On Feb. 27, Hulu released a documentary series called “Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke,” which shocked many viewers all over the country. This series highlighted the abuse that occurred while Ruby Franke filmed YouTube videos of her six children.
This documentary featured testimonies from Franke’s two oldest, adult children: Shari and Chad. Her children explained that they are forever traumatized from the abuse they endured from Ruby and from constantly having a camera recording them.
Ruby Franke’s abuse escalated to an extreme level, and she is now serving up to 15 years in prison on four counts of child abuse.
Shari, Chad and their siblings endured much abuse, but they are living proof that family vlogging is damaging to the developmental growth and the well-being of a child.
UO sophomore and media studies major Emily Hall explained her reaction to this documentary. She explained that she watched family YouTube channels as a kid, and the Ruby Franke documentary changed her outlook towards these types of families.
“ Whenever I would watch those videos or consume that media, I would always think ‘they look like they’re having so much fun,’ or ‘they look so happy,’” Hall said. “I think a lot of people now are kind of opening their eyes and reflecting on those old videos and thinking that maybe there were signs and we just weren’t looking out for them.”
Other documentaries of child influencers who were exploited are now emerging, such as Netflix’s “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing.” This series documents the story of Piper Rockelle and a group of children who were exploited online by Rockelle’s mother.
Furthermore, Chad and Shari also shared the details of the verbal abuse from their mother and were forced to perform for her videos.
Unreleased footage of Ruby yelling at her children in her videos was released in the documentary.
One of the clips showed Chad, who was visually uninterested in the performative conversation with his mother. Ruby became frustrated with his lack of enthusiasm and she told Chad, “Be excited … even if you have to fake it. Fake being happy.”
The part of this documentary that stuck with me the most, though, was when Chad explained that they would go on trips and see other family vloggers treating their children the same way.
I asked UO sophomore and psychology student Sarah Starkey about her thoughts on the mental health of children in vlogging families.
“ I think there’s a lot of pressure starting from an early age, and they (the kids) have to perform and act like everything’s okay,” Starkey said. “That just puts a lot of pressure on a child that should not be there in the first place.”
The abuse portrayed in this documentary was extreme, but not limited to the Franke family.
Along with abuse and child maltreatment, the guardians of these children seek financial profit from their uploaded content.
Family YouTube channels such as “The LaBrant Fam” and “The ACE Family” are additional family vloggers who have been critiqued online for their parenting techniques and the exploitation of their children.
Ruby Franke explained that at one point, her YouTube channel with 2.5 million subscribers was earning her over $100,000 a month.
The same type of exploitation occurs for child stars who are abused by their guardian for profit.
In 1939, the Coogan Law was passed under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This bill required the guardian of a child entertainer to create a trust fund for 15% of the gross income earned by the child.
This law benefited child stars, but is flawed due to its loopholes and its limits when protecting child influencers.
On Sept. 26, 2024, Gavin Newsom signed bills SB 764 and AB 1880 to extend Coogan Law in California. These newly passed laws now require guardians to create a trust fund for child influencers, including those featured on YouTube.
These bills are the start to more protections for child influencers; however, for the sake of the child’s mental health and well-being, child vlogging and profiting from child vlogging should be illegal.
