Child Influencers & Social Media: Child Exploitation in the Digital Age

The children we see on social media with millions of followers. It seems cute and innocent, but there are some serious issues with the concept.

A post by Sana Ghayas and Sehrish Sarosh Haider

Tuesday, 10 August 2021

What is a child influencer? What do they do on social media? These are children who post entertaining, informative and inspiring content online across multiple social media platforms and manage to build large followings. Their accounts are often run by their parents and generate income through sponsored content. It is astonishing to discover that they range in age from as young as 0–9 months to 13 years old.

On the face of it, these children are simply using these platforms to showcase their talents, enjoy their leisure time and socialise, but this is not the whole story. These young cyberfluencers have millions of followers and subscribers thanks to their remarkable powers of persuasion. The children of the digital age are both audiences and creators. Recognising this dynamic, many major platforms provide children with access and opportunities to contribute: for example, YouTube Kids allows children under 13 to create their own accounts, and Amazon enables children under 13 to upload their own reviews, which are labelled ‘A kid’s review’. Furthermore, it is not difficult to create accounts using false age information on any social media platform.

Child social media influencers: a new source for advertising?

In this environment where children are both protagonists and recipients capable of generating electronic word of mouth (eWOM), advertising agencies and brands have already recognised the potential of these young influencers with a wide reach as an effective and direct advertising channel to reach young target audiences. As they come across as relatable role models and peers, it is easily assumed that they have no commercial interests and are perceived as authentic and credible sources of information. Not only by children, but they are not even strictly monitored or criticised by parents. In turn, this increases the brand’s visibility and awareness and has been shown to have a positive impact on sales of children’s products (Bao et al., 2019).

In 2019, through social media advertising and paid partnerships, children with large social media followings earned $8 billion, with highly successful children generating up to $26 million per year. Children with one million followers or more can earn $10,000 or more per sponsored post. These children have already secured places on Forbes magazine’s list of top influencers.

Featured Content in Sponsored Vlogs

These children often review toys, play games, sing and dance, or simply chat. Whereas others are cooking, applying make-up, or posing for photographs in fashionable outfits or costumes. They tend to be much more varied and use more everyday language compared to professionals (e.g. EvanTubeHD), yet they seek to emulate adult and professional videos, including their production and branding strategies. This leads to one of the major problematic issues with these mini-influencers, as some of them discuss topics that are too mature for their age, behave like adults and engage in inappropriate activities.

This can have a potentially negative impact on child viewers, who may be exposed to relatable but misguided role models – such as distorted perceptions of life, particularly regarding fun and play, or an urge to be successful or to adopt unrealistic lifestyles. A study on ‘The Impact of Social Media Influencer Marketing on Children’s Food Intake’ by Coates et al., 2019, suggested that the promotion of healthy or unhealthy snacks, either directly or indirectly during vlogs, showed that the marketing of unhealthy foods increased children’s immediate food intake, whereas the equivalent marketing of healthy foods had no effect.

The Issues of Exploitation Involving Child Influencers

There are several risks of exploitation, including psychological, physical and even financial risks in the long term. This is because the issue lies in a grey area, and there is a great deal of ambiguity as to whether it constitutes play or work. In particular, children who are famous influencers may face increased pressure to maintain their audience, which reinforces gender stereotypes: boys mostly unbox and assemble toy cars and Lego sets and talk about video games, whilst girls tend to unbox dolls and talk about decorations and make-up. Another important aspect is the online backlash and bullying faced by these children, which further leads to the risk not only of misuse of their content but also of paedophilia-related concerns. On the other hand, there is the potential for children to be deprived of essential opportunities, such as missing out on school, proper healthcare and rest; the lack of consent, given their age; a lack of privacy due to posting details of their everyday lives and routines; and risks to their safety arising from the public disclosure of personal information.

There are dangers to which children are exposed when they are visible online for all to see. As these children grow older and use social media independently, they may be prone to trusting anyone who shows them appreciation online. This includes risks such as falling victim to paedophiles or people with malicious intentions in general. This is particularly true when their entire lives are lived online.

Children’s rights, child labour and the role of parents:

Many believe that the moment children start earning money, it constitutes child labour. Moreover, on social media, parents are filming their children for sponsorship deals and other paid advertisements; and as it is solely the parents managing this, there is no way of knowing whether a child is being overworked or whether their studies are being affected.

If a child is earning millions and helping to pay the household bills – given that many parents have given up their jobs to manage their child’s social media career – it essentially presents a dilemma for parents. Children are often pressured to keep creating new videos in order to maintain their following on social media. Furthermore, they are constantly in the public eye, and there is a risk that people will recognise minors in public and want to talk to them or meet them. This not only adds pressure but also puts children at unnecessary risk by allowing them to meet strangers.

Legislation and policy

Cogan’s Law was one of the first laws enacted to protect child actors in the future. Child actor Jackie Cogan was an actor in the 1920s who worked with Charlie Chaplin. When he grew up, he discovered that his mother – who was also his manager – had spent his millions on herself, and he filed a lawsuit against her once he turned 21. Whilst Cogan’s Law had many flaws, it does show us that when money is involved, parents cannot always be trusted.

When it comes to legislation and policy regarding child influencers on social media, there is a general lack thereof. In Germany, children aged 6–15 are permitted to work for 30 calendar days, three hours each day. France has recently introduced a law ensuring that all money earned by a child under 16 is legally protected

There is a pressing need for proper legislation for children, particularly with regard to what they earn and how much they are working whilst at home.

Conclusion

Moving forward, we need proper rules and regulations not only in individual countries but also on social media platforms. Parents do have the right to put their child on social media, but if this begins to affect the child’s mental health or their education, there should be a limit.