Do Parent Influencers Neglect or Abuse Their Children? A Document Analysis

Abstract

For parents, influencer marketing has become a primary profession and income source. Parents share highly personal images of their underage children. In these posts, the privacy and rights of the children can sometimes be overlooked. The aim of this study was to identify situations in which the posts made by parent influencers about their children may negatively affect them. This study analyzed 2,597 posts shared over a 6-month period by 29 parent influencers on Instagram in 2024, using a qualitative content analysis method. The content of the posts related to children was categorized using the Social Media Content Evaluation system developed by the research team. The total number of followers of the parent influencers was 16,578,279. Posts that featured children’s images received approximately twice as many likes as those that did not. Four themes were identified from the images featuring children; using the child to earn income, ignoring children’s privacy, disclosing information related to the child’s temperament or disposition, and the tendency of parent influencers to use their children in posts. There is a risk of misuse of posts involving children by parent influencers. It can be stated that these posts increase the children’s digital footprint, and stronger measures should be taken to protect the children’s privacy rights in this context.