YouTube influencer Ruby Franke will go to prison for child abuse. What are the ethics of family vlogging?

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 12:29:12 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/youtube-influencer-ruby-franke-will-go-to-prison-for-child-abuse-what-are-the-ethics-of-family-vlogging-220847>

"Mother and family YouTube creator Ruby Franke was this week sentenced to 30
years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse.

Franke came under fire from viewers many times throughout her time on YouTube
for her controversial parenting, which included videos of withholding food from
the children, or sharing she made her son sleep on a bean bag for seven months
after pranking his younger brother.

In court, prosecutor Eric Clarke said “the children were regularly denied food,
water, beds to sleep in, and virtually all forms of entertainment”.

Now, nine years after the channel started, Franke and her friend and business
partner Jodi Hilderbrandt are going to prison.
Don’t let yourself be misled. Understand issues with help from experts

Family channels are very popular on YouTube, with millions of subscribers. They
feature the intimate lives of a family, are most often run by the mothers and
focus on everyday family life: school, food, parenting, and occasionally
discipline.

Family channels have been consistently scrutinised by the media and others
online for sharing the lives of children online without their consent. While
the Franke case is an extreme example, it raises important questions about
sharing children’s lives online."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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