It seems like living the dream. Child influencers get to turn their everyday lives into celebrity and wealth. Social media stars with over a million followers can earn over $20,000 (£15,000) for a single post. And 13-year-old Ryan Kaji makes $30m (£23m) a year from simple unboxing clips.

A 2023 survey found that children were more likely to aspire to be influencers than anything else. In Britain, 30% wanted to be YouTubers - more than athletes (21%), musicians (18%) and astronauts (18%).¹

But the reality may not be like the dream. A new Netflix documentary tells the disturbing story of a group of American "kidfluencers", all managed by one "momager".

Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing charts the rise of American influencer Piper Rockelle.

Rockelle was an early TikTok adopter. She shot to fame at age eight, managed by her mother Tiffany Smith.

Smith recruited a "squad" of other young content creators. Soon they had a small empire, based in Smith's Los Angeles home. They churned out prank reels and vlogsVideo blogs..

But there was trouble in paradise. Some Squad members quit. Parents accused Smith of creating a toxic environment. In 2023, 11 Squad members took Smith to court for "emotional, verbal, physical, and at times, sexual abuse".

Bad Influence captures just one case of child exploitation. Another documentary released last month, The Devil in the Family, tells the story of Ruby Franke. 

Franke was a parenting vlogger. Yet her children were mistreated. She made one child sleep on a bean bag for seven months. Once she threatened to behead a stuffed toy. In 2024 she was sentenced to at least four years in prison.

Kidfluencers raise complex ethical questions. Platforms often have a lower age limit, yet parents can create accounts for very young children. The child is the star, but the parent has control.

While child actors have existed for decades, influencers are something new. As social media expert Karen North says: "The show is the kid. And then where does that send their lives? We don't know yet."

Many believe that we should implement new laws to protect kidfluencers from exploitation. As they generate money, they are arguably workers. Legal expert Francis Rees says: "Parents have seemingly become a pseudo-employer." 

Rees' research found that young influencers often have poor school attendance, removing them from both education and socialising.

They do not have the rights and protections of people in official work. Any money they make goes to their parents - although a new law in California forces parents to put at least 15% of kidfluencer earnings into a trustBelieve or have faith in something or a legal arrangement where money is held for somebody's benefit (usually a child's). for their children.

Yet others think that the treatment of kidfluencers is a distraction. Abusive parents existed long before TikTok. Many laws already exist to deal with this. Social media is a convenient scapegoatA person who is made to take the blame for the wrongdoings of others. The term originates from a ceremony during the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur, in which the sins of the people were symbolically placed upon a goat. The goat was then sent into the wilderness. for a much larger problem.

For all the tales of "momagers", in many cases kidfluencers are the driving force behind their online content. New laws might remove their creative freedom.

Do we need new laws to protect children?

Yes: Social media has opened children up to a new mode of exploitation. Their most intimate moments can be used for financial gain. This is a disgrace. It needs to be monitored to stop future abuse.

No: The bond between a parent and a child is the deepest emotional and biological bond between humans. We should be cautious about intervening more than we absolutely have to.

Or... It is not simply that we need laws to protect children. We need laws to restrict social media content full stop. It is not healthy for us to fixate on the lives of others, or reveal our own to all.

Vlogs - Video blogs.

Trust - Believe or have faith in something or a legal arrangement where money is held for somebody's benefit (usually a child's).

Scapegoat - A person who is made to take the blame for the wrongdoings of others. The term originates from a ceremony during the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur, in which the sins of the people were symbolically placed upon a goat. The goat was then sent into the wilderness.