Child "Influencers" (Exploitation)

Nancykitt said:
One is that I'm pretty sure that anyone raising money through GFM or similar has to be completely open and transparent about the purpose of the fundraising (or they can find themselves in fraud-related trouble.) I only know this because I knew someone who used GFM to raise legal fees to fight a case and had to give full details.
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Yes sorry I didn't mean to imply that they weren't going to use the money to build stables. More that it is possible that the reasons for not having the money to do it themselves or the for needing to move now might be tied into background issues that they don't want to discuss.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
Yes sorry I didn't mean to imply that they weren't going to use the money to build stables. More that it is possible that the reasons for not having the money to do it themselves or the for needing to move now might be tied into background issues that they don't want to discuss.
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Very good point!
So perhaps it's well within their means to build stables, but there's other expensive stuff going on that is diverting those funds,
And the best solution is to say they need to raise money so that the child can have her dream yard!
Someone said that they have recently acquired a new pony - not sure if that's true, but given that they were talking about having to sell some of the ponies not so long ago, it does make me wonder just how far the wool is being pulled over people's eyes.
They are still selling subscriptions, including the £12.99 per month that allows random strangers to play online games with the child. And then there's the revenue from social media.

I know that lots of people make money just through social media engagement (clicks, not subscriptions) and I don't blame them.
I just don't like the approach of 'we're having serious problems at the moment, we're not going to say what they are, just believe us and give us some more money.'
 
LadyGascoyne said:
Yes sorry I didn't mean to imply that they weren't going to use the money to build stables. More that it is possible that the reasons for not having the money to do it themselves or the for needing to move now might be tied into background issues that they don't want to discuss.
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But that isn't any reason for the rest of the world to finance their lifestyle choices. Almost everyone experiences difficult times in their life, but most people don't make them everyone else's problem to fund. Sure, you can "sell" your story on GFM or elsewhere, and if it's a genuinely bad, people might donate to help you out, but the price of privacy is that you don't get the sort of financial input. You can't have it both ways.

I find this sort of speculation about vague, unspecified "difficult times" really problematic.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
Someone mentioned to me (unrelated conversation, we were talking about sports stallions with the cream gene) that the family being discussed are going through some kind of serious issue at the moment in the background.
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I heard the same yesterday.

I also heard about another child influencer where the parent posted a glowing post about child and pony when in reality pony had bolted and child was hysterical. It’s all just smoke and mirrors.
 
Needing money in desperate times is Needing it for absolute essentials like food or to keep your home

To continue to be able to fund a luxury hobby, made even more so by having multiple ponies, transport and swanning off to competitons? Absolutely not get f'd

If you were that desperate you'd sell the transport or a pony or 2.
 
HopOnTrot said:
I also heard about another child influencer where the parent posted a glowing post about child and pony when in reality pony had bolted and child was hysterical. It’s all just smoke and mirrors.
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We had one of these 'child influencers' on our yard for a while. The amount of times the parent would be screaming and shouting at the child whilst riding, or that the child would return from a hack that had gone wrong in some way in tears, and yet somehow the pictures posted on instagram made out like everything was all flowers and rainbows. It's sad really, the child was pleasant enough, but it's all driven by the parents.
 
Nancykitt said:
just how far the wool is being pulled over people's eyes.
They are still selling subscriptions, including the £12.99 per month that allows random strangers to play online games with the child. And then there's the revenue from social media.
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That just makes me feel a bit ill. Treating your own child as a commodity to make money from 🤢
 
paddy555 said:
just in case people would like to give. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: it's dreadful to see a child being deprived. :eek:


www.justgiving.com

Help raise £30000 to Build Ivy’s stable yard – JustGiving Crowdfunding

Iʼm raising money to Build Ivy’s stable yard. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.
www.justgiving.com
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Flamin nora. Seriously? I’m sure Ivy (is that the kid or the pony?) is lovely but £13k donated so far!?? There are literally thousands of charities that could use that money to benefit hundreds of people / animals
 
My local equestrian centre is hosting the Pony mag day out in April, and the advert screams about meeting social media star Harlow White. I can't imagine being 14 years old and being paraded around for meet and greets.

Child actors don't seem to have to do so much. It's rare that the child stars of TV or film will have to attend fan events or comicons. I know their careers are less dependent on networking, but I feel very uneasy about that amount of pressure being put on a child. Not only to have to be on best behaviour, but also to have to meet, hug, pose with, talk to strangers of any age and hundreds of them in a day.

We need better protections in place for child influencers. Especially since they are under pressure from their own parents. Harlow was splashed all over social media as a literal baby, so it was inevitable she would be put into the industry. it was just a question of whether she will be there as a rider, ballet dancer or just pretty child.
 
The newest little starlet, Mali, is only four and has been paraded about since she was two. She looks like she’s enjoying it and having a very confident and outgoing personality, but comes across as someone who’s constantly performing in front of the cameras and you wonder if she gets any time off. Maybe she’ll be homeschooled like Harlow so she can work practically full time as an influencer?
 
DressageCob said:
My local equestrian centre is hosting the Pony mag day out in April, and the advert screams about meeting social media star Harlow White. I can't imagine being 14 years old and being paraded around for meet and greets.

