Testimonies of not-so-glamorous lives behind the scenes of some family vlogs have made certain governments take action. But is it enough?
As a person who remembers the rise of family vlogging, it’s hard to believe that it’s been a thing for nearly 15 years now. What’s even more bizarre is how over the years this activity has turned into something rather sinister.
Back then, I was a teenager who spent a lot of time on YouTube, watching beauty and fashion vloggers. This is when I also encountered videos of family vloggers, such as the now-infamous 8 Passengers.
Exploited by your own family
To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to such channels since I wasn’t interested in that kind of content. That wasn’t until last year when I noticed that my favorite true crime channel posted a video about “The Dаrk World of 8 Pаssеngеrs.”
That was after Ruby Franke, the brains behind the 8 Passengers channel and the mom of six children shown in the videos, was sentenced for aggravated child abuse in 2024. The woman was arrested after it was uncovered that she had been torturing her two younger children, who were found malnourished and with open wounds.
Before the recent events unfolded, Franke had been under scrutiny for her strict parenting methods during the rise of 8 Passengers. She was criticized for filming her kids during rather intimate moments and sharing the punishments she would make her kids endure. For example, she made one of her sons sleep on a beanbag for more than half a year.
Franke was so open to the world about how she raised her kids that some concerned viewers even called child protective services. However, only nine years after the channel first started, authorities caught up with what Franke was doing to them.
Laws to protect “working” children
The situation has also brought attention to content creators who involve their kids and earn money this way. Last year, Illinois passed a law that requires parents to set aside a portion of the earnings received for the content that shows their kids. This law was created to protect content creators, who are still considered minors and whose lives are shared on social media.
The law was based on California's 1939 Coogan Act, or "California Child Actor's Bill.” Under the law, employers (or parents) must set aside 15% of their children’s earnings in a blocked trust account, also known as a Coogan Account, since minors can’t legally control their own money.
This law was updated in September 2024 when California Assembly Bill 1880 (AB 1880) was signed into law to further protect minors who create digital content.
The law, which previously identified “entertainment workers” as singers, dancers, actors, and such, now also includes “content creators,” also known as vloggers, influencers, streamers, and similar.
So, now the same requirements to have a Coogan Account apply to underage content creators. Under AB 1880, employers (brands or social media platforms) and parents/guardians are also required to provide legal documents about how much money the young content creator earns and how much is sent to their trust account.
Last year, California’s governor Gavin Newsom also signed Senate Bill 764 (SB 764), or the Child Content Creator Rights Act, which states that “online influencers featuring children in at least 30 percent of their output must put away a percentage of gross earnings in a trust for the minor to access when they become an adult.”
Can you run away from the law?
Back in the day, when I was very into style and fashion bloggers and vloggers, I started following Brittany Xavier, who started as a fashion blogger and now shares videos about her family life with almost one and a half million YouTube followers.
As with some content creators, I felt that her content no longer interested me as she was talking more about family life, sharing her journey as an expecting mother and unboxing Dior boxes with stuff for babies, which isn’t that interesting for someone who isn’t expecting and is far from being able to afford Dior.
However, I noticed that she still pops up on my TikTok feed. The woman now has three children, one of whom is about to graduate high school and the other two of whom are under five years old.
The woman has recently shared that they’re moving from California to Texas. While the move was in the plans, according to the influencer, they had to do it sooner since they found mold in their house.
However, this didn’t seem to slide with some of their viewers, who wondered whether the sudden move was because of the recent changes in underage content creator rights.
“Smart! Far cheaper to move and buy a whole new house rather than pay your kids for work they don’t consent to,” wrote another TikTokker.
“Was California too blue, or was it that you’d have to put 65% of what you make off your kids into a trust & actually pay them both?” questioned another TikTok user.
“Girl, we know why you left,” wrote another user online. Many were also concerned that the woman didn't stay for her 18-year-old daughter to finish school, leaving her in California.
While the family shared their reasoning behind the sudden move, many viewers seemed suspicious of the timing, noticing that more influencers were leaving the state.
“I want to know why so many influencers are moving to Tennessee?” asked one TikTok user in the comment section.
“Because the laws in Tennesse let you make money off of making content of your kids without being forced to put a percentage into an account for the kids when they’re 18,” replied another user.
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