Plans to draw up new guidelines to regulate child influencers

A new set of guidelines should be drawn up to protect child influencers and limit the harm being caused to their education, dignity and privacy.

Legal expert Dr Francis Rees, of Essex Law School of the University of Essex, is conducting a risk-assessment of the child influencer sphere after her research uncovered children under 13 working in the industry are being exposed to as many as 32 types of harm.

These content creation activities have been recognised as forms of child labour, but young influencers do not share the same protections as their child model or actor counterparts.

The range of harms include the impact it has on their school attendance and attainment, as well as a lack of employment benefits most other child performers would expect, such as financial remuneration, controlled working hours, insurance and health and safety measures.

Under existing UK laws, child influencers do not appear on the platforms in their own right, as they are underage, and therefore their parents or guardians act as conduit, managing the account and curating content.

Dr Rees is now seeking to address these harms by creating new guidelines for parents and guardians within the influencer industry to follow and reference.

The parents and guardians managing the influencer accounts are being invited to complete an anonymous survey, providing their opinion on this range of risks, and asking for their practical advice as to how they manage and mitigate those risks.

Dr Rees said: “Parents have seemingly become a pseudo-employer and are largely responsible for assessing the risk to their child when planning and producing content.

“Navigating these issues can be very complex, so it is vital we start a dialogue around making the industry safer for children who appear online. I hope, by involving parents, we can develop a ‘best practice’ approach that not only works for everyone, but puts the rights of the child at the very centre of everything.”

"Recent legislation such as the Online Safety Act and Digital Services Act have increased protections for children as viewers or consumers of content, but it is vital to also consider the protection of child as creator or performer in this arena.

“The new legislation does not fully consider the impact of a digital workload on child influencers’ economic, social, psychological, and physical well-being."

Other harms identified by Dr Rees which child influencers are being exposed to include:

• Increased exposure to identity fraud Invasion of privacy
• Increased exposure to bullying and harassment
• Impact on dignity and reputation
• Impact on family relations (differing opinions on whether the child should be working as an influencer)

Dr Rees is hosting a launch event around her Child Influencer Project on the University of Essex’s Colchester Campus on March 6, between 2-4pm.

To get involved, visit Child Influencer Project | University of Essex