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Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online
A searing investigation into the child influencer industry and the perils of childhood internet fame, Like, Follow, Subscribe is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the costs of internet fame, and the ethics of online content.
What is it like to grow up with a camera in your face 24/7? To have your childhood moments sold as “content” to millions online? What happens when someone who works in a largely unregulated multi-billion-dollar industry sells away their childhood and has no financial safety net as an adult? What does it feel like to have your private moments—your medical diagnoses, your first period, your first break up, your tantrums, potty-training, and breastfeeding-weaning—broadcast to an audience of millions? Like, Follow, Subscribe shines a spotlight on the deeply troubling world of the child influencer industry.
Journalist Fortesa Latifi dives into the lives of children whose parents mine their everyday activities for monetizable content, exposing issues like privacy violations, financial abuse, and the absence of child labor protections. Through expert interviews with psychologists, labor scientists, and even former child influencers and family vloggers, she uncovers the pressures, trauma, and consequences for children thrust into the spotlight.
This timely and eye-opening book doesn’t just reveal the harm of toxic social media it also provides a roadmap to better regulating influencer families, safeguarding children, and questioning the role of audiences in perpetuating these cycles of exploitation.
What is it like to grow up with a camera in your face 24/7? To have your childhood moments sold as “content” to millions online? What happens when someone who works in a largely unregulated multi-billion-dollar industry sells away their childhood and has no financial safety net as an adult? What does it feel like to have your private moments—your medical diagnoses, your first period, your first break up, your tantrums, potty-training, and breastfeeding-weaning—broadcast to an audience of millions? Like, Follow, Subscribe shines a spotlight on the deeply troubling world of the child influencer industry.
Journalist Fortesa Latifi dives into the lives of children whose parents mine their everyday activities for monetizable content, exposing issues like privacy violations, financial abuse, and the absence of child labor protections. Through expert interviews with psychologists, labor scientists, and even former child influencers and family vloggers, she uncovers the pressures, trauma, and consequences for children thrust into the spotlight.
This timely and eye-opening book doesn’t just reveal the harm of toxic social media it also provides a roadmap to better regulating influencer families, safeguarding children, and questioning the role of audiences in perpetuating these cycles of exploitation.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published April 7, 2026
147 people are currently reading
3588 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
March 31, 2026
an earth-shattering look into one of the most fascinating and heartbreaking moral dilemmas of our time - parent and family influencers. written with extreme empathy and care with a bombshell revelation on nearly every page, i thought this was one of the best books about the internet era i’ve ever read, even as an internet culture reporter. bravo, fortesa!!
April 16, 2026
By far one of the best pieces of journalism I have read about influencers and the internet era. Even if influencer families aren't on your radar, this breaks down the influencer industry and is valuable reading for everyone. Like the author, I started this book incredibly against child influencers and the family's that put them in the situations, and while I still am, I am so much more aware of why these families continue the exploitation of their children. Also really didn't realize just how impossible the child protection laws in a few states are to administer!
April 21, 2026
Really challenging subject to tackle. This is not approached with the clinicism of, for example, the NYT articles on pedophiles engaging with child influencer content- this is not super heavily crunching any numbers or performing wide scale analysis of trends. Latifi takes an author-centered narrative nonfiction approach which felt both useful and limiting at times.
Useful: she sees the parents she interacts with as people. She speaks to lots of people over the course of this book, and gives insight into how those conversations exactly play out. She weighs up their motivations and comments on their contradictions. She positions this deeply human field of work in a deeply human way, which grants the subject a large amount of nuance that isn’t always guaranteed.
Limiting: there isn’t a huge amount of meat here. The last 2 chapters on CSAM and legislation are built on actual numbers, experts, quantifiable trends. A lot of the other chapters have a lot of overlap in what they cover and are driven by describing individual videos or influencers. There’s a level of perverse voyeurism in getting to read about these badly behaved influencers, but I found very little basis for analysis, or much analysis that wasn’t vibes based. Interesting, as this type of conversation usually is, but … not necessarily edifying, I guess? Maybe if you’re someone so completely outside this world this would be hugely illuminating.
Idk. It’s super readable. This is a line of work that needs to be taken seriously, so journalism like this needs to exist to take it seriously.
I guess one final sidebar- I did think it’s interesting that in all the debate over parents vs social media companies about who needs to be stepping up, or doing more, the companies that request children in content aren’t addressed at all? Why has it become normal for companies who used to (and still do) hire child models who are regulated through child labor laws allowed to contractually demand child labor outside of those laws? Feels like a large area to analyze that was left entirely unaddressed and I haven’t seen addressed anywhere else.
