The rise of child influencers – or ‘kidfluencers’ – on social media has prompted calls for greater regulation of the industry.
Kidfluencers may be children who are the focus of a commercialised social media account, whether managed by their parents or themselves, or children involved in family or parenting influencing profiles.
In May, the UK House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee published the report Influencer culture: Lights, camera, inaction?. It highlights that ‘child influencers are some of the most successful influencers’, and ‘influencer agencies see family influencers as some of the most in-demand social media stars […] because they appeal to both children and parents’.
These profiles can be a family’s primary source of income, and the success of the industry is pushing legislators to address the extensive gaps in its regulation, such as around children’s privacy rights and the possibility of labour exploitation.
