Child abuse and exploitation, will it all be in the name of love in the end?
We’ve seen the family channels that circle social media, and we’ve all seen the tired faces of children who have no control over their personal lives being filmed.
A loving parental figure, a child once had turned into a monster behind a lens.
From the outside, these channels can be seen as “wholesome” and nothing more than published home videos. However, once the scandals and secrets are revealed, wholesome videos turn into traumatic events for the world to watch.
Family channels like 8 Passengers, The ACE family, and the LaBrant Fam have all stemmed from this “wholesome” outlook, but as the film rolls on, people have picked up on the underlying trauma these parents are causing.
8 Passengers is a Mormon family channel that has broadcasted their children since early 2015. Within that time frame, there have been many occurrences where the mother, Ruby Franke, has denied her children food, beds, and recently, life in the outside world.
She has done all of these things and has been paid for it through the popularity it has received on YouTube. The 8 Passengers channel had over 2.5 million subscribers, yet only now, in 2024, these videos have been taken down.
The controversy with Ruby Franke’s actions has finally been noted by the criminal justice system and the children are being liberated from the trauma their mother has caused them.
The ACE Family, Austin, Catherine, and Elle (creating the name ACE) soon grew to add two more children, Alaia and Steele. For a long time, their channel was loved by millions of people, but it was clear they were exploiting their children. Clickbait titles like “RUSHED TO THE DOCTORS!!!” and “BABY COVERED IN 1 MILLION M&M’s!!!” are odd headlines to want to publish. Their child is in pain and their immediate thought is to film the injury for the entire world to see or even use their child as a placeholder for views.
The love these parents once showed their children turned into monetary value.
Imagine your most private moments that you’ve never told anyone, now imagine those private moments are titled as a YouTube video available for the entire world to see. You tell your mom you want it taken down and her response is, “But it’s getting so many views!”
Recently, a new family channel has caught the attention of viewers: FamousTube Family (a total of 6.76 Million subscribers). Within this channel, there are hundreds of videos where the children are the cover photo and the titles are anything but okay to share on the internet. An example is the video named, “Family LOSES EVERYTHING, Dad’s GAMBLING ADDICTION Went Too Far” paired with a cover photo of two children leaning against a trash can as if they were homeless.
It’s disturbing how far these parents will go to get views.
The LaBrant Fam is a family channel that started with a mom, her daughter, and her new husband. This growing family now has four kids, and baby #5 will be here in May. The LaBrant Fam seems perfect on the outside, but there have been many scandals regarding the parents’ behavior.
Suspicion about whether Cole and Savannah LaBrant (the parents) are forcing Everleigh, the oldest daughter, to make videos on their channel for more views. Viewers even question whether they forced her to create her YouTube channel to make more money.
Everleigh’s channel alone makes over $600,000 a year. At the age of 11, Everleigh has become one of the richest children in the world and will probably make more money in the next couple of years than many people have made in their life.
A video titled “She got diagnosed with cancer” has outraged fans because subscribers said the YouTubers made it seem as if it was their daughter who had cancer. In previous videos, their first child together, Posie, had some health issues brought up multiple times, and fans took this video as the family coming out with a statement that Posie was diagnosed.
Within a few minutes of the video, viewers find out Posie doesn’t have cancer. However, the video’s cover photo was a way to trap viewers into worrying and watching. The immersive photo is a family photo which could only make viewers question if a member of the family was the one who had cancer.
The idea that these family vlogs are okay is hard to swallow. Most viewers on any family channel only watch the videos for the children themselves, which is creepy. It is not only scary but a huge burden on these adolescents who seem to have their families’ income on their backs. The pressure these parents put on their children is more than enough to cause mental strain on the growing brains of these kids. Yet, they are still told to live with a camera in their face all day and not let it bother them.
The crime isn’t a parent wanting to capture the most monumental moments in their child’s life, it’s the deception of what goes on when the film stops rolling.
