Children as concealed commodities: Ethnographic nuances and legal implications of kidfluencers’ monetisation on TikTok

Abstract

Our article delves into the emergence of ‘kidfluencers’ within the content creator economy, highlighting how children’s participation intertwines their identities with monetisation strategies on platforms. Focusing on TikTok, we blend ethnographic and legal analysis of 215 videos from 23 kidfluencers in Israel, New Zealand and the Unites States, illuminating the complexities of monetising childhood across cultures. We highlight four monetisation and visibility practices in which children are exposed, mobilised and commodified in their parents’ content: (1) kids as props; brands as playmates, (2) transactional childhood, (3) aspirational child-ification and (4) regulative parenthood. Our analysis shows how children become concealed commodities, with varying degrees of (in)visibility in monetisation practices, from playful participation in branded content to embodying idealised notions of childhood for brand visibility. We situate our analysis within regulatory frameworks, revealing how TikTok’s policies conceal children’s role in monetised content, and reflect on platform liability under the European Union’s Digital Services Act.