Ruby Franke was once one of the most popular YouTube family vloggers, posting videos featuring her husband and six children on her channel, 8 Passengers, that racked up over 1 billion views.

In some, she chronicled their family vacations and family activities, such as painting together. In others, she detailed how she banned her 16-year-old son from sleeping in his bedroom for seven months and threatened to behead a stuffed animal.

In August 2023, Franke was charged with child abuse and pleaded guilty four months later.

While the crimes that led to the charges, such as denying her kids water and handcuffing them for extended periods of time, didn’t appear on 8 Passengers, her children viewed the vlogging as a larger pattern of abuse.

In October 2024, 21-year-old Shari Franke, Ruby’s oldest daughter, testified to Utah lawmakers about what being a child influencer against her will had done to her.

“I come today as a victim of family vlogging,” Shari said, “to shed light on the ethical and monetary issues that come from being a child influencer.” She added, “If I could go back and do it all again, I’d rather have an empty bank account now and not have my childhood plastered all over the internet. No amount of money I received has made what I’ve experienced worth it.”

Her testimony took place just a few weeks after California passed a law mandating that a portion of proceeds from social media content featuring kids must be set aside in a trust for the child when they turn 18.

I’m a social media researcher who’s spent the past two years advocating for the children of family vloggers. As recently as 18 months ago, I’d written about how there were........

© The Conversation