Spain to stop parents earning money from child social media stars ...Middle East

MADRID – Child influencers in Spain could win new protections aimed at curbing the control of “sharenting” parents who may exploit minors online.

Parents will be prevented from earning money from children under 14 under new plans being drawn up by the Spanish government.

Yolanda Díaz, the Spanish deputy prime minister and minister for work, announced a reform of regulations governing the work of children on social media, especially YouTube or Instagram.

Parents and companies are often involved when child influencers promote toys or other products.

Spain plans to reform the Artists Statute, which was introduced in 1985 before digital platforms existed.

Díaz said this “jungle” of child influencers needed to be put in order because many minors were “exploited”, with the hours spent generating content not being controlled, as would be the case with child actors.

Spain will insist that children under 14 must obtain government permission to do this work, that they go to school, and their parents or legal guardians must be present when they are making posts.

The money earned from child influencers must be put in bank accounts for the minors, not their parents, to avoid exploitation.

At present no such regulation exists over child influencers in Spain or the UK.

A 2024 Spanish study found many “influencer parents” misuse the images of their own children.

“Sharenting, understood as the sharing of information and photos of children on social media, raises numerous ethical, legal and advertising-related questions,” wrote Elena Fernández Blanco and Ramos Gutierrez Mercedes of the University Pontificia of Salamanca.

“The conclusions [of this study] highlight the misuse of minors’ images and privacy on Instagram by their influencer parents for advertising purposes.”

Lists abound online with the “top family influencers.”

Near the top of the UK list is Fletchers on the Farm, about the Fletcher family who live on a farm in the Peak District. They have 243,000 followers. There is no suggestions of misuse or exploitation in relation to Fletchers on the Farm.

Britain has previously been urged to introduce protections for children whose parents post pictures of them to social media. Child labour laws and employment protection have failed to keep pace with the often “murky” world of online influencer culture, a report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee found in 2022.

However, there are some dark cases associated with this world.

I gave a woman 'the ick' - men have it too hard these days

Last month, a 34-year-old Australian woman was charged with poisoning her baby girl to elicit donations and boost online followers.

The woman claimed she was chronicling her child’s battle with terminal illness on social media, but detectives allege that she was drugging the one-year-old and then filming her in “immense distress and pain”.

After months of investigation, she was charged with torture, administrating poison, making child exploitation material and fraud.

Meanwhile in America, Ruby Franke became an internet sensation with her YouTube channel 8 Passengers, on which she documented her life with her husband and six children.

In 2023, she was arrested for abusing her children. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve between four and 30 years in prison.

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