Child Influencers: Are They Protected?

Influencer marketing has become a norm within the marketing industry. The days of spending millions of dollars on traditional marketing tactics such as billboards and print materials are gone. According to Statista, “in 2021, approximately 3.7 billion U.S. dollars were forecast to be spent on influencer marketing in the United States” (Influencer Marketing Spend USA 2021, 2021). One sector under the influencer marketing umbrella consists of children influencing others through video blogs (vlogs) on YouTube or other social media platforms. Oftentimes, these children are under the age of 18 years old and are under the supervision of their parent(s) or guardian(s). Questions have arisen as to whether or not children featured in these videos can give consent to be filmed. Chris McCarty, an 18 year old from Seattle, Washington, has proposed House Bill 2032. This bill, focused on protecting those under the age of 18 who appear in vlogs, states, “‘some children are filmed, with highly personal details of their lives shared on the internet for compensation, from birth. In addition to severe loss of privacy, these children receive no consideration for the use and exchange of their personal property rights’” (Stiffler, 2022). In addition to consent, questions have come up as to whether or not children are “reasonable persons” when it comes to advertising to their peers.

Influencer marketing has revolutionized the world of business. Consumers looking to learn about new products or services are turning towards social media and its influencers faster than ever before. It’s not just adults that are looking to influencers for product advice. Children are being targeted as well. According to the Pew Research Center, “81% of all parents with children age 11 or younger say they ever let their child watch videos on YouTube” (Smith et al., 2018). For those looking to market their products to children, YouTube can provide a large amount of reach. Toy videos (including the unboxing of them) is one way that child influencers can be utilized to increase a company’s profits. Ofcom states that 54% of 3-4 year olds go online for nearly 8 hours a week. 48% of this group uses YouTube, and 26% say that they watch unboxing videos. For 5-7 year olds, 71% use YouTube and 20% watch unboxing videos (Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report, 2017). On one hand, child influencer marketing allows companies to send their products and receive reviews that are dispersed to large audiences all over the world, potentially increasing their profits. It also provides a sense of entertainment for the child that is watching the video, creating a sort of friendship with the person on screen. On the other hand, are the children involved in this sector of influencer marketing protected? Is the advertising that is being posted deceptive to their respective audiences?

Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act states that “‘unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce’” are prohibited (Federal Trade Commission Act Section 5: Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices, n.d.). However, if children are tuning into YouTube videos that feature child influencers, can we ensure that the advertising is not deceptive? Are the child influencers able to follow the guidelines correctly? According to the University of Rochester, “the rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until age 25 or so” (Understanding the Teen Brain - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center, n.d.). In addition to this, the article also states that “teens process information with the amygdala. This is the emotional part” (Understanding the Teen Brain - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center, n.d.). If a child influencer engages in deceptive advertising through their videos or social media content, the child being influenced may not be able to understand the wrongdoings.

The purpose of this paper will be to explore the background of influencer marketing and the subset of child influencer marketing, assets of child influencer marketing, deficits of child influencer marketing, what the United States government is currently doing regarding it, and my opinion on the subject.

Introduction to Influencers and Child Influencers

A social media influencer is someone that has accrued a sense of influence on those around them, specifically on social media. Consumers aren’t interested in hearing from the brand as to what makes its products great; they’d rather hear it from their peers or people that they have built a sense of trust in. According to Statista, 60% of marketers agree with the statement that influencer marketing had a greater return on investment than traditional advertising in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Marketing ROI: Influencer Vs Traditional 2020, 2021). To accommodate this shift, “brands ask these influencers to endorse their products on their social media profiles (on their feed or in their stories on Instagram, videos on YouTube and TikTok, or Facebook updates, etc.) and their YouTube channels in turn earn advertising revenue as a result of their large audiences” (De Vierman et al., 2019). Equipped with technology right at their fingertips, children are flocking to YouTube to watch their peers review toys that they’re interested in learning more about. Ryan’s World is currently one of the most popular channels on YouTube for this demographic, with 32.4 million people subscribed to the channel. Ryan Kaji, the 10 year old star of the channel, had an estimated earning of $29.5 million in 2020 (Berg & Brown, 2020).

Assets of Child Influencers

When it comes to the benefits of utilizing children to be influencers, one of the most prevalent assets is the amount of children online (as discussed earlier). Companies only have to target a couple of social media sites in order to have a large amount of reach to advertise their products, eliminating the need for thousands of print ads, billboards, or commercials. In addition to this, the cost to advertise on a social media site is significantly cheaper than traditional marketing methods. According to A. Guttmann from Statista, the average 30 second U.S. television commercial costs 104.7 thousand dollars (Guttmann, 2019). In contrast, YouTube allows advertisers to choose exactly how much they’re willing to spend on their advertisement efforts. According to Google Ads Help (which owns YouTube), “with Google Ads, you have the option to set an average daily budget or a shared budget for a campaign. You can set an average daily budget with the average amount you're willing to spend per day in that campaign” (Choose Your Bid and Budget, n.d.). With this model, a company can utilize a trial and error method when it comes to advertising their products and services on the platform, ultimately saving them money in the long run. By utilizing child influencers to target children, children watching feel as though they are hanging out with a friend. According to De Vierman, Hudders, and Nelson, “Children look up to (child) influencers, but at the same time, they believe they are highly similar to them as they share the same interests and activities and they seem to be ordinary children just like them” (De Vierman et al., 2019). This helps to create a sense of community and friendship.

