As the phone interview begins, Zoe’s voice cuts through the highway noise.
“Hello, yes, it’s Zoe. And, Ava is here,” Zoe says. They are en route to Ava’s cheer practice.
“Hi,” Ava* chimes in softly, her voice contrasting her larger-than-life social media presence with over 14,000 followers on Instagram (@littlemiss_avachanel.official).
Zoe started Ava’s account in 2019, sharing videos of the South Australian 11-year-old’s dance, gymnastics, cheerleading, and modelling.
“When I go out, some people recognise me and go, ‘Ah!’” Ava says.
However, such posts can attract unwanted, sexualised attention.
“We just block them,” Zoe says of inappropriate comments and messages. “Instagram can never respond fast enough, so we do it ourselves.” But adds, “When you are looking at paedophiles online, they are also everywhere else as well.”
Zoe protects Ava by using a pseudonym surname and keeping their residence and school private.
“There have been one or two mums at cheer that will say something… but their kids are now online too, so I take it as jealousy. [And some] people online say that they’re going to the police and going to hunt me down,” Zoe says.
She doesn’t get much time for schoolwork because she trains 20 hours a week in dance, and we drive two hours a day. We slot in photos and photoshoots where we can.
Despite the risks, Ava enjoys the opportunities, saying: “I’ve worked with [children’s fashion sites] A Little Lacy and Ugly Swan. A Little Lacy was one of my favourites.”
And the allure of becoming an influencer is only growing among children, with rates of ‘kidfluencers’ on the rise.
Dr Catherine Archer, senior lecturer at Edith Cowan University, highlights “kidfluencing” is an ethical “wild west” that extends beyond privacy and child sexualisation.
“From a labour point of view, parents might have the best interest of their kids at heart, but once they also become their commercial managers, it’s a bit of a blurring of lines between…a commercial relationship and a loving parent relationship. So that can be an issue,” Dr Archer says.
“[Kidfluencers are] performing during their childhood all the time. It’s relentless every day that they have to get up and while they’re eating their breakfast, they’re being filmed or whatever they’re doing for a particular brand, it goes. It can become quite relentless.”
Current laws don’t protect children from this aspect of labour, and it leaves kidfluencers vulnerable.
“At the moment, there’s no child labour laws around kids working in the home like that,” Dr Archer says.
Ava describes Instagram as her “little hobby,” but even Zoe admits Ava’s schedule is hectic.
“She doesn’t get much time for schoolwork because she trains 20 hours a week in dance, and we drive two hours a day. We slot in photos and photoshoots where we can,” Zoe explains.
Ava models for children’s fashion sites and magazines. Image: Instagram.
And, despite there being regulations addressing other dimensions of kidfluencer content, such as sexual content, enforcement by authoritative institutions remains weak.
“I mean, there are obviously laws around child content, sexual child content. But even the e-safety commissioner in that Four Corners video was shocked… and the e-safety commission does have powers to take things down, but even they struggle as evidenced by the recent issue with Elon Musk and trying to take some graphic images down from Twitter/X,” Dr Archer says.
“I think, unfortunately for parents, there’s a lot of guilt around parenting, so it’s just one more thing to worry about. It’s crucial to weigh the risks versus the rewards if you’re considering an influencer career for your child.”
Considering the conversation though, Dr Archer is also keen to remind people of the positive aspects of the space.
“There definitely are risks, but I think there are [also] some benefits for kids,” she says, noting that child influencers also now market adult products like make-up and skincare, blurring the lines between childhood and adulthood.
“We’ve seen that [blurring of lines] with the growth of the tween market in commercial [markets]. Mecca, for example, now gets a lot of its customers, [who] are younger than 12. So there is that concern around the commodification of childhood,” she says.
There are people that [see it as] exploiting a child. But you look at media platforms, and there is a child in the movies or TV. Would that also mean you are exploiting a child?
Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep fakes threaten to exacerbate existing problems.
“It’s sort of not the future,” Dr Archer says. “It’s already here…taking their image, repurposing it, and using it on different sites.
“I think I heard [some]one talking about their child’s image [being] used on an adoption site for example, or on the dark web in certain sites that you wouldn’t really want your child on.
“It’s kind of an experiment in the making. What are the children going to think in five, 10 years time when they are adults… that’s something that we’re not sure of yet.”
That uncertainty in part has led the Australian government to propose clamping down on social media access for children.
“It’s interesting. Now the government’s looking at the potential of banning social media for children. That’s a whole other sort of argument there,” Dr Archer says.
Zoe and Ava however, are keen to continue on their journey.
Ava and mum Zoe. Image from Instagram.
“There are people that [see it as] exploiting a child. But you look at media platforms, and there is a child in the movies or TV. Would that also mean you are exploiting a child?” Zoe asks.
It’s a parallel Dr Archer also draws.
“There’s always those examples of children who grew up as a movie star or in film…we’ve all alluded to those stories,” Dr Archer says. “Using children because they’re appealing is not something new. [Online kidfluencing] is just an extension of it.”
But she adds a warning.
“It’s more of a wild west on social media than it was even with TV and movies though, which needed to be regulated originally because kids were being exploited,” Dr Archer says.
And how does Ava, a quiet presence on the other end of the phone line with her mum, feel about her future in influencing?
“I’m happy to keep doing what I’m doing,” she says. “Hopefully getting more paid dance and modelling gigs. I love being an influencer.”
* Note: To protect privacy, Ava’s surname and specific location beyond the state have been withheld.
To report online abuse, contact the Australian Centre To Counter Child Exploitation or the eSafety Commissioner.
Support is available 24/7 at Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) or Lifeline (13 11 14).
Support for those at risk of sexual violence is available 24/7 at 1800RESPECT.
Main image with permission from the @littlemiss_avachanel.official Instagram page.
