Child Influencer Project - Ireland and the UK
About the research
The Child Influencer Project examines the growing visibility of children in social media content and influencer economies, and the regulatory gaps that leave them insufficiently protected. While child performers in traditional media industries are subject to established legal safeguards, equivalent protections do not exist for children participating in digital content creation and influencer marketing.
Much of this activity emerges from socially normalised practices of digital parental sharing (“sharenting”) on social media platforms, which can develop into forms of performative child content that attract audiences, brand partnerships, and commercial gains. In this context, children’s participation increasingly resembles labour yet remains largely unrecognised and unregulated. Therefore, while children are increasingly visible within digital content, the systems designed to protect them remain fragmented, inconsistent, and often invisible.
This regulatory shortfall exposes children to a range of risks that are not adequately addressed by existing online safety safeguarding frameworks, advertising standards, or employment legislation; leaving families, industry actors, and policymakers without clear guidance. The project works with policymakers, brands, platforms, and families to identify these risks and develop practical approaches to safer and more accountable practice. Drawing on empirical research conducted across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, including surveys, interviews, and observational work, the project provides an evidence base for reforms in policy and practice.
The research identifies 20 distinct risks faced by children in this environment, organised across six key categories:
- Financial risks
- Risks to their education
- Health & Safety considerations
- Family disruptions
- Negative effects on their identity
- Impacts on their dignity
Funding
This project is funded by the International Impact Fund and Enterprise Project Fund.
Key features of the ‘Children in Content’ Digital Safeguarding Toolkit
A research-led, risk assessment framework with structure
Identifying 20 key risks associated with children’s participation in digital content and influencer activity, grounded in empirical research across the UK and Ireland. Organised across six core areas: financial, education, health and safety, family, identity, and dignity.A child-centred, lived experience approach
Bringing risks to life through six research-informed child and family profiles, enabling users to understand safeguarding challenges from the perspective of the child.
Practical guidance for key stakeholders
Supporting families, brands, agencies, platforms, and policymakers to navigate safeguarding in digital and commercial environments.
Tools to support accountability and best practice
Helping to establish more consistent, transparent, and responsible approaches to working with child influencers.
Recognised within international policy frameworks
The toolkit’s risk assessment approach is signposted in the UNICEF Industry Toolkit on Children’s Rights and Digital Marketing, supporting wider efforts to embed children’s rights in digital advertising practices.
Project outputs
Policy and Industry engagement
- UNICEF Industry Toolkit on Children’s Rights and Digital Marketing
Her research on child influencers and associated risks is recognised and signposted within the toolkit, supporting global efforts to embed children’s rights within digital advertising and marketing practices. - Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) - Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Guide
Her research informed the inclusion of child influencer-specific safeguarding considerations within the guide, contributing to the recognition of children’s participation in digital content as a distinct area of risk within advertising practice. - Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children
Submitted evidence on digital child labour and child influencers, highlighting the shift from children as online viewers to performers within digital content economies, and identifying critical gaps in existing safeguarding frameworks to inform international policy responses.
Research outputs
Journal articles:
- Rees, F (2025) Famous at five: risk assessing digital child labour
Information & Communications Technology Law
This article develops a research-led framework for understanding children’s participation in digital content as a form of labour, identifying gaps across existing legal and regulatory systems. It proposes a risk-based approach to safeguarding, highlighting how current protections fail to address the full range of harms associated with child influencers, including impacts on identity, dignity, and long-term development. - Rees, F (forthcoming) “Governance, Space and Instagram: The Conundrum of ‘The Commodified Self’”
Develops a critical legal geography approach to social media platforms, examining how influencer culture and digital spaces shape new forms of commodification and self-subjectification. The article highlights how platform-based work operates within regulatory gaps, offering a broader theoretical foundation for understanding digital labour and governance.
Forthcoming monograph:
- Rees, F (2027). Children’s Imagery on Social Media: Rights, Risks and Regulation (Springer)
This monograph develops a comprehensive framework for understanding children’s participation in digital visual culture, bringing together analysis of digital labour, platform governance, and the commercialisation of childhood. Building on her article and toolkit outputs, it advances a risk-based approach to safeguarding while examining how children’s visibility, value, and vulnerability are shaped within contemporary social media environments. The book addresses fragmentation across existing legal and regulatory systems and proposes new directions for policy and practice.
Media and public engagement
The Guardian (2026)
Argos faces backlash over ‘influencer kit’ for toddlers
Contributing expert analysis on the normalisation of influencer culture in early childhood and the risks associated with children’s participation in digital content.
The Irish Times (2026)
Have we reached the end of the sharenting era?
Providing expert analysis on safeguarding gaps and the pressures placed on parents navigating children’s online visibility.
BBC Radio 4 – Woman’s Hour (2025)
Discussing safeguarding frameworks and the risks associated with children’s performances on social media, in advance of the ‘Children in Content’ Toolkit launch.
View the recording on the BBC.
RTÉ Prime Time (2025)
‘Kidfluencing’ – What are the pros and cons of posting children’s content?
Highlighting the scale of the industry and associated safeguarding risks.
RTÉ Radio (2024)
When Childhood becomes Content – exploring legal and ethical challenges in influencer culture.
Ireland AM (2025)
The Truth About Sharenting, Protecting Kids Online & Navigating Motherhood
The risks of sharenting and the need for clearer protections for children online.
Research in Essex Law School
