Imagine that at the young age of 10-years-old, the world knows not only your name, but every detail of your life. You are shown off to the world and have no say in the matter. This is the sad reality for many child influencers, a lifestyle in which every intricate detail of their personal life is put on display for millions of people to view at their leisure. There is no guarantee of safety or stability for their children, so if you were a parent who yearned for fame, would you still take the risk?
Famous social media families often use their children as a way to gain popularity and increase their viewer counts, therefore allowing them to make more money. Though this stunt is often successful, it raises concerns on the safety of the child being used as a public exhibit for their parents’ benefits. In many cases, videos and images of these children have ended up on illegal websites, where pictures of the children are bought and sold to possible predators.
A prime example of child influencer exploitation can be seen in the Labrant family, whose channel can be found on social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and primarily YouTube. Everleigh Rose Smith-Soutas, a member of this exceedingly popular channel, is 10-years-old. Smith-Soutas was first shown on her step-father (Cole Labrants’) Youtube channel when she was just 3-years-old and featured in videos documenting the family’s daily life. Viewers enjoyed watching her energetic attitude while completing popular internet challenges with her parents, and at that young age, she was the reason for her family’s swift rise to popularity.
“I mean I grew up watching the Labrants,” Anika Chandra (’24) said. “I used to really like their YouTube videos but I grew out of them. I don’t really like them anymore though, I just feel like they aren’t good people and I don’t like how they treat their kids like a fountain for money.”
The Labrant parents, Savannah Labrant and Cole Labrant, are often criticized for the online spectacle that they have created around their children, primarily the oldest, being Smith-Soutas. Images of Smith-Soutas have been found on illegal websites in the past; although fans of the family have informed the parents of this, they have not publicly announced any measures taken to avoid this. These websites may appear to be innocent, but this process involves the buying and selling images of minors. For Smith-Soutas specifically, this is a major issue, as her privacy is being violated at such a young age and her safety will always be an uncertainty. This has caused a lot of backlash for the family, as the safety of their children should be their first priority.
Another major example of internet exploitation can be found from Maia Knight, a social media influencer whose content is mainly found on TikTok. Knight’s rise to popularity is credited to the videos that she has posted with her twin daughters, Violet and Scout Knight.
Her brand was built around her journey as a single mother with twins, which resonated with many others in similar situations. However, there has been controversy surrounding claims that she has made about the twins’ father and his involvement in their lives, and it has since been revealed that she was not fully truthful in these claims. Knight claims that the father of her children, Eric Sweeney, left her after finding out that she was pregnant. In a statement Sweeney made on Reddit, he revealed that Knight had never informed him that she was pregnant. Shortly after this statement, Knight made the decision to remove her children’s faces from her TikTok account. Online viewers suspect that Sweeney did not want Knight to show the twins’ faces for their safety, and asked Knight to stop showing them.
Social media families who use their children to increase their viewer interaction introduce a new threat into their children’s lives. The Labrant family and Maia Knight are both examples of parents who show their children on the internet in order to make a profit from it. However, this can be very unsafe for the children, as their personal information is open for the public to view at any time.