The Life of a Kidfluencer

April 2024

I am a male adult born in the 1970’s. In no way do I advocate that any person, especially women and girls do not have the right to express themselves in any way which makes them feel confident and empowered. I have been a mentor for young women and men for twenty-five years, and have never cast judgement, but instead have only ever offered requested advice.

I am a Father and Uncle, and a trusted role model to a massive number of young girls and women in my life, many of whom have very active lives on social media. I am also the direct relative of a teen girl who was recently the victim of someone who is now a convicted child predator.

I am a WA Australian of the Year recipient as a result of a nomination from a teen girl I was able to pull out of the dark tunnel of attempted suicide, because she was being sexual exploited by a number of immoral young men. She is my hero! I am the inaugural Ambassador for the Zonta House Refuge Association, a non-profit charity organisation supporting female victims of Family Domestic Violence.

As such, I hope I can assure anyone reading this article who does not know me, I am by no means a bigot who does not advocate the rights of women. I simply wish to present an opinion based on my coalface experiences within the world of online harm and a concern based on the fifteen years I have spent within the world of juvenile online crime.

In 2019, I conducted my first media interview about ‘Kidfluencers’ in response to the rise in parents posting images and videos of their children online. Kidfluencers are children who have gained a considerable online following by creating child-centred content on social media networks. The vast majority of these children’s accounts are being run and controlled by their parents.

In the media interview, I was introduced to a parent who was posting her two young girls on Instagram. One was 12 years of age, the other just 10 years of age. The girls had over twenty thousand followers, with Mum posting a variety of content, such as them reviewing their visit to Movie World and performing dance recitals, to reviewing ice-cream products and clothing stores.

As I chatted with the Mum in the green room over a cuppa, we discussed the potential risk such an online footprint could present to her children and her family in the short and long term. As she continued to deflect my advice on caution and moderation, she made a statement which I took as a challenge. “There is now way anyone will be able to identify my girls in the real world, based on what we post online!”

Once home after the interview, and before the story aired on the news that night, I had already gathered a massive amount of information contradicting the mother’s confident assertion. Within only forty minutes of getting home, I was able to find the following information on the two girls;
  • Their full names.
  • The schools the girls went to. One being in Year 7 at high school and the other being Year 5 at primary school.
  • The bus number the older girl caught each day.
  • The dance club they were part of.
  • Mum’s full name and where she worked.
  • Dad’s full name and his business name.
  • The family’s home address.

I therefore had a personal dilemma! Do I simply ignore what I found and write it off as a frustration, or do I call the Mum and let her know how wrong she was? Not to gloat, but to simply emphaise what I was trying to explain.

Speaking to other Mum’s in my life, they stated if it was them, they would want to know. So, I decided to make the call. The Mother was truly shocked and though part of me felt like saying, “See, I told you!” I switched back into my much more natural caring side and spent the next hour on the phone outlining how she can continue the girl’s enjoyment more safely.

It is always important to me to get the balance right between educating people and not scaring them. But this is so very difficult to do.

Mine is a world which is full of risk and danger! Everything I do in education is based on some of the most terrible experiences I have encountered regarding online harm. Sadly, many of those experiences include children who have been harmed as a result of how poorly the online world is designed.

Of course, the internet has its amazing positives, I support and advocate those constantly. But this article must focus on the most brutal and disgusting side the internet has to offer, and provide a warning that parents need to become more vigilant in exactly what they post of their kids and exactly who is looking at their content.

In support of this article, I encourage readers to view the recent Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Four Corners report on Kidfluencers HERE.

This report takes an unfiltered look at exactly how vulnerable tween and teen social media users can be and the vulnerabilities they face if they and their parents do not approach the kidfluencer phenomenon without the right level of caution and moderation.

Let’s not kid ourselves here, being a truly popular influencer is a full-time job. In fact, keeping up with the demand for content can often be overwhelming. I have spoken with many well-known Australian and global adult influencers and they often struggle with the physical and (more importantly) the mental side of maintaining relevance and popularity.

Throw those worries into the minds of the children featured in this report, in addition to the pressures of school, puberty and family life, the emotional pressure they are being exposed to in most instances will have long term negative effects.

