Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online

by Fortesa Latifi

A searing investigation into the child influencer industry and the perils of childhood internet fame, Like, Follow, Subscribe is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the costs of internet fame, and the ethics of online content.

What is it like to grow up with a camera in your face 24/7? To have your childhood moments sold as “content” to millions online? What happens when someone who works in a largely unregulated multi-billion-dollar industry sells away their childhood and has no financial safety net as an adult? What does it feel like to have your private moments—your medical diagnoses, your first period, your first break up, your tantrums, potty-training, and breastfeeding-weaning—broadcast to an audience of millions? Like, Follow, Subscribe shines a spotlight on the deeply troubling world of the child influencer industry.

Journalist Fortesa Latifi dives into the lives of children whose parents mine their everyday activities for monetizable content, exposing issues like privacy violations, financial abuse, and the absence of child labor protections. Through expert interviews with psychologists, labor scientists, and even former child influencers and family vloggers, she uncovers the pressures, trauma, and consequences for children thrust into the spotlight.

This timely and eye-opening book doesn’t just reveal the harm of toxic social media it also provides a roadmap to better regulating influencer families, safeguarding children, and questioning the role of audiences in perpetuating these cycles of exploitation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Parenting, Sociology, Technology, Psychology, Social Media

288 pages, Hardcover

Published April 7, 2026

Reviews

[Grace Stafford · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far one of the best pieces of journalism I have read about influencers and the internet era. Even if influencer families aren't on your radar, this breaks down the influencer industry and is valuable reading for everyone. Like the author, I started this book incredibly against child influencers and the families that put them in the situations, and while I still am, I am so much more aware of why these families continue the exploitation of their children. Also really didn't realize just how impossible the child protection laws in a few states are to administer!

[Kelsey Weekman · Rating 5 out of 5]

an earth-shattering look into one of the most fascinating and heartbreaking moral dilemmas of our time - parent and family influencers. written with extreme empathy and care with a bombshell revelation on nearly every page, i thought this was one of the best books about the internet era i’ve ever read, even as an internet culture reporter. bravo, fortesa!!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really challenging subject to tackle. This is not approached with the clinicism of, for example, the NYT articles on pedophiles engaging with child influencer content- this is not super heavily crunching any numbers or performing wide scale analysis of trends. Latifi takes an author-centered narrative nonfiction approach which felt both useful and limiting at times.

Useful: she sees the parents she interacts with as people. She speaks to lots of people over the course of this book, and gives insight into how those conversations exactly play out. She weighs up their motivations and comments on their contradictions. She positions this deeply human field of work in a deeply human way, which grants the subject a large amount of nuance that isn’t always guaranteed.

Limiting: there isn’t a huge amount of meat here. The last 2 chapters on CSAM and legislation are built on actual numbers, experts, quantifiable trends. A lot of the other chapters have a lot of overlap in what they cover and are driven by describing individual videos or influencers. There’s a level of perverse voyeurism in getting to read about these badly behaved influencers, but I found very little basis for analysis, or much analysis that wasn’t vibes based. Interesting, as this type of conversation usually is, but … not necessarily edifying, I guess? Maybe if you’re someone so completely outside this world this would be hugely illuminating.

Idk. It’s super readable. This is a line of work that needs to be taken seriously, so journalism like this needs to exist to take it seriously.

I guess one final sidebar- I did think it’s interesting that in all the debate over parents vs social media companies about who needs to be stepping up, or doing more, the companies that request children in content aren’t addressed at all? Why has it become normal for companies who used to (and still do) hire child models who are regulated through child labor laws allowed to contractually demand child labor outside of those laws? Feels like a large area to analyze that was left entirely unaddressed and I haven’t seen addressed anywhere else.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book was fascinating! It’s not the first of its kind, and I’ve already read almost all the books the author references, but I do think it’s the best of its kind so far. It’s well-researched, well-delivered, and thorough. I personally have never consumed any kind of parent influencing/ family vlogging content, so the only account mentioned that I knew about was Ballerina Farm. But I’m invested in my demographic of moms in the trenches, so it all really spoke to me.

Her reporting on my church and its members (in Utah) was really uncomfortable and hard to read, but it’s true and it’s important to talk about. I didn’t love all of her takes on tradwives, because although I think performative motherhood (tradwives on the internet who make money acting out their job) is problematic and harmful, I do think it’s valid to *choose* to leave a stable career and be with your kids full time. That’s been my choice, and I genuinely find joy and meaning in the work I’m doing now. It seems like people can’t imagine that anyone could make that choice and not be oppressed.

