Erin Yarwood is a journalism junior and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
There was a point last year where I found my TikTok algorithm overrun by accounts focused on babies and young children. It didn’t matter whether it was an account posting what their baby eats in a week, fit checks of young twin girls in their matching baggy jeans and graphic tees, or a funny video of a baby eating a muffin.
After a few months of increasing babies repeatedly showing their smiling faces on TikTok, they started to disappear. Not the babies completely, but their faces at least. The reasons are, of course, sickening.
Digital kidnapping via facial recognition technology is becoming increasingly frequent. This, in addition to online creeps and trolls, has caused many parents online to remove their childrens’ faces from photos and videos via cropping, blurring or positioning.
However, TikTok isn’t the first place that parents have found to post content of their children online for fans. There have been plenty of family YouTube channels and Instagram accounts that do the same thing. And many of these instances have also been met with negative repercussions.
Identity and information stealing are not the only reasons that posting children online is problematic. There are several things that are off putting about the practice. As soon as parents or guardians receive a monetary reward due to views or likes on content of their children, morals shift. Even if that shift is involuntary it still occurs.
This shift tends to result in interactions with children solely done in order to get a reaction out of them: a reaction that can be used as content. This prioritization of content over the well being of children negatively affects these kid’s emotions. These instances are especially apparent on Youtube family channels that catch on camera how their children will react to a variety of events. Recording children reacting to bad news, different forms of discipline, or a camera in their face is not behavior of a good parent. Changing your parenting style or actions towards children in any way to receive views and like on social media is problematic.
To me what’s most appalling is the lack of consent that kids are able to give. There is a clear power dynamic on these channels that is being taken advantage of. There is no way for children to refuse being in the content based around them, especially when there is pressure coming from a parental figure who they respect and feel attached to. Privacy is violated without any opportunity to stop it.
The internet seems to be catching on to these issues, as family channels are beginning to decrease on YouTube and comments criticizing online parents are not a rare sight on Tik Tok. There is an obvious difference between a quick 10 second TikTok showing your child and you in matching outfits with an upbeat song behind it, and making your child look sad for a thumbnail on Youtube.
There are ways to share photos and videos of children to your friends and family in a safe way, but a more careful approach needs to be implemented in most cases.