The pressures of trying to keep up with the need for these kids to continue content, is only out-weighed by the need to address, monitor and moderate the massive number of disgusting and perverted post comments coming from followers and users. Not to mention the need to block and report such users and then filter the massive number of follow requests and private messages usually from adult men. This is the side of Kidfluencing the fun vids and posts never reflect!

I was recently accused of ‘scaremongering’ parents regarding posts addressing the massive rise in juvenile male Sextortion. Though all of my followers know I am not about deliberately scaring people, it is very important to me that I tell Australians exactly how it is. So many Australian children rarely speak up when they go through online harm, they do not wish to be judged or get into trouble. What I am extremely proud of, is they do tell me! As a result, it is important to me I share these experiences with others in order to make it clear exactly what our children are being exposed to.

It is such a shame young kids having fun online can be sexualised so readily, but parents can no longer remain naive to the fact they are! Sadly, many parents are pushing the envelope in regard to what their kids are wearing and the poses or activities they are engaged in. As such, these non-sexual images are a 100% precursor to enticing online predators and sexual offenders to the accounts of Kidfluencers.

In fact, I will state without hesitation over 50% of comments on such accounts would no doubt be sexually explicit or inappropriate. With most, if not all of them coming from adult male accounts.

I note all three mothers interviewed in the Four Corners report stated their kids love what they are doing. And I have no doubt much of the time they do. But we are yet to fully understand the true mental impact the kidfluencer life has on our children. As such, it is very dangerous territory which MUST be navigated with utmost caution.

As a Tech Crime Police Officer, a very large number of the images I would sort through on a sex offenders computer, would be exactly the same type of images and videos being taken by the parents of the children depicted in this Four Corners report!

I know exactly what these offenders are doing with such images and precisely what they are thinking about the child depicted. Sadly many parents either overlook this or get too caught up in the financial rewards successful accounts receive.

Having said all of this, I once again have to question what the hell Big Tech are doing to assist these kids and their parents in having a more positive experience.

These disgusting users and the comments aimed at the images of children remain un-addressed and completely ignored when reported. The wholesome and fun experience any child should expect to encounter is yet again destroyed by the utter failures of Big Tech in policing their network and protecting users.

I have been recently speaking with the owner of a company in Australia which sells leotards to juvenile gymnasts. The company has a page on Farcebook and Instagram and posts images of girls modelling the leotards. The company is at a loss as to how to control the massive number of vile and disgusting comments being posted to the images of their models.

The owner stated that after a long weekend traveling south with his family out of internet range, he returned home to the task of removing over 300 individual sexual comments. They are now resolved to closing the accounts down and losing significant income.

None of these images are of a sexual nature, yet the algorithm used by Meta is pushing the content to a demographic who is only interested in looking at children dressed in such attire.

With the significant amount of money this company has paid for advertising, Meta is not pushing these images to that Mum or Dad who actually want to buy a leotard for their daughter. Instead they are pushing the pages and content to those disgusting men trawling Farcebook and Instagram until the early hours of the morning, perving at our kids..

None of these images are of a sexual nature, yet the algorithm used by Meta is pushing the content to a demographic who is only interested in looking at children dressed in such attire.

I repeat myself again! Education must remain at the forefront when it comes to children and the online world. Parents must look at the full picture when making decisions based on the online exposure of their children and remain extremely vigilant when posting content which could compromise their privacy, safety and mental health. What may seem fun on the outset, is much more complicated and often extremely challenging.

Our children should have the right to have fun and express themselves as they choose in this digital world. It is the future, and they should be allowed to do so without all the other crap that comes with it. But sadly, social media design is not fairly conducive to the wonderful potential of a juvenile mind, and it is adults on so many levels who are failing children. It is a shame those who should be listening the most, are not!

In one of the first screens of any student presentation I conduct, I discuss Online Footprint and what kids can do to help minimise their exposure online. I offer usable tools to help kids navigate the online world more safely. The Kidfluencer lifestyle goes completely against those teachings. Therefore, it is extremely important it is done right and with an appropriate and constant response toward the safety and well being of the child.

These disgusting users and the comments aimed at the images of children remain un-addressed and completely ignored when reported. The wholesome and fun experience any child should expect to encounter is yet again destroyed by the utter failures of Big Tech in policing their network and protecting users.

Nothing on this planet matters more!