Maia Knight, Mada Graviet, and the New Attitude to Sharing Kids Online

• For ages, the internet has been popular with child-oriented content and family vlogging.
• But, there is a new wave, which includes so-called “watchdog mothers,” that are challenging this trend.
• Maia Knight received backlash after choosing to hide her children. However, many others came out in support.

Mada Graviet has built a following exceeding 515,000 over the past couple of years using a variety TikToks such as clothing hauls and daily vlogs. Many clips feature her two-year old son Rez.

Rez was as loved by her fans as Graviet. He was often seen in stroller videos, displaying adorable moves and making funny skits. But he stopped appearing in TikToks last year. Viewers were curious to know what happened to him.

Graviet recorded a reply in December explaining to her son that it wasn’t “feeling good anymore” to record him so she could create content for her channel. Her son, however, began to verbally object to being filmed.

In the video, she stated that she doesn’t want him ever to feel like, “Make content mommy,” and explained that she started filming him on TikTok when she was just five months old.  She said, “I admit that I posted him for quite some time. But as time passed I learned more and have modified what I was doing.”

Graviet’s supporters responded positively to the announcement. Commenters expressed their pride at Graviet’s decision to draw this line for her son.

Graviet belongs to a new generation of momfluencers/parent creators that are refusing to showcase their children on the Internet. Both parents are more aware of who’s making money when they feature their children via their social media accounts and the potential safety hazards like predators being easily able to locate these videos.

Vlogging family members has been an integral part of internet video content since the beginning.

Parents sharing videos of their children on social media have become a common practice. And, at times, even lucrative.

Family vlogging is one of the most popular content types online. It involves parents recording “day in the lives” videos and broadcasting their children doing various activities. The most popular TikTok hashtags for these videos are #MomTok (and #FamilyVlog) which have more than 32 billion and 500,000,000 cumulative views, respectively. 

Although most family videos are very routine, they can sometimes be exploitative or abusive. FamilyOFive was perhaps the most well-known YouTube channel. Its creators, mom and father, were convicted of child abuse in 2017. They posted videos where they broke children’s toys and shouted at them.

The LaBrant Family was the target of a social media backlash in 2019 for a YouTuber video showing their 6 year old daughter telling them that they had given her a puppy.

Despite legal and ethical issues, family vlogging is still a popular feature on YouTube. Even though there are many controversy-ridden channels such as the ACE Family, Bee Family and the LaBrant Family, millions of people continue to tune in each day.

Now, parent creators are starting to have conversations about the dangers that children can see on the internet

The atmosphere surrounding family content appears to be shifting, although slowly.

Janie, a momfluencer who has over 10,000 TikTok users, said to Insider that she doesn’t feature her children in videos if their “faces” aren’t visible or if they’re mostly hidden.

Janie, who has two children aged 11 months and 4 years old, stated that “there are a lot of people online that have bad intentions and I don’t want to expose my kids to that.” “Another reason is they don’t consent to me plastering their faces on the internet. I advocate autonomy.”

Janie stated that she was inspired by other influencers such as Catie Reay (@thetiktokadvocate), and Sarah Adams (@mom.uncharted) to hide her children in videos. Adams and Reay are part of a larger network of “watchdog moms”, who create videos calling attention to how adults intentionally or accidentally exploit children through online content. They stress the importance to respect a child’s privacy.

Adams lashed out at parents who “care more about getting the ‘viral moment on Christmas morning’ than they do spending time with their children in a recent video.

These influencers also know how predators can archive images of internet-famous kids and use their likenesses for disturbing and non-consensual deepfake material. 

Adams explained in a recent video, “Once you publish something on social media you lose control of the item and you don’t know where it will go.”

These are risks parents don’t want to take. Dakota Dudley, a mom influencer explained in a video why she decided not to show off her kids. Dakota Dudley stated that she was surprised by a video posted by another creator, which claimed that her child’s images had been shared on a child porn web site.

Dudley, a TikTok user with over 1.5 million followers, stated that it was a pain because she loves her girls. “I cannot take the chance that there are creepers out there.”

Insider spoke with Dr. Mary Jean Amon from the University of Central Florida, who is an assistant professor and has done research on parenting styles as well as social media use. She stated that the longer-term consequences of “young children” being featured in online content are still unknown.

Amon believes that sharing your life openly with parents can have positive effects, such as documenting happy memories and showing affection. However, it can have its disadvantages. For example, the unintentional disclosure of private information, embarrassment for the child, or the misuse by strangers of the digital content. 

Amon stated that “oftentimes, the child whose photo or information is shared isn’t old enough to consent or understand the nature of social media (and its potential risks”)”.

Fans are still unsure if these changes are enough.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding these changes after TikToker Maia Knight, a mega-popular TikToker Maia Knight, started to cover her twins’ faces with videos. The platform has over 8,000,000 followers and the single mother gained fame sharing videos of her children.

After Knight began concealing their faces — either by positioning the camera away or by pixelating their faces — she received some backlash from confused fans who were upset about the decision. 

“Why are they covering up now?” What has happened? One user commented on a clip. Knight has disabled comments from other videos.

Knight addressed the public in a December 23 video, saying she was not taking a “big stance about showing kids online” but that she was choosing to protect her daughters. She stated that she was slowly privatizing all her videos and condemned some people for being mad in her comments sections.

Still, some critics accused The influencer who implements these changes too late. One, she has already built a large following based on their likenesses. Others think she’s done irreparable damage in allowing her fans parasocial relationships to her toddlers.

Knight and the widespread changes made in the parenting influencer market have received an overwhelming response.

“Some people think it’s too late. It’s never too late for a better decision.” said fellow TikToker Mayte Elizabeth. “That’s what she’s doing right now, considering how out of control some of her fanbase is.”