I’m glad I read this book. I would recommend it to anyone who spends time on social media, particularly parents. I feel a little less compassion for mom influencers than the author concludes at the end, but I still think her conclusion is fair.

[Laura Noggle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will say it was very interesting in a pop culture kind of way, but especially with all the Epstein stuff … the internet can be a really dangerous place especially for kids.

[Alexi Gallante · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important book about mommy influencers exploiting their children for views/profit, and what it's like growing up with a camera trained on your most vulnerable moments. Some of the chapters made me feel sick to the stomach. I do wish I had gotten a bit more from this book than I did, but overall I would recommend, since this is a conversation we need to be having.

I ruined my instagram algorithm looking up all the case studies...

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This basically validated every opinion I have about Mommy bloggers/influencers.

[felix alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, compassionate, and well-researched

[Janalee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's scrutinize behind the scenes of influencers lives and tactics, while the everyone else watches their content (loving it, hating it- both work!), boosting views and metrics which = $$.

To think that many people go about their day unaware of the online world where whole families are making millions a year to film their lives so everyone can watch.
The Truman Show called it! It sounds really crazy and it is. Kids are profitable, you'll learn. A modern day version of having children to help with the family farm, only now it's the family you tube vlogging channel - far more damaging.

So many notes, way too much to discuss:

This world was started with mommy bloggers (who wrote more thoughtful text but now it's images and antics that sell) but when social media was born, the opportunity to incentivize lives and daily activities was too tempting to pass up.

The lengths that influencers go to: temporarily renting big homes as filming locations, pretending it's their house. Hiring nannies, housekeepers, cooks and organizers (all hidden away) while selling "systems" on how to organize your family life. Ex: teaching viewers how to potty train when the nanny does it AND it's a sponsored post.

Most influencers say they got their start by "not wanting others to feel alone" so they shared their "struggles" with whatever topic- breastfeeding, postpartum. Soon something went viral and the decision was made to turn their into content, everyone quits their day jobs and starts raking it in. But at a high cost with online bullying, having to bribe uncooperative children, and so much hate. Not to mention.. why is making millions of dollars a year considered a good thing?

This book was filled with recognizable names - Ruby Franke, Amber fillerup, Emily Kiser and tons that I didn't know and had to look up. There are millions! Who can keep up on all these lives? How about Live your own! The reasons we watch are many : we're too poor and like to watch pretty, rich people live pretty, rich lives. Or we like to hate on them and after watching go join really snarky Reddit chats that are devoted to ripping apart these content creators. I don't know what's worse.

"There's a part of us as viewers that seems to relish when family vloggers and mom influencers crash and burn--regardless of the children they take with them. I wonder if it's because we resent the influencers for having made it. They started as normal people just like us; then they entered the viral lottery and won, and their lives changed (seemingly, for the better). They move into nicer houses and buy luxury cars off the backs of our views. We're drawn to them because of their purported perfection, but we wait with bated breath for the dam to break. The only thing more interesting than perfection is a look behind it."

Viewers begin to feel over invested and entitled to see children influencers, forming obsessive one-way bonds with them "I love them so much and I've never met them". They get outraged when a parent decides to remove the child from their content after seeing the negative effects. "Where is she??? Need to see her!!" So creepy.

"I know why I'm still watching: because I want to see how other people live and compare it to the way I live. I want to clutch my pearls as the kids pour themselves sodas and play on their phones. If I'm honest, I thinkthere's a part of me that wants to watch these families only to be able to hold them up against our own. Look, we want to say, Look how much better they are than my own parents or, in some cases, Look how much better Im doing than they are. Watching other families comforts us or inspires us or simply functions as a spectacle. A family unit is almost unbearably intimate. No wonder we all have our noses pressed against their windows."

The whole chapter on Reddit and snark was NUTS. "Anti fandom is the new fandom" and it generates money causing some influencers to rage bait for clicks. Like a really heavy woman frying up junk food for her children. All the comments are haters. But guess who's laughing their way to the bank?

"often there's an imagined moral superiority with snarkers. They alone know what the influencer is doing wrong – and they alone can tell the world about it...They are never going to get real answers to their speculation and they dont even want them, I dont think," she says. "At the end of the day, its way more about how it feels to be a part of these communities, and it's addictive. Every time you check a forum, your body is hoping for a hit of dopamine in the way that every time you scroll through your Instagram feed it's like pulling a slot machine at a casino like it has your brain chemistry in a chokehold." Such a stupid way to spend time but I can see the allure.

