Televising Child Abuse
And more alarmingly, children’s consent about what their parents post about them is removed, leaving them vulnerable. As an audience, we need to be mindful of the influence these family vloggers have on us. We should consider their harmful impact and think about how we share content that includes the children in our lives. Each vlogger was compelled to create a video for different reasons, but most importantly they all claim a debt to the Black community . The most common purpose for creating the video was a sense of audience accountability. Chad from GabeBabeTV claimed he actively seeks counsel from Black men in his life on how to raise his biracial son as a White man.
The Tube Family is exactly what it sounds like it is… the ultimate YouTube family vloggers! This family of 4 entertains and inspires their audience through their fun and creative YouTube videos. Years ago, The Tube Family started making videos on their main channel EvanTubeHD but decided to make a channel for their family vlogs. Cole, Savannah, Everleigh, and Posie LaBrant make up the well-known and well-liked LaBrant family! The LaBrant family is based in Los Angeles, and together create family vlogs on their family channel weekly. They currently have 12 million followers and counting and racked up millions of views on every video they post.
They are making millions from YouTube videos at their children’s expense, all in the name of documenting their childhood. California law requires child stars under 18 to obtain a child performer service permit in order to work in traditional media. However, it was concluded that child influencers do not need work permits if their performance is unpaid and shorter than an hour. This means that parents can essentially get away with exploiting their children.
Ryan’s case illustrates both the lack of protection young social media stars have and the absence of consent offered to children online. Family vlogging is structured on the basis that children cannot say no. Thankfully, in recent years YouTube – particularly after this DaddyOFive case –has been working on these issues by promoting more child safety rules on the website. However there is still more work to be done, children are kids still at many risks even without any scandals.
Of course, YouTube fans don’t have to meet their idols to interact with them. The company, which is owned by Google, actively encourages its families to engage in the comments section. This can mean that kids could be exposed to a lot of opinions that even adults find hard to negotiate. “Even in the beginning, people would leave really rude comments,” Kristine of Family Fun Pack has said.
But sharing children’s lives online causes issues even deeper than that. With the rise of platforms like YouTube, many families even vlog their children’s day-to-day lives. These vlogging channels, while they may seem harmless, cause a lot more harm than we may realize.