Children and Personality Rights: Addressing Sharenting and Child Influencers

Introduction

In America, it was observed that over 80% of the children have a digital footprint before turning 2 this data accentuates the immense impact of parental sharing on social media. For some the posts act as a trail of memories but for others they have emerged into a full-bloom enterprise where children become influencers spearheading sponsorships, brand collaboration, and revenue generating content. Sharenting is the term used to describe this trend. Sharenting has made the line between personal sharing and commercial exploitation obscure. In the vanguard of this trend is the increase in child influencers, where children’s images, likenesses, voices, and everyday routines are turned into content for monetization. This raises increasing concerns about children’s personality rights, privacy rights, autonomy, and control over their identity.

Understanding Sharenting and Child Influencers

Sharenting is basically parents posting photos and videos of their children on various social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, etc. Sharenting is formed by combining "sharing" and "parenting. Sharenting is a pervasive and increasingly common practice in American society. It is a practice which undermines the consent of the child about whether it wants a digital presence or digital footprint. According to a Pew research study, 75 percent of parents use social media.  By another study's count, roughly the same percentage of parents share images of and information about their children on social media. Only 24 percent of parents ask their children for consent before publishing their images or information online. Sharenting also has its fair share of benefits like receiving tips from other parents about parenting, dos and don’ts of parenting but these benefits come at the price of children’s privacy.

Child Influencers are kids who got famous because of sharenting. It means kids who gained public attention and generate income through social media. One of the most famous child influencers is Ryan Kaji who reviews toys on his YouTube channel and monetizes his content. Because of his endorsements, YouTube videos, advertisements, merchandise, etc, he has become one of the most paid youtubers in the world with an annual income of $35 million in 2022.Money and fame earned from sharenting leads to concerns regarding children rights as everything is child-centric. According to a study published in PLOS ONE, analysing ten popular UK-based motherhood influencers showed that 46.4% of the posts featuring children were sponsored.

Risks of Sharenting and Child Influencers

In the age of Deepfakes and artificial intelligence (AI), the risks have become infinite. Children are the prime target data miners. Companies use the information gained through sharenting for marketing strategies. And they are not the only ones looking for information, others use private information available for identity theft and financial frauds. In a case digital kidnappers used the information available to threaten the parents into thinking their son is kidnapped and demanded money but in reality, the son was in his house. Child influencers also may struggle because of sharenting on individual level. Sharenting prevents kids from managing their image and reputation which can create troubles for them after becoming adult. Self-confidence of the child may get harmed as it might face judgments from the world.

Additionally, it can also cause children the constant need to perform. Some also suffer at the hands of their while creating videos like the trend to crack eggs on their child’s head to see his reaction. As many as 71.3% of children who have experienced sharenting view their parents as sources of disrespect who do not care about their privacy. All of these risks mentioned above can cause serious damage to a child’s mental health.

Legal Considerations

There are only a few countries in the world with laws for child influencers which include France , Australia , South Korea , China and some states within the United States .France has created Child Influencer Law (2020) which aims at regulating child’s image on social media platforms ,right to be forgotten which means kids having the right to remove content without parental approval , and government approval for money earned by children under 16 from online activities. Sharenting as a concept interferes with various areas of law.

Privacy Law: - Privacy broadly refers to the idea that people have a right to be left alone. The very idea of social media seems antithetical to privacy. Posting on social media is the conscious decision to expose oneself to the world. Sharenting, without true consent from the child, can make a child feel that their parents do not respect their privacy. However, parents generally have no obligation to respect their child’s privacy. The right to privacy has been codified in many different sources of law. It can be derived from constitutional amendments, judicial rulings, etc.

Child Labor and Financial Protections: - Sharenting often fails to distinguish between family life and work, which makes it difficult for labour laws to apply. Labour laws can apply to child actors but not to kid influencers as there is no workings hours in social media content.

Personality Rights: - Personality Rights is the rights that protect a person’s image, likeness, etc but these rights are typically exercised by an adult.  Children lack the capacity to assert the rights making their parents as de facto controllers.

Solutions and Best Practices

• Parental Guidelines: - Obtain consent, especially from older kids. Avoid posting details or moments which might lead the child get bullied or harassed or any other risks. Stay mindful of the repercussions the kid might face in the long run.

• Platform Responsibilities: - Stricter guidelines should be implemented. Proper verification process of the person using the platform should be done. Give information about the nature of the content.

• Policymakers: - Policymakers should look into this segment of IP and develop codified laws for protecting children’s rights with respect to parental rights.

 

Conclusion

Sharenting and the rise of child influencers reflects how the world is changing. What began as a sharing of memories turned into a place for gaining profits. The risks associated with Sharenting and child influencers calls for the need of clear legislation and framework. While some countries have started taking steps, others are unaware of the matter. Existing laws like privacy laws, personality rights and child labour laws fails to tackle the challenges raised by sharenting and children influencers trend. As children are young, the responsibility rests on the parents, policymakers, and the society to protect their rights. In conclusion, it is about balancing parental right with children’s right.

Author: Satakshi Bang, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email to chhavi@khuranaandkhurana.com or at  Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorney. 

References

·       CHILDREN’S PRIVACY AND THE GHOST OF SOCIAL MEDIA PAST

https://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/files/2025/03/Agarwala_Childrens-Privacy-and-the-Ghost-of-Social-Media-Past_Final-Upload.pdf

·       SMILE FOR THE CAMERA: BALANCING PARENTAL RIGHTS AND CHILDREN’S PRIVACY IN THE AGE OF FAMILY INFLUENCERS https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1355&context=nulr_online

·       THE ART OF SHARING: CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN THE INFLUENCER ERA https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1028&context=feslr

·       Child’s Play No More: Regulating Child Influencers in India

https://hnlu.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Chapter_03.pdf

·       THE CHILD LABOUR IN SOCIAL MEDIA; KIDFLUENCERS , ETHICS OF CARE, AND EXPLOITATION

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-025-05953-7