Sick and injured children get the most views. Lol to influencers who gripe " My channel isn't growing as fast as theirs! Their kids keep getting sick, of course they are going to grow faster!" Now sickness is monetized.

Also the amount of families who have babies because that generates more traffic. They can tease and drag out pregnancy announcements, gender reveals, birth, postpartum all the hungry hungry public who is waiting with baited breath for each piece of news. So disturbing on many levels.

[Ashten Gentry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never written a review on goodreads before, but I feel very conflicted about this book and thought this would be a good forum to share my thoughts.

Overall, I thought this book had a lot of interesting insights into the world of family vlogging. I am not a person who regularly interacts with family vlogging content, but other than hearing about certain things in passing. I appreciate that this author doesn't attempt to make any sweeping generalizations or conclusions about the family vlogging industry, and seems to have a lot of empathy towards both sides of the argument.

However, I do feel like the author has a pretty blunt and un-nuanced dismissal of other societal functions that contribute to the industry of family vlogging that I feel are a major shortcomings of this book. In the second to last chapter the author states:

"I understand what she means; parents wouldn’t be making their kids into influencers if they weren’t incentivized to do so. But I don’t believe that the ultimate responsibility lies with tech companies. It’s a parent’s job to protect their child. Tech companies are, after all, companies—they exist to make money, not protect children. That’s what I find so confusing about the insistence that tech companies like Meta, Google, and Bytedance take steps to protect child influencers. Why would they? Child influencers make profit hand over fist for these corporations. It’s not in their interest to institute protections. In my view, the job of protection lies with parents, though of course not every parent can be trusted equally."

I have to say I was pretty disappointed by this take and the fact that so little was said on this point. I would first like to clarify in my argument that I am not attempting to sympathize with the family vlogging industry, and do believe that ultimately the decisions do lie with parents about starting family vlogging content. This book makes many great points about how children are unable to provide informed consent to be a part of family vlogging content, due to inherent power dynamics and the fact that they are children and lack the capabilities to fully understand repercussions of participating in these activities. But I would argue that a similar point could be made about the parents who make decisions to participate in this system. It's easy to look down on others who make "morally bankrupt" financial decisions from the place of someone who lives comfortably and doesn't struggle to feed and house their family. Can a parent who is struggling to survive truly provide informed consent to subjecting their children to this?

I feel like the singular focus on the responsibility of the parents results in a book that offers no real solution to these problems and acts more as a look into the world of family vlogging. I also think it allows tech companies and social media platforms and government agencies to get off with a slap on the wrist, when in reality I believe that a majority of family vloggers wouldn't exist without the financial incentive that these institutions continue to create. I would be interested to see statistics about the income of family vloggers before they started social media, in order to better assess why someone would start a platform that they know would potentially be harmful to their children.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

“What is more interesting than a perfectly glossy exterior? Apparently the darkness it’s hiding.”

So many mommies (and some daddies) writing, posting, filming, monetising their entire lives and their children’s! This book is about how they produce their content, homeschool their kids in order to schedule filming, and then crash and burn when they make mistakes and their content flops, including teen moms, of course, as well as Mormons. It’s also about the staggering amounts of money they make, which, of course, is the whole point of posting. And it’s also about being cancelled, as well as about the sexualization of kids and pedophilia. There is also a chapter on legislation being passed to protect minors participating in family blogging.

I gotta give it to the author, she does try to dive a little deeper on the tradwife phenomenon and she succeeds. She explains it from a capitalist and feminist point of view and I liked that chapter.

Something very very obvious: these women have help, they have personel helping them. IDK why they all pretend they don’t, because from Asia to LatinAmerica, to Europe, I see mommies propped up by backup personnel and family. IDK why they aren’t more honest about it. Maybe because we are living in the era of the lying president. (Hello, Donnie!!!)

On a related subject, I know I’ll get stoned, (see if I care), but the author is such a whining little thing. I swear I don’t understand women who have a mom, a mother in law, a supportive husband, a part time nanny and a bunch of brothers and sisters pitching in (like the author) AND still complain about motherhood. Just what exactly is she complaining about? How hard can it be for a healthy young woman to do motherhood? She’s got a full support system. And yet, she complains. I swear, I don’t know how she fathoms single moms without family do it, but they manage. Still, she inserts her little whines about motherhood being hard. Get a grip, woman. You’ve got a whole village supporting you. Seriously, what a child!!!

