Concern about Gen Alpha’s growing number of child influencers

Gen Alpha – those born between 2010-2024 – are increasingly appearing on social media. While many of these children are still too young to use sites such as TikTok or Instagram, their parent-run accounts are attracting millions of views. The US ‘Garza Crew’ family has nearly 5 million followers on TikTok, making 7 year old twins Haven and Koti Garza TikTok stars, with their content frequently amassing millions of views. However their posts have attracted criticism and have come under scrutiny for content that is deemed to promote products too mature for their age, with examples including posts of the girls putting on makeup or showing their daily outfits. In 2023 Illinois created a law which states that children are entitled to earnings from their monetised content, and California is set to pass a similar law this year. New social media apps like Zigazoo however are being marketed to children and features content created by child influencers. “For a lot of families, this isn’t just a hobby or a side gig. It is the primary, or sometimes the only, source of income…those aspects make it very difficult for a child to fully consent to being online” says Chris McCarty, an activist who collaborates with lawmakers to protect child influencers. For more information, click here.