What Can Social Media Platforms Do To Ensure The Non Exploitation Of Child Content Creators?

Summary

Social media platforms must implement robust policy frameworks to protect child content creators from mental, emotional, and financial exploitation, ensuring their safe participation in content creation.

Abstract

Social media platforms are not only avenues for connection and expression but also lucrative businesses driven by profit. With the popularity of child content, these platforms have a responsibility to safeguard the well-being of underage creators. Protective measures should include verifying guardianship for child creators, educating parents and guardians on content guidelines, monitoring the child's mental health and workload, and securing a portion of the earnings for the child's future. These steps are crucial to prevent exploitation and to maintain the integrity of the content creation process involving minors.

Opinions

The article suggests that social media platforms should be accountable for the welfare of child content creators, considering their role in monetizing such content.
It emphasizes the necessity for platforms to create specific policies that address the unique needs and vulnerabilities of child creators.
The article advocates for the active involvement of parents or guardians and their education on responsible content creation for children.
It proposes the idea of a special fund where a percentage of the child's earnings are saved and made accessible only when they reach a certain age.
The article implies that without proper intervention and policy implementation, there is a potential for a future crisis involving the exploitation of child content creators.

What Can Social Media Platforms Do To Ensure The Non-Exploitation Of Child Content Creators?

Even though many users use their social media as mediums to connect with others, sharing their lives and thoughts, social media platforms are billion-dollar businesses whose main goal like many other businesses is to maximize profits.

Anybody can create a social media profile and minors can have parents create profiles for them and because child content is very popular, many of these platforms have been monetized making millions in the process.

Because they share in the revenues generated from the channels of child content creators, social media platforms should also share in the responsibility of creating a safe space for these vulnerable child content creators by ensuring that they are not exploited mentally, emotionally and financially.

They can do it mainly by creating a policy framework specific for child content creators whether income-generating or not.

It should capture many areas whose function would be;

Ensuring that the person running the channel has parental or guardian responsibilities for the child. If not so, ensuring that this person has received consent from the parents or guardians of the child in question.

Sharing guidance tips, informational and knowledge with parents or guardians involved with child content creators.

This is by,

Creating regular online classes/points system to ensure the compliance of the guidelines by parents or guardians failure to which they stand to have their channels demonetised or later deleted.

Working with the school system or child welfare authorities to ensure that the child’s mental health and other developmental stages are as should be.

Ensuring that the mental health and general well being of the child is being adhered to. This way to ensure that the child contributes to creating the content from will not from coercion, blackmail or guilt-tripping.

3. Ensuring the non overworking of child content creators

This is by,

Limiting the number of posts a page with a child can post in a specific time period.

Limiting the length of posts a channel with a child content creator can post in a given time period.

4. Ensuring that child content creators reap the financial rewards for their work

This is by,

Remitting a certain percentage of the earnings from child content creator channels to a special fund for the child accessible only to the child after reaching a stipulated age.

How can these be done?

By curating all channels with content involving children and remitting this to the children’s individual funds.

These might help avert a future crisis that could currently be in the making.

Do you think child content creators are protected from exploitation? Learn more