Child actors don't seem to have to do so much. It's rare that the child stars of TV or film will have to attend fan events or comicons. I know their careers are less dependent on networking, but I feel very uneasy about that amount of pressure being put on a child. Not only to have to be on best behaviour, but also to have to meet, hug, pose with, talk to strangers of any age and hundreds of them in a day.

We need better protections in place for child influencers. Especially since they are under pressure from their own parents. Harlow was splashed all over social media as a literal baby, so it was inevitable she would be put into the industry. it was just a question of whether she will be there as a rider, ballet dancer or just pretty child.
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The meet and greet thing is so weird.
 
DressageCob said:
My local equestrian centre is hosting the Pony mag day out in April, and the advert screams about meeting social media star Harlow White. I can't imagine being 14 years old and being paraded around for meet and greets.

Child actors don't seem to have to do so much. It's rare that the child stars of TV or film will have to attend fan events or comicons. I know their careers are less dependent on networking, but I feel very uneasy about that amount of pressure being put on a child. Not only to have to be on best behaviour, but also to have to meet, hug, pose with, talk to strangers of any age and hundreds of them in a day.

We need better protections in place for child influencers. Especially since they are under pressure from their own parents. Harlow was splashed all over social media as a literal baby, so it was inevitable she would be put into the industry. it was just a question of whether she will be there as a rider, ballet dancer or just pretty child.
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Child performers (i.e not social media personalities) have very strict rules about working hours. I work in theatre, and the hoops we have to jump through for young people are never ending!
I find it very odd that there aren't similar rules for 'influencers', especially when they're doing paid professional events.
 
Kirstineridesagain said:
The newest little starlet, Mali, is only four and has been paraded about since she was two. She looks like she’s enjoying it and having a very confident and outgoing personality, but comes across as someone who’s constantly performing in front of the cameras and you wonder if she gets any time off. Maybe she’ll be homeschooled like Harlow so she can work practically full time as an influencer?
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Ive just seen another one of Mali's posts unboxing her new Le Mieux kit. What sort of a childhood is this? Shes cute, but shouldn't be on SM.
 
asmp said:
This is a very sad story

metro.co.uk

Influencer whose daughter took her own life after bullying faces backlash over f

'It's more about your look than respect for the dead one.'
metro.co.uk metro.co.uk
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That is an awful story. More complex than it is presented.

I don't like how the story is being used by various social media grifters, including ones who don't want to be called out for their online exploitation of their children, in their agenda against Tattle because it is an online space they can't curate in line with how they want to be seen.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
That is an awful story. More complex than it is presented.

I don't like how the story is being used by various social media grifters, including ones who don't want to be called out for their online exploitation of their children, in their agenda against Tattle because it is an online space they can't curate in line with how they want to be seen.
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Quite. And this is what parents of child ‘influencers’ need to understand- that no matter how many adoring fans the child may have, there will be people who thrive on nastiness and bullying. You literally can’t have one without the other.
This is what makes the whole thing incredibly unpalatable IMO - does money and freebies justify exposing your own child to online abuse? Groups like Tattle are totally vile - nothing is sacred and there’s a lot of twisted people out there - but it’s impossible to stop them.
Even if parents somehow manage to protect the child from negative remarks, the content will be out there forever.
 
Nancykitt said:
Quite. And this is what parents of child ‘influencers’ need to understand- that no matter how many adoring fans the child may have, there will be people who thrive on nastiness and bullying. You literally can’t have one without the other.
This is what makes the whole thing incredibly unpalatable IMO - does money and freebies justify exposing your own child to online abuse? Groups like Tattle are totally vile - nothing is sacred and there’s a lot of twisted people out there - but it’s impossible to stop them.
Even if parents somehow manage to protect the child from negative remarks, the content will be out there forever.
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In that particular case, my understanding is that the parent was exposing her child to far worse irl than negative online comments.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
In that particular case, my understanding is that the parent was exposing her child to far worse irl than negative online comments.
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Agreed - apologies , I was just making the point about what happens when heads are put above the parapet. In this case the parent clearly has serious issues - but it could be said that all parents of child ‘influencers’ have issues.
One way or another, there is a high risk that these children will be negatively impacted by decisions taken by the parents, often for reasons linked to financial gain and vanity.
I’ve known two ‘country woman lifestyle’ type influencers who have been totally mangled on Tattle for doing & saying absolutely nothing controversial. It clearly had a very serious impact on one of them. I can’t imagine how much worse it would be for a child to be caught up in this epidemic of online nastiness.
 
OK, this is where I'm confused. If Tattle (I've never heard of it before) is specifically for criticising (and not nicely) anyone vaguely known, why on earth would any influencer and / or (minor) celeb even open the page? I would work on the principal of ignorance is bliss. Unlike other platforms where people can comment / contact you directly, this appears to just be a forum for people to vent their worst thoughts. Why expose yourself to it? And for heavens sake, why let a child access it?!! A child shouldn't even know it exists, let alone that there are people on it criticising them from pictures / videos their parents posted of them.

Also, yes, perhaps think carefully about posting about your children online, because you are opening them up to this kind of criticism.
 
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