The mother of a popular young social media star has lifted the lid on the dark side of being a child influencer.
Nina Gonthier’s four-year-old son Jerome has over 97,000 followers on his Instagram account which is run by his mum and earns a ‘few thousand each year’.
His page features over 900 photos including closeups of his face, images of him modelling new clothes and pictures during different outings.
But Nina has revealed how she was shocked when she discovered her son’s photos were being used by fake accounts including an adoption website.
‘As a mother I believe in doing everything possible to protect him and doing everything safely,’ she told ABC’s Four Corners.
Nina Gonthier has revealed she found her four-year-old son Jerome’s photo on an adoption site after posting pictures of him on Instagram
‘I don’t post when they’re topless, or in a nappy where images can be doctored or take photos of particular streets where you might be sharing any form of location.’
She explained that’s why she was stunned to discover other accounts had stolen the photos and decided to contact them.
‘[It was] horrible. Especially when they’re taunting me saying ‘he’s my child’ when he’s sitting right next to me. What do they get out of it? It’s frustrating but there’s really not much I can do,’ she explained.
However Nina’s ‘heart sunk’ when she was informed about a US adoption agency website using her son’s images.
Jerome has over 97,000 followers on his Instagram account which is run by his mum and earns a ‘few thousand each year’
Nina’s ‘heart sunk’ when she was informed about a US adoption agency website using her son’s images
‘I felt my heart sink. I pretty much started crying to be honest, I got goosebumps all over my body, like how has it gotten this far?’ she said.
‘I felt horrible, as a mother you want to protect your child and I felt that was out of my control now.’
She said the experience has been a ‘big learning curve’ but she doesn’t plan to stop her son’s account.
‘I love it, he loves it and I suppose it’s up to him if he wants to continue it, and I am being extremely careful and protective of him right now,’ she said.
She said the experience has been a ‘big learning curve’ but she doesn’t plan to stop her son’s account
The mother of 10-year-old Ava also revealed the downsides of her daughter’s social media account on the program.
Ava has 14,000 followers on Instagram and makes about $500 each month in deals.
However, her mother Zoe admitted she’s had to remove sexually explicit comments on posts as well as explicit images being sent via direct message.
‘The first time I ever received one, I felt sick to my stomach, felt really sick,’ she said.
Zoe explained Ava likes influencing because she finds reading and writing difficult and it has ‘helped boost her confidence’.
She said she’ll continue to support her daughter’s page and monitor the messages.
‘She could be anywhere, on or off of social media, and there can be paedophiles. It happens at schools, it happens anywhere,’ Zoe said.
The mother of 10-year-old influencer Ava also revealed how she’s had to remove sexually explicit comments on her posts as well as explicit images being sent via direct message
Bobbi, a Queensland child influencer who is now 15, also had a similar experience as her page received sexual comments from men.
Her mum, Kym, started Bobbi’s account when she was seven to promote her dance talent and she gained 250,000 followers.
But Kym was forced to spend several hours daily deleting comments and blocking people.
She also noticed multiple fake accounts were created and tried to contact Instagram to have them removed.
But Kym woke up one day to find Bobbi’s real account deleted by Instagram.
‘That was like, “are you kidding me?” That’s her whole career and they just wiped it,’ she said.