Deficits of Child Influencers

One of the biggest concerns regarding child influencers is their sense of protection on social media sites. Currently, YouTube has policies in place to protect children from being exploited on their site. According to Neyza Guzman, “YouTube additionally addresses the topic of child safety on YouTube, citing its zero-tolerance policy for channels that contain sexualization of minors; harmful or dangerous acts involving minors; infliction of emotional distress on minors; misleading family content; and cyberbullying and harassment involving minors” (Guzman, 2020). These acts are grounds for termination of a YouTube account. While this helps to keep child influencers safe, there are currently no specifications in place regarding how much child influencers can work. If there are any violations of child labor laws, it is not grounds for termination. While YouTube is a global site, states are in charge of how they want to regulate child actors (Guzman, 2020). The Federal Communications Commission is having a difficult time keeping up with their regulation practices. Guzman also states that “‘the FCC . . . hesitates to extend its regulatory grip to Internet-based audiovisual services and struggles to implement regulation consistent with First Amendment requirements’ due to the difficulty associated with having to discern what media is an opinion protected by the First Amendment and what media was calculated as a performance specifically for profit” (Guzman, 2020). This could mean that safety measures regarding children and their followers are being ignored. Deceptive advertising is another deficit in the realm of child influencers. As discussed previously, the FTC prohibits deceptive advertising, which is a representation or omission likely to mislead a “reasonable person.” A child’s brain is not fully developed until they are around 25 years old (also mentioned previously). Does a “reasonable person” personify a child influencer and their young followers?

What’s the Government Doing About It?

The FTC has published guidelines regarding endorsements and how influencers should disclose their relationship with a company. According to their website, “if there’s a connection between an endorser and the marketer that consumers would not expect and it would affect how consumers evaluate the endorsement, that connection should be disclosed” (The FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, 2017). This forces the influencer to be transparent about what exactly they are being compensated for. It also allows consumers to understand that their opinions may be slightly swayed towards a product or service, as the influencer is getting paid to promote it. Currently, the FTC is reviewing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to see if additional changes need to be made regarding children’s access to the Internet. They are also providing some pushback against violations on YouTube. Mamie Kresses, the Better Business Bureau National Programs Children’s Advertising Review Unit Vice President and FTC veteran, says that the FTC is correct in dealing with these violations against COPPA, saying “you cannot be a channel directed to children and then try to skip COPPA and not get parental consent and then avail yourself of behavioral advertising through a third party” (Kumar, 2022). Dona Fraser, Senior Vice President of Privacy Initiatives at BBB National Programs, says that changes to COPPA are to be expected after the FTC reviews the current policies, claiming “We will likely see an expansion of the definition of personally identifiable information to possibly include biometric data. I would be surprised if there is not some additional scrutiny of safe harbors” (Kumar, 2022).

My Opinion

After reviewing extensive research on both sides of this topic, I would argue that there needs to be more protection against child influencers for a multitude of reasons. In my opinion, a child does not qualify as a “reasonable person” under the definition of deceptive advertising. As discussed throughout my paper, the part of a child’s brain that is responsible for decision making is not fully developed until they are 25 years old. When companies are utilizing children to persuade other children to purchase a product or service, they are willingly going above the cognitive functions of those that they are trying to control. Children cannot understand that they are a pawn in a scheme when they watch their favorite child YouTuber unbox a toy. They see the person on their screen as a friend, someone that they would like to spend time with. While this is incredibly beneficial for the company trying to make more sales, it preys on those who physically cannot tell a difference between a genuine friend and an advertisement. Due to the rapid evolution of the Internet, I would argue that the FTC simply cannot monitor every single influencer to ensure that they are following their guidelines correctly. Even though guidelines are in place to protect consumers against deceptive advertising, I would argue that these guidelines do not begin to touch the realm of marketing to children. While the FTC struggles to currently regulate the sheer amount of content being posted online, I believe that the disclaimers that are currently required to be placed on YouTube and social media platforms can be rewritten in a way that helps children understand the role of a child influencer. I also think that YouTube needs to create guidelines for child influencers on their site when it comes to child labor laws. It could also be very beneficial for the U.S. government to revisit its current child labor laws. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the minimum age for someone who is working in a non-agricultural occupation is 14 years old “for a limited set of occupations, with restrictions on hours and work conditions” (Donovan & Shimabukuro, 2016). Many children who are influencers on YouTube are younger than 14 years old. In a world where much of our marketing practices are conducted online, this current guideline seems very vague. I would argue that the United States government, coupled with YouTube and other social media sites, needs to create standards so that children who are influencing others through video or social media content have time to just be children. They should not be working day in and day out to satisfy the needs of businesses who are looking to increase their profits. Parents and regulators of the system need to take an increased stand in monitoring exactly how much children are working on camera and beyond to influence those around them. There is an incredible amount of value to having children influence their peers, but it needs to be regulated more heavily.

Conclusion

The practice of online influencing is something that is relatively new and unknown to many across the world. Businesses are eager to pounce on this new, relatively inexpensive, and effective way to market their products and services to a wide audience. The subset of child influencers can prove to be beneficial. A very wide reach with a minimal amount of platforms, a flexible budget, and the child-to-child influencing method allow businesses to take advantage of this new practice with ease. However, deceptive advertising issues, the struggle by the FTC to keep up with regulations, and questions of ethical child labor practices allow consumers everywhere to question the true value of utilizing children to influence their peers online. While the FTC currently is reviewing COPPA to try and help keep children safe online, more action should be taken to regulate exactly what is being distributed to children in addition to how much they should be working. These regulations can help business accomplish their goals, all while making sure that kids are just that: kids.

References

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