By Patrick Whitnall 

Picture this scene: a family unboxing the latest trending gift, while mum or dad captures every moment, ready to post a new video to their legion of online fans. Parent influencers, and ‘sharenting’ as it has become known, is one of the fastest-growing areas of influencer marketing.

Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed the explosion in Australian child and family creators – there are reportedly more than 275,000 parent and family influencers here – who have turned family fun videos into a serious business, garnering not only significant online followings but valuable brand partnerships.

But when your film set is the family home and your business partners are your parents, how do you protect the child on camera?

Working in the advertising industry, I saw firsthand how children were protected on film, TV, photography and advertising sets by a number of protocols and regulations – but the same isn’t always applied to the children of parents and family influencers, where most often content is created in the home environment.  With laws passed already in both France and parts of the US, it’s essential to be proactive to get ahead and provide the industry here with best practices.

The Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO) has an increasing number of big brands and creators joining as members, and they are all about professionalism, best practice and mitigating risk. No brand wants to hear that a child has been pulled out of school, made to work all day without a break, to get content that they’ve been on a deadline for.

We firmly believe that as the creator economy matures, the conversation must shift from what’s allowed to what’s right.

As the influencer industry’s peak body, we’ve spent the past 18 months deep diving into this grey area, bringing together an expert working group spanning legal, educators, research, media production and brands, to develop Australia’s first comprehensive information sheet for best practice in child and family influencer marketing. 

The industry information sheet sets a new benchmark for brands, agencies, managers and creators for protecting children, while also supporting families and influencers as they navigate this space.

While the sector is still largely in its infancy compared to other marketing activities, it’s rapidly growing, presenting organisations like ours with an important opportunity to bring clarity to both creators and marketers and develop a robust reference for best practice – before problems arise.

Developing this best practice has drawn on the collective expertise and lessons from around the world. Our working group leaned on legal experts in contract law and child protection, producers experienced in managing children on sets, academics leading research into social media and childhood development, and forward-thinking brands to adopt best practices.

We also conducted a thorough review of child employment laws from Australia and overseas, including recent changes in the US and France, designed to protect young creators’ earnings and rights. In the US, online creators making more than $US150,000 annually from content featuring children must set aside 15 percent of those earnings into a trust fund that the child can access when they turn 18, while France has adopted ‘sharenting’ laws protecting children’s privacy and intellectual property. 

We needed proactive standards of trust, transparency and clarity for the sector that gave our members confidence in their activities with children and families.

Encouragingly, we’re already seeing industry adoption. AiMCO members and leading brands, like Ego Pharmaceuticals, are updating contracts and processes to reference the new guidelines, underscoring the industry’s appetite for clarity and professionalism.

Despite calls from the sector and those keen to protect children in this space, the reality is that nationwide regulations are in serious catch-up mode. Laws like the upcoming Online Safety Amendment Act, which will introduce a minimum age of 16 for certain social media platforms, create important guardrails, but the nuances of navigating child-brand partnerships, creator earnings and disclosure will require industry-driven solutions. We’re confident that this release paves the way for legislative action. 

Ultimately, professionalising influencer marketing is about more than just compliance: it’s about empowering creators, supporting brands and building a sustainable, reputable industry. 

Patrick Whitnall is the managing director at Australian Influencer Marketing Council. 

Read more: What marketers must know about the upcoming online child protection code