Exploited Kidfluencers: Dutch Cabinet wants stricter child labor rules for social media

The Cabinet is going to develop stricter rules against vloggers and influencers who have their children participate in videos that earn them money on social media. This is close to “Modern child labor," State Secretary for Social Affairs Jurgen Nobel warned. “Children shouldn’t be a profit model.”

Nobel said that he understands “that people enjoy seeing into other people’s lives on social media.” But he fears that it will be at the expense of the well-being of children if the entire family is exposed. Their psychological well-being and development can suffer if they are viewed by so many people. There are also concerns about privacy and online abuse of images of children.

It is currently already the case that anyone wanting to include children in their commercial videos has to apply for a special exemption. However, this rule is hard to enforce for the Labor Inspectorate as the sharp increase in “vlog families” has made the line between a hobby and work much harder to ascertain.

This is why the exemption obligation is also set to apply to vlogging parents. This rule change will make enforcing these rules easier for the authorities. And because children who do this work would then be supervised by the Labor Inspectorate, it will likely make it easier for the inspectorate to take action against any abuses.

Nobel also wants better education on the issue to make parents more aware of the risks to their children if they are being broadcast this much, although the VVD member does not think this is enough. Stricter rules and higher fines are also necessary, he wrote to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament.