith, an L.A. parent whose daughter, Piper Rockelle Smith, built a massive following by creating content alongside a ‘squad’ of friends. In 2022, 11 families whose children belonged to that squad filed a lawsuit against Tiffany alleging she had emotionally, verbally, physically and sexually abused their children. Even among this very dark turn of events, though, the documentary tries to capture the nuance of kidfluencing. That is, the fact that these parents aren’t trying to exploit their children. They are, on some level at least, motivated by love. As Variety wrote in its review, “at times in the docuseries, it’s hard not to judge the parents for putting their children’s lives online for millions to see, but there are also several scenes that depict deep family connections and love. Each of the families believes in the kid influencer career, which has given them the freedom to spend more time together, even though the struggle to stay relevant is a constant stress.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.fridaythings.com ’
