From Piper Rockelle to 8 Passengers, big name YouTube channels with massive followings have been posting content for years, vlogging everything from learning how to ride a bike to bra shopping for the first time. A bright spotlight shone on the stars’ childhoods for the entire Internet to see, creating images of a perfect childhood with expensive clothes and toys. Every light casts a shadow, however, and behind the well-crafted illusion of most family channels lies exploitation and abuse. Many child YouTube stars have recently been coming out to tell their stories and creating documentaries to share their experience.
On February 27, the docuseries Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke debuted on Hulu, with three episodes narrated by former members of the 8 Passengers channel. The mother and manager of the channel, Ruby Franke, along with her colleague Jodi Hidlebrant, were charged with two counts of child abuse on Feburary 20, 2024. In Hildebrant’s house, the two youngest Franke children were found malnourished and with injuries around their extremities from harsh restraints.
Many were appalled to hear about the nature of these injuries. Sienna Berg (II) comments, “It was extremely disheartening [to see] the things I read and the images [and] videos I saw of her direct abuse.”
Although there were two parents in the home during the abuse, only Ruby Franke was charged, while her husband Kevin Franke walked free. He now has full custody of the children.
Berg has strong feelings about the father of the 8 Passengers, arguing that “he should be held accountable for the fact that he did nothing to stop her or protect his children.”
Another “kidfluencer,” with a total of 12.1 million subscribers on YouTube, is Piper Rockelle, whose mother, Tiffany Smith, has recently been facing mental and physical abuse accusations. A three-part documentary, Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, which came out on April 9, goes into detail about the alleged exploitation and abuse at the hands of Smith.
Rockelle’s earlier videos consisted of “The Squad,” which, according to People Magazine, “was made up of carefully cast kid actors” to further elevate the channel. Some of the children featured on the channel reported that they felt unsafe while filming, as they were faced with mental and occasionally sexual abuse at the hands of Smith. One of the former members of The Squad remarked that Smith would repeat the phrase, “Sex sells. Make it sexy,” while filming, making many of the kids feel uncomfortable. This led to a lawsuit that was closed in October 2024 after a 1.85 million-dollar settlement was made, but with no admission of the abuse.
Following the lawsuit, some viewers have noticed a change in Rockelle’s content. Olivia Houton (II) notes that “her content is very sexualized, which is so weird to see because she is so young.”
The rising concern for the exploitation of children in social media has raised an essential question: how can it be regulated? According to New York Post, a new law in California “requires parents to set aside money earned by child social media influencers,” which protects minors from having no profit, as there is typically an “absence of a traditional employer-employee relationship” within a family environment.
Steven Sahatjian (II) disagrees that children should grow up in the spotlight at all, because “everyone that did kind of lost their mind.” Not only can being a child influencer lead to exploitation and abuse, but it can also lead to major self-esteem and mental health issues.
Without a strong way to regulate family channels, the best way to prevent child exploitation from occurring is alienating the concept as a whole, so that people do not have the incentive to make content.