Family vlogging rules are about to change
Family vlogging has always been a bit weird. Even in its early days, there were people raising questions, asking whether it was really appropriate to turn your children’s lives into entertainment content. But for a long time, those people were ignored. Anyone who criticised it was seen as uptight, judgemental, or just anti-parent… That’s not really the case anymore and it’s done a 360.
Today, public attitudes have shifted dramatically. Platforms are preparing tighter restrictions, governments are starting to debate legal rights for children in content, and audiences are becoming more vocal about what they see as exploitative or inappropriate.
The platforms are under pressure
YouTube is expected to introduce stricter rules in 2026. While the platform previously rewarded family content with some of the highest CPMs, that era is ending. In the wake of disturbing cases like Ruby Franke, YouTube is facing mounting political and public pressure to regulate content that features children. Monetisation is likely to be heavily restricted for creators whose content focuses on their children.
TikTok has become a lightning rod for criticism. Family vlogging on the platform is now often met with overwhelmingly negative comments. A growing number of creators are being accused of exploiting their children for views, with some videos being flagged or mass reported. And because the algorithm pushes high-performing videos, it’s disturbingly easy for child-focused content to go viral.
Meta (Instagram and Facebook) is also under increasing scrutiny - and one very recent change may catch many parents off guard. In July 2025, Meta confirmed that all public Instagram and Facebook content dating back to 2020 will now be indexed on Google. This means your old posts, even those you’ve since deleted - may still appear in Google Images or search results if they were public at the time.
If you included your child’s name in a caption, or your own surname appears in your username, those posts can now appear when someone Googles your child’s name in future. Even if you take them down now, indexed content can take months or even years to disappear from search engines. In many cases, it requires formal takedown requests (and in some instances, specialist help) to remove what’s already out there.
It’s a reminder that once something is public online, you lose control over where it goes next. And when it comes to your child’s digital footprint, the consequences often don’t show up until years later.
The kinds of content being flagged
It’s not just about monetisation anymore. A wider cultural shift is happening, and there’s a growing consensus around what not to post.
Here’s the kind of content now being judged or flagged, by platforms and audiences alike:
Videos or vlogs where your child is the focus of the video, title or thumbnail
Filming your child in diapers, swimsuits, or gymnastic outfits
Including emotional outbursts, punishments, or moments of distress
Oversharing mental health struggles or medical updates
Capturing personal milestones like potty training, tantrums, or puberty-related changes
Letting strangers know where your child goes to school, what route they walk, or what their daily routine is
Creating content where the child is visibly uncomfortable being filmed
Filtering out inappropriate comments rather than stopping the content entirely
One family that has long faced criticism is the Saccone-Joly channel, a well-known family vlogging account that has been repeatedly called out for the way they feature their children. The backlash isn’t new, they’ve shared deeply personal moments that many believe should never have been made public, especially given that the children involved cannot consent to such disclosures.
Most recently, they’ve come under fire for using thumbnails that show their young daughter alone in gymnastic clothing, with many viewers describing the images as unsettling and inappropriate, particularly in the way they are framed.
What has amplified the scrutiny is the contrast between past and present. The father behind the channel once appeared on British television insisting he would never post the kind of content he now shares. That shift hasn’t gone unnoticed, and it points to a wider issue: this isn’t just about documenting family life anymore. It’s about clicks. And viewers are becoming more aware of the line between filming for memories and filming for monetisation.
You don’t know who’s watching
You might think a few hundred views is nothing to worry about. But the reality is, you don’t know who those people are.
And once your content goes viral, you really don’t know who’s seen it.
Family content is one of the easiest formats to gain views with. I’ve worked in crisis PR for years, and I’ve had children (not parents) reach out to me directly about the fallout. One boy told me that screenshots of him in a diaper were printed out and plastered around his school to humiliate him. Another messaged to ask if there was any way to get his parents’ vlogging channel taken down without them finding out, because the content made him feel ashamed.
Kids don’t understand why they’re being filmed. They don’t get the dopamine rush of analytics. They don’t receive the money or the opportunities. They’re just living their lives with a camera pointed at them, for someone else’s benefit.
And once it’s online, you don’t control the audience. That includes predators, trolls, angry strangers, and disturbingly obsessive fans. Many creators now manually hide dodgy keywords in their comment filters because they know what kind of people are watching, and they continue anyway.
The problem with Tattle and public exposure
The reality of online exposure goes beyond just creepy viewers. There are entire forums of people who target family vloggers and dissect everything about them, especially on Tattle.
Tattle is a forum where anonymous users obsess over influencers and parenting creators. I personally find the site disgraceful, and I’ve seen how harmful it can be. Some of my clients have suffered immense mental health consequences from being targeted there. Threads stretch for dozens of pages, with strangers insulting the children’s looks, discussing whether they might be autistic, or questioning the morality of the parents. I’ve seen people try to have threads removed, it’s almost impossible.
One client begged me to help take down a 28-page thread of strangers tearing their family apart. And those threads don’t just stay on the forum - they show up in Google searches, and the images discussed or shared are also indexed on Google Images.
So if your child Googles themselves one day, they might see photos of themselves edited into memes or surrounded by cruel commentary. Their classmates might see it too.
Let me be clear: I think the people who do this are repulsive. I’ve had clients doxxed by them, had child services called on them just for spite, and seen real emotional harm caused by these sites. I judge these people tremendously. The website should absolutely be banned. But at the same time, this is the current reality.
And if you choose to post your child online, you are putting them in front of those kinds of people. That’s the risk.
So what now?
This isn’t here to unnerve people, but if you’re sharing your kids online regularly, you do need to understand that the environment is shifting.
When family vlogging first became a trend, most people didn’t think about the long-term effects. Now, we have clearer data. We have real stories from children who’ve lived through it, and grown up. We have Netflix documentaries exposing the darker side of influencer parenting. We have press coverage, government conversations, public petitions, and platform updates.
And we’ve seen what happens when children’s lives are broadcast for the world to consume now.
There are no clear rules yet. But it does look like that it’s coming.
Family content is no longer a sweet, innocent niche. It’s a reputational minefield. And if you’re not prepared for that, maybe it’s time to think twice before uploading another post.