I’d say this is a quick read. I read it in a single sitting on a Sunday. IMO it’s written like a very long Vanity Fair article. I honestly expected more depth than I got, but to be fair she does cover many topics, though not in depth. The writer made many posts on IG prior to publishing the book which is why I expected better content. For me, the marketing campaign leading up to the launch of the book turned out to be better than the book itself.

The author has a very distinctive name. I sure as hell won’t be reading any more of her writings. I’ve also blocked her on my IG. Too much whining, too little depth. I’m sorry, I have better things to do with my time. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Brianne Gillham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look into the world of child influencers. The author did an incredible job adding nuance to the conversation - giving empathy where it was needed, criticism where it was due, and shining a spotlight on the horrors that demanded attention. It was a brilliant piece of research, and I loved how she put things into the context of her own experience as a new mom (she deserves a Pulitzer in part for pitching this 7 months pregnant and finishing it 7 months postpartum).

I feel incredibly uneasy about families commodifying their children’s childhoods, but I can appreciate that some of these influencer mothers are working with good intentions within an absolutely shit system to give their children a better life… but is it worth it?

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every single parent that puts their child on a public platform in order to make money - congrats, you are your child’s pimp and deserve to be in jail for child endangerment and creation of CSAM :) no I will not elaborate or allow for nuance. thanks!

also I think the author is FAR TOO generous with the parents who are involved in this. as if we don’t ALL have to work jobs that suck because…we live in a capitalist society. so like yes you choosing to film yourself and post online is…your choice? the same way that going to a job and clocking in to make money is also your choice. why are these parents given more grace?
they are making STUPID FUCKING MONEY and I guess are somehow able to justify pimping their child out for that money. where is the gun to the parents heads that’s forcing them to film and exploit their children instead of going and getting a regular job?? I’ll wait…

I, a complete stranger, should not care more about the safety of your child than you do. and yet, it seems I do. as a victim of CSA I can’t help but weep in frustration for these children who were unfortunate enough to be born to these parasitic families, I genuinely hope you are able to grow up normally or at the very least get the opportunity to rock your parents shit one good time. whichever is more healing for you.

(complete side note. the fact that she spoke to that absolute low life worm Kevin Franke after that passive abuser allowed his sickening wife to do what she did I had to question the author a bit. yes I know he wasn’t charged with anything but knowing and allowing abuse to happen to your children means you are complicit)

[Brigid Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading Latifi’s essays for years so this was one of my most anticipated books of the year! I thought this book was wonderful. A great exploration of influencer culture with analysis AND her own personal narrative woven in. I know that last part isn’t for everyone but I really enjoy a personal touch in non-fiction books. This book will definitely age fast because of the nature of the internet but I think it can always be looked at as a good source

[Courtney Townill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This look at family influencers/vloggers is the perfect follow up to Yesteryear. It is exactly the kind of nonfiction I love to consume: poppy, lots of research mixed with a personal connection, and thought-provoking. There is no clear cut Bad Guy in the world of family influencing, and it’s much more complex than it might seem on the surface.

[Laura Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I wanted on this topic plus well written = fantastic

[Scott Buchanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting tidbits (The Mormon Church actually pays to support tradwife influencers, really?!), but after a bit it became repetitive (here’s another example and another and another).

It felt like with some editing this could have been a long form magazine article. The author cherry-picked or distorted some statistics beyond recognition to make some political points (what’s new?). Anyway, if one is super-interested in the topics of mom influencers and their income streams then this may be a helpful skim, beyond that I wasn’t impressed.

[alexis berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get your kids off the Internet for real!

[Katie Grandprey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and relevant. The author dives into the often uncomfortable moral and ethical questions associated with children, parents and families showing and performing their private lives - or the illusion of - online.

Who actually benefits from this display of curates lives on social media? (Especially when unachievable promises are being sold.)

Is it a win that women are finally able to monetize the historically unpaid labor of motherhood?

Or is it inherently wrong to capitalize on others insecurities for financial gain?

Who if anyone wins in these absurd para-social relationships? The first time mom desperately buying linked products at 3am to get her newborn to sleep, the children who’s intimate lives are traded for likes and views, or the parent/s who turned their family life into a lucrative business machine?

