Family Influencers are an increasingly strong reality, despite repeated recommendations and warnings about the risks of children’s exposure on social media. From a disturbing study led by Terre des Hommes Italy, non-profit which deals with children’s rights, it emerges that minors are increasingly the unwitting protagonists of online content for profit.
The study and its disturbing results
The study ‘Aware protagonists? The protection of minors in the era of family influencers’, was carried out by Terre des Hommes Italy in collaboration with theInstitute of Advertising Self-Discipline (IAP) e ALMED – Catholic University of the Sacred Heartwith the support of the lawyer Marisa Marraffinoexpert in digital media law.
The research analyzed 20 family influencer profiles and 1334 social contents to understand how daughters and daughters are shown, and found that minors appear in 1 out of 2 organic contents and 1 out of 4 sponsored ones.
In approximately a third of the advertising content, minors appear to be an active part of the advertising, discarding the advertised products, or even presenting them and launching the associated promotions. In many cases we are talking about young children, exposed “in clear” without any form of protection of their privacy (therefore with perfectly recognizable faces and bodies).
In organic content, in fact, some forms of protection appear in just 7% of content, which reaches 2% in advertising.
But there’s even worse.
(…) in 21% of cases intimate moments are shown such as bathing, nappy changing, bedtime – we read in the summary of the study – in 6% of the contents the minor is involved in trends or challenges; in 1% of cases the minor is caught in a critical moment (anger, sadness, difficulty)
Unfortunately, the question about consent in many cases has only one answer: in fact, the work shows that almost 80% of exposed children are aged between 0 and 5 years, therefore not able to express their consent and understand the use made of their image.
On the other hand – another disturbing fact – only in 0.65% of the contents the minor explicitly opposes the filming, but in 63% boys and girls are seen in the background of their parents’ scenes, therefore probably without full awareness of being filmed themselves.
In fact, it is impossible for children to know what consequences their exposure will bring. Sons and daughters may also feel obliged to participate in the activity of the influencer parent, so as not to do an injustice or lose his trust
Is the exposure of minors on social media for profit a form of exploitation?
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We have analyzed over 1300 contents of family influencers to understand how and to what extent children are involved, whether they participate in promotional activities and what risks can arise from this activity – writes the association on Instagram – The central question is one: to what extent can this exposure become a form, even unconscious, of exploitation?
The question is not only legitimate, but dutiful: without consent there is no awareness and therefore it is in fact exploitation, also considering the profit-making nature of such exposure, which is in itself very dangerous: it is sadly known, in fact, how online presence can expose children to potential risks of solicitation and child pornography, above all, as in these cases, without any protection for their privacy.
When a parent turns their child into part of a commercial activity, they effectively take on a double role: that of employer and parent, with the risk of compromising the relationship of trust and security on which childhood is based – states Federica Giannotta, Head of Advocacy and Programs Italy Terre des Hommes – For a child, especially in the first years of life, the loss of protected spaces and the staging of intimate moments can undermine the sense of protection and the ability to distinguish reality from fiction
What the law says
At the moment, Bill No. is being examined in the Senate. 1136 ‘Provisions for the protection of minors in the digital dimension’ which aims to regulate the exposure of minors on social media and on the web in general.
However, Terre des Hommes also underlines the importance of equating the involvement of minors in their parents’ social advertising and commercial activities with other forms of child labor permitted by Italian legislation.
In this way, even children involved in online advertising would be protected in relation to the type of commitment to which they are called – explains the association – and the psychophysical and emotional consequences to which they may be exposed
In particular, the non-profit organization offers:
The research was presented on November 5 at the Milan branch of the Catholic University, and should really make us reflect and, in some cases, stop.
Sources: Terre des Hommes / Terre des Hommes/Instagram / Catholic University of the Sacred Heart/Facebook
