Top Family Vloggers
Prior to these claims, the pair vlogged even the most intimate details of their children’s lives—including having “the talk” with their kids, their son’s puberty appointment, and their daughter's first period. The whole issue gets a bit more insidious once you bring family vloggers into the mix. Parents turn the camera on as their young children play, take vacations, review toys, and more. In 2017, New York Magazine reported that the top family vlogs brought in half a billion views a week, and millions of dollars in revenue.
The Tube Family is exactly what it sounds like it is… the ultimate YouTube family vloggers! This family of 4 entertains and inspires their audience through their fun and creative YouTube videos. Years ago, The Tube Family started making videos on their main channel EvanTubeHD but decided to make a channel for their family vlogs. Cole, Savannah, Everleigh, and Posie LaBrant make up the well-known and well-liked LaBrant family! The LaBrant family is based in Los Angeles, and together create family vlogs on their family channel weekly. They currently have 12 million followers and counting and racked up millions of views on every video they post.
They are making millions from YouTube videos at their children’s expense, all in the name of documenting their childhood. California law requires child stars under 18 to obtain a child performer service permit in order to work in traditional media. However, it was concluded that child influencers do not need work permits if Family their performance is unpaid and shorter than an hour. This means that parents can essentially get away with exploiting their children.
Ryan’s case illustrates both the lack of protection young social media stars have and the absence of consent offered to children online. Family vlogging is structured on the basis that children cannot say no. Thankfully, in recent years YouTube – particularly after this DaddyOFive case –has been working on these issues by promoting more child safety rules on the website. However there is still more work to be done, children are still at many risks even without any scandals.
Of course, YouTube fans don’t have to meet their idols to interact with them. The company, which is owned by Google, actively encourages its families to engage in the comments section. This can mean that kids could be exposed to a lot of opinions that even adults find hard to negotiate. “Even in the beginning, people would leave really rude comments,” Kristine of Family Fun Pack has said.
But sharing children’s lives online causes issues even deeper than that. With the rise of platforms like YouTube, many families even vlog their children’s day-to-day lives. These vlogging channels, while they may seem harmless, cause a lot more harm than we may realize.