A Sticky Situation: #MomsofTikTok
Photo credit M. Verch, in references.
In the face of our growing internet culture, a phenomenon that has arisen is the presence and use of children who are minors in their parents' social media spaces. Many parents include their children in their content for pranks, motherhood insights, cute moments, or to showcase the ever elusive "reality" of parenthood. Unfortunately, recent events have called into question whether or not this practice, and allowing parents to choose to do it or not, is ethical and one that truly guarantees the safety and well-being of the children in question.
Consumers of this content or those who are in the lives of the children have also raised concerns and anger over the featuring of children at their worst, at their most vulnerable, or in pivotal moments of their lives. Some of the prominent concerns of those who speak out against this phenomenon, whether in content of their own or in others' comment sections, are that these parents are using their children for the dopamine rush of virality or even monetary gain. Others are furious that children are being stripped completely of individual sovereignty, not allowing them to choose how and when to establish an internet presence on their own terms when they can provide informed consent.
One such platform and community in which this practice has become particularly controversial is the #MomsofTikTok community, in which a recent situation unfolded that indicated how dangerous the internet can be for these minors in question. This past summer, users notified a TikTok mom that images and videos of her daughter, who plays the central role in her TikTok account @Wren.Eleanor, were allegedly reappearing and circulating on child pornography sites. Other creators and consumers questioned the nature of the content that Wren's mother, Jacqueline, chose to post of her and its subsequent interactions. @Rosa_Talamartaa13 displayed a screenshot of a post that appeared on the @Wren.Eleanor account and claimed in the caption that "this "mother" has failed to protect their own child" (purportedly due to the accusations about nefarious and perverse consumption of Jacqueline's videos). Other creators have raised concerns about even the interaction on the TikTok platform itself, like @Noahglenncarter who highlighted how the top results after searching @Wren.Eleanor were highly suggestive and crude.
Jacqueline chose to continue to post her daughter on her account, with other moms who believed similarly indicating that it was due to a commitment to not living their lives in fear or constantly on guard. Creators who express these views often also rationalize putting children on social media by conceding that they are including them in their videos so that their viewers can get a glimpse into their lives (be it an inaccurate or accurate representation), for the sake of good-natured humor, that funds they may be gaining would be for the overall benefit of their family, or even that they consider it their parental right. Jacqueline finally released a video statement on 8-5 racking up 10.4 million views, in which she indicated that she felt similarly about the "False Rumors" and the purpose of her account. Comments in the comment section for her video expressed their disgust and incredulity about her statement. These comments call into question what values lie at the core of the @Wren.Eleanor account and whether Jacqueline is producing this content and responding to the situation in the best interest of her child.
The idea that Jacqueline's value is for personal gain is a prominent remark consumers make about this situation, as these decisions to continue to use children in social media spaces may also spawn from the need or desire for continued success, be it financially or from the dopamine rush of virality. This also raises the ethical question of if this phenomenon is truly in the best interest of the child featured and if it should be the right of the parent to decide to include their children in their posts to whatever extent they wish, transferring all individual sovereignty over to them. These are also concerns that other content creators and consumers within the #MomsofTikTok community are raising. The controversy surrounding this incident spurred on a trend within the community, in which many moms, like @babybeansss, chose to completely remove all instances or appearances of their children from their accounts and encouraged other moms to do the same. Conversations about the safety of children on the internet also came into the forefront of other TikTok videos regardless of typical sub-community, like with messages from prominent creators @abbeyskitchen and @kendrafierce.
Regarding this specific situation but also the phenomenon at large, the specific ethical contentions consumers are raising can be informed by other ethical considerations in society. One of these is in regards to the minutia of ethicality of children's rights, particularly in terms of the technicalities of unfair compensation, child labor, and child endangerment. It can be argued that these minors, whose image and online presences their parents are being financially compensated by platforms for, can qualify for this legal designation if funds are not properly distributed or allocated. Furthermore, the labor that these children are performing, be it ranging from the habitual staging and acting in content to from the emotional ordeal of being subjected to situations that will produce the most interaction, fairly succinctly falls under the category of labor that "threatens children’s physical, mental, or emotional well-being," which The University of Iowa Labor Center establishes as a characteristic that designates it as child labor.
Furthermore, the repercussions of these parental decisions often, as we have seen in the case of Wren Eleanor, place the children in terrifying positions. While child endangerment laws vary from state to state, criminal defense lawyers argue that "child endangerment occurs whenever a parent, guardian, or other adult caregiver allows a child to be placed or remain in a dangerous, unhealthy, or inappropriate situation. Some states charge this crime as a type of child abuse." In the cases where children are, by their guardians, willfully (or perhaps intentionally ignorantly) subjected to consumption of their image and personality for perverse means, one can conclude that this would standardly qualify as child endangerment. In all, the existence of this phenomenon and the consequences of it have made one thing startlingly clear: society must take action in understanding the legal and ethical considerations of this practice and adapt and graft regulations onto our growing internet culture, to protect and secure minors now and in the future.
References
Child labor. Social Welfare History Project. (2022, December 8). Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/child-welfarechild-labor/child-labor/#:~:text=Child%20Labor%20Defined%3A%20Historically%2C%20%E2%80%9C,to%20physical%20and%20mental%20development.
Child labor: Iowa Division of Labor. Child Labor | Iowa Division of Labor. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://www.iowadivisionoflabor.gov/child-labor
The University of Iowa. Labor Center. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://laborcenter.uiowa.edu/
Theoharis, M. (2022, January 11). Child endangerment laws. www.criminaldefenselawyer.com. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/criminal-offense/child-endangerment.htm
Verch, M. (2021). Mom and her son holding a mobile phone with an empty screen. Flickr. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/51124600051.
Wren and Jacquelyn. [@wreneleanor]. (2022, August 5). FALSE RUMORS: What You Need To Know. [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@wren.eleanor/video/7128469642921807150?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en