This topic could easily lean towards shaming parents in the family vlogging or influencing space, yet the author writes with a compassionate directness. She grapples with the social factors that allow the commodification of children’s private lives to financially flourish, how this impacts children’s mental health and social development, and what, if anything, can or should be done to protect children’s right to informed consent.

The author also points out that it would be more productive to transfer at least some of our judgement and disgust at influencers towards the economic system that no longer affords financial stability for families and the ever shrinking middle class. And if we are not ready for that, taking a hard look at social media platforms and questioning why they incentivize content with children. (It is these tech giants in the first place who allow influencers to be so profitable.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will impatiently wait for more from this author. She provides a sharp sense of reason that is needed as social media replaces traditional outlets and we continue to navigate the evolving frontier of the modern-life-lived-online.

My critiques are few… I would have loved more on late stage capitalism and like always, I needed larger margins for note taking.

[Sally Shelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended by a friend, and it was mind-boggling. The author brought up so many different aspects of family vlogging and mom-fluencing that I had never considered before. I really appreciated that she pointed out that her point in writing the book was to bring nuance to conversations on the topic. It really is a much more complex and gray subject than I had expected. My one gripe is that, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I don’t think she allowed the same nuance in the chapter about influencers that are members of our church as she did about other topics throughout the rest of the book. But otherwise, very thought-provoking and well researched.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has followed Fortesa Latifi's work for a while and is just generally interested in the world of influencers, particularly family vlogging, I felt confident that I was going to enjoy this book. But I was not expecting to love it nearly as much as I did. Latifi approached the subject and the people involved with such empathy, without shying away from the darker aspects. I not only learned a lot about the subject, but I also feel like I understand why it's happened and how many societal pressures are involved that I may not have fully appreciated before.

Not only a 5-star read but easily my favourite book of the year so far.

[eli ★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ★

i’m left conflicted after finishing this book. i liked it, i found it readable and i liked how the author’s voice remained present and strong throughout. it’s clearly well researched, and it discusses a number of different perspectives/ examples for each issue. i just cannot shake the feeling that this book would have been greatly improved with some more vigorous editing. this was most felt for me in the amount of repetition. for example, there were a bunch of sections where points or ideas were repeated only pages or paragraphs after they first appeared. the same thing happened with people having their introductions/background repeated each time they were brought back up. certainly there was a more elegant way to do this by grouping the ideas differently, like by case study instead of topic, for example.

basically, this book reads like the first or second draft of a book that will eventually be extremely good, but is just not there yet.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a strange time to be alive. This book deftly researches and informs about this path of social media influencers. It was very well done but now I feel exhausted.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

an objective, well researched look into the world of family vlogging/influencing and the effects it can have on the children involved. such a great read!

[Steve Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have selected this book as Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 4/26, as it stands heads above other recently published books on this topic.

[Eleanor Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

The internet is trash

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fascinating, and I inhaled it. It reminded me of Monsters by Claire Dederer, both in the subject (who are we calling monsters and why) and in tone. I've always had a morbid fascination with family vloggers (rarely watching them directly), and this book also talks about why so many of us have that fascination. I ultimately found myself surprised at the compassion Latifi has for family influencers and more surprised when I evaluated my own feelings. There are chunks of the book and reasoning that I didn't really agree with or care for (Marxist theories of mommy blogging, anyone?), but Latifi makes many great points too. It's full of interviews from current and former influencers, some anonymous, some not. If you're interested in family vloggers, mommy blogging history, teen mom Instagram accounts, snark pages, or the LDS, you'll probably like this book.

General thoughts:
- I appreciated the chapter on snark communities. I'm sometimes a lurker on those pages, but this book caused me to reevaluate that.
- Why are so many influencers are Mormon? Turns out the Church pays influencers - a lot.
- The surprisingly nuanced discussion on legal protections for children of influencers. It's really hard to legally protect kids of influencers. Unlike child actors, the kids don't ever have off hours, and they don't care as much about money. As a law student, I really enjoyed this chapter.
- One thing I felt weird about was the retelling of the children's traumatic/embarrassing stories. If privacy is so important for these kids, should we be retelling the stories, even if the intent is good?
- The discussion on teen mom shaming was excellent. The interviews in this chapter were so good.

[Hannah Urh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply unsettling and exactly what you expect

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Repetitive, but necessary

[Robin B]

Well researched and thorough. Such an important topic that should be more heavily discussed.