Useful: she sees the parents she interacts with as people. She speaks to lots of people over the course of this book, and gives insight into how those conversations exactly play out. She weighs up their motivations and comments on their contradictions. She positions this deeply human field of work in a deeply human way, which grants the subject a large amount of nuance that isn’t always guaranteed.
Limiting: there isn’t a huge amount of meat here. The last 2 chapters on CSAM and legislation are built on actual numbers, experts, quantifiable trends. A lot of the other chapters have a lot of overlap in what they cover and are driven by describing individual videos or influencers. There’s a level of perverse voyeurism in getting to read about these badly behaved influencers, but I found very little basis for analysis, or much analysis that wasn’t vibes based. Interesting, as this type of conversation usually is, but … not necessarily edifying, I guess? Maybe if you’re someone so completely outside this world this would be hugely illuminating.
Idk. It’s super readable. This is a line of work that needs to be taken seriously, so journalism like this needs to exist to take it seriously.
I guess one final sidebar- I did think it’s interesting that in all the debate over parents vs social media companies about who needs to be stepping up, or doing more, the companies that request children in content aren’t addressed at all? Why has it become normal for companies who used to (and still do) hire child models who are regulated through child labor laws allowed to contractually demand child labor outside of those laws? Feels like a large area to analyze that was left entirely unaddressed and I haven’t seen addressed anywhere else.
April 10, 2026
Wow, this book was fascinating! It’s not the first of its kind, and I’ve already read almost all the books the author references, but I do think it’s the best of its kind so far. It’s well-researched, well-delivered, and thorough. I personally have never consumed any kind of parent influencing/ family vlogging content, so the only account mentioned that I knew about was Ballerina Farm. But I’m invested in my demographic of moms in the trenches, so it all really spoke to me.
Her reporting on my church and its members (in Utah) was really uncomfortable and hard to read, but it’s true and it’s important to talk about. I didn’t love all of her takes on tradwives, because although I think performative motherhood (tradwives on the internet who make money acting out their job) is problematic and harmful, I do think it’s valid to *choose* to leave a stable career and be with your kids full time. That’s been my choice, and I genuinely find joy and meaning in the work I’m doing now. It seems like people can’t imagine that anyone could make that choice and not be oppressed.
I’m glad I read this book. I would recommend it to anyone who spends time on social media, particularly parents. I feel a little less compassion for mom influencers than the author concludes at the end, but I still think her conclusion is fair.
Her reporting on my church and its members (in Utah) was really uncomfortable and hard to read, but it’s true and it’s important to talk about. I didn’t love all of her takes on tradwives, because although I think performative motherhood (tradwives on the internet who make money acting out their job) is problematic and harmful, I do think it’s valid to *choose* to leave a stable career and be with your kids full time. That’s been my choice, and I genuinely find joy and meaning in the work I’m doing now. It seems like people can’t imagine that anyone could make that choice and not be oppressed.
I’m glad I read this book. I would recommend it to anyone who spends time on social media, particularly parents. I feel a little less compassion for mom influencers than the author concludes at the end, but I still think her conclusion is fair.
April 18, 2026
I will say it was very interesting in a pop culture kind of way, but especially with all the Epstein stuff … the internet can be a really dangerous place especially for kids.
April 12, 2026
An important book about mommy influencers exploiting their children for views/profit, and what it's like growing up with a camera trained on your most vulnerable moments. Some of the chapters made me feel sick to the stomach. I do wish I had gotten a bit more from this book than I did, but overall I would recommend, since this is a conversation we need to be having.
I ruined my instagram algorithm looking up all the case studies...
I ruined my instagram algorithm looking up all the case studies...
Review of advance copy
Excellent, compassionate, and well-researched
April 23, 2026
A fascinating look into the world of child influencers. The author did an incredible job adding nuance to the conversation - giving empathy where it was needed, criticism where it was due, and shining a spotlight on the horrors that demanded attention. It was a brilliant piece of research, and I loved how she put things into the context of her own experience as a new mom (she deserves a Pulitzer in part for pitching this 7 months pregnant and finishing it 7 months postpartum).
I feel incredibly uneasy about families commodifying their children’s childhoods, but I can appreciate that some of these influencer mothers are working with good intentions within an absolutely shit system to give their children a better life… but is it worth it?
I feel incredibly uneasy about families commodifying their children’s childhoods, but I can appreciate that some of these influencer mothers are working with good intentions within an absolutely shit system to give their children a better life… but is it worth it?
April 22, 2026
Everything I wanted on this topic plus well written = fantastic
April 16, 2026
Fascinating and relevant. The author dives into the often uncomfortable moral and ethical questions associated with children, parents and families showing and performing their private lives - or the illusion of - online.
Who actually benefits from this display of curates lives on social media? (Especially when unachievable promises are being sold.)
Is it a win that women are finally able to monetize the historically unpaid labor of motherhood?
Or is it inherently wrong to capitalize on others insecurities for financial gain?
Who if anyone wins in these absurd para-social relationships? The first time mom desperately buying linked products at 3am to get her newborn to sleep, the children who’s intimate lives are traded for likes and views, or the parent/s who turned their family life into a lucrative business machine?
This topic could easily lean towards shaming parents in the family vlogging or influencing space, yet the author writes with a compassionate directness. She grapples with the social factors that allow the commodification of children’s private lives to financially flourish, how this impacts children’s mental health and social development, and what, if anything, can or should be done to protect children’s right to informed consent.
The author also points out that it would be more productive to transfer at least some of our judgement and disgust at influencers towards the economic system that no longer affords financial stability for families and the ever shrinking middle class. And if we are not ready for that, taking a hard look at social media platforms and questioning why they incentivize content with children. (It is these tech giants in the first place who allow influencers to be so profitable.)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will impatiently wait for more from this author. She provides a sharp sense of reason that is needed as social media replaces traditional outlets and we continue to navigate the evolving frontier of the modern-life-lived-online.
My critiques are few… I would have loved more on late stage capitalism and like always, I needed larger margins for note taking.
Who actually benefits from this display of curates lives on social media? (Especially when unachievable promises are being sold.)
Is it a win that women are finally able to monetize the historically unpaid labor of motherhood?
Or is it inherently wrong to capitalize on others insecurities for financial gain?
Who if anyone wins in these absurd para-social relationships? The first time mom desperately buying linked products at 3am to get her newborn to sleep, the children who’s intimate lives are traded for likes and views, or the parent/s who turned their family life into a lucrative business machine?
This topic could easily lean towards shaming parents in the family vlogging or influencing space, yet the author writes with a compassionate directness. She grapples with the social factors that allow the commodification of children’s private lives to financially flourish, how this impacts children’s mental health and social development, and what, if anything, can or should be done to protect children’s right to informed consent.
The author also points out that it would be more productive to transfer at least some of our judgement and disgust at influencers towards the economic system that no longer affords financial stability for families and the ever shrinking middle class. And if we are not ready for that, taking a hard look at social media platforms and questioning why they incentivize content with children. (It is these tech giants in the first place who allow influencers to be so profitable.)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will impatiently wait for more from this author. She provides a sharp sense of reason that is needed as social media replaces traditional outlets and we continue to navigate the evolving frontier of the modern-life-lived-online.
My critiques are few… I would have loved more on late stage capitalism and like always, I needed larger margins for note taking.
April 19, 2026
“What is more interesting than a perfectly glossy exterior? Apparently the darkness it’s hiding.”
So many mommies (and some daddies) writing, posting, filming, monetising their entire lives and their children’s! This book is about how they produce their content, homeschool their kids in order to schedule filming, and then crash and burn when they make mistakes and their content flops, including teen moms, of course, as well as Mormons. It’s also about the staggering amounts of money they make, which, of course, is the whole point of posting. And it’s also about being cancelled, as well as about the sexualization of kids and pedophilia. There is also a chapter on legislation being passed to protect minors participating in family blogging.
I gotta give it to the author, she does try to dive a little deeper on the tradwife phenomenon and she succeeds. She explains it from a capitalist and feminist point of view and I liked that chapter.
Something very very obvious: these women have help, they have personel helping them. IDK why they all pretend they don’t, because from Asia to LatinAmerica, to Europe, I see mommies propped up by backup personnel and family. IDK why they aren’t more honest about it. Maybe because we are living in the era of the lying president. (Hello, Donnie!!!)
On a related subject, I know I’ll get stoned, (see if I care), but the author is such a whining little thing. I swear I don’t understand women who have a mom, a mother in law, a supportive husband, a part time nanny and a bunch of brothers and sisters pitching in (like the author) AND still complain about motherhood. Just what exactly is she complaining about? How hard can it be for a healthy young woman to do motherhood? She’s got a full support system. And yet, she complains. I swear, I don’t know how she fathoms single moms without family do it, but they manage. Still, she inserts her little whines about motherhood being hard. Get a grip, woman. You’ve got a whole village supporting you. Seriously, what a child!!!
I’d say this is a quick read. I read it in a single sitting on a Sunday. IMO it’s written like a very long Vanity Fair article. I honestly expected more depth than I got, but to be fair she does cover many topics, though not in depth. The writer made many posts on IG prior to publishing the book which is why I expected better content. For me, the marketing campaign leading up to the launch of the book turned out to be better than the book itself.
The author has a very distinctive name. I sure as hell won’t be reading any more of her writings. I’ve also blocked her on my IG. Too much whining, too little depth. I’m sorry, I have better things to do with my time. 🤷🏻♀️
So many mommies (and some daddies) writing, posting, filming, monetising their entire lives and their children’s! This book is about how they produce their content, homeschool their kids in order to schedule filming, and then crash and burn when they make mistakes and their content flops, including teen moms, of course, as well as Mormons. It’s also about the staggering amounts of money they make, which, of course, is the whole point of posting. And it’s also about being cancelled, as well as about the sexualization of kids and pedophilia. There is also a chapter on legislation being passed to protect minors participating in family blogging.
I gotta give it to the author, she does try to dive a little deeper on the tradwife phenomenon and she succeeds. She explains it from a capitalist and feminist point of view and I liked that chapter.
Something very very obvious: these women have help, they have personel helping them. IDK why they all pretend they don’t, because from Asia to LatinAmerica, to Europe, I see mommies propped up by backup personnel and family. IDK why they aren’t more honest about it. Maybe because we are living in the era of the lying president. (Hello, Donnie!!!)
On a related subject, I know I’ll get stoned, (see if I care), but the author is such a whining little thing. I swear I don’t understand women who have a mom, a mother in law, a supportive husband, a part time nanny and a bunch of brothers and sisters pitching in (like the author) AND still complain about motherhood. Just what exactly is she complaining about? How hard can it be for a healthy young woman to do motherhood? She’s got a full support system. And yet, she complains. I swear, I don’t know how she fathoms single moms without family do it, but they manage. Still, she inserts her little whines about motherhood being hard. Get a grip, woman. You’ve got a whole village supporting you. Seriously, what a child!!!
I’d say this is a quick read. I read it in a single sitting on a Sunday. IMO it’s written like a very long Vanity Fair article. I honestly expected more depth than I got, but to be fair she does cover many topics, though not in depth. The writer made many posts on IG prior to publishing the book which is why I expected better content. For me, the marketing campaign leading up to the launch of the book turned out to be better than the book itself.
The author has a very distinctive name. I sure as hell won’t be reading any more of her writings. I’ve also blocked her on my IG. Too much whining, too little depth. I’m sorry, I have better things to do with my time. 🤷🏻♀️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2026
Every single parent that puts their child on a public platform in order to make money - congrats, you are your child’s pimp and deserve to be in jail for child endangerment and creation of CSAM :) no I will not elaborate or allow for nuance. thanks!
also I think the author is FAR TOO generous with the parents who are involved in this. as if we don’t ALL have to work jobs that suck because…we live in a capitalist society. so like yes you choosing to film yourself and post online is…your choice? the same way that going to a job and clocking in to make money is also your choice. why are these parents given more grace?
they are making STUPID FUCKING MONEY and I guess are somehow able to justify pimping their child out for that money. where is the gun to the parents heads that’s forcing them to film and exploit their children instead of going and getting a regular job?? I’ll wait…
I, a complete stranger, should not care more about the safety of your child than you do. and yet, it seems I do. as a victim of CSA I can’t help but weep in frustration for these children who were unfortunate enough to be born to these parasitic families, I genuinely hope you are able to grow up normally or at the very least get the opportunity to rock your parents shit one good time. whichever is more healing for you.
(complete side note. the fact that she spoke to that absolute low life worm Kevin Franke after that passive abuser allowed his sickening wife to do what she did I had to question the author a bit. yes I know he wasn’t charged with anything but knowing and allowing abuse to happen to your children means you are complicit)
also I think the author is FAR TOO generous with the parents who are involved in this. as if we don’t ALL have to work jobs that suck because…we live in a capitalist society. so like yes you choosing to film yourself and post online is…your choice? the same way that going to a job and clocking in to make money is also your choice. why are these parents given more grace?
they are making STUPID FUCKING MONEY and I guess are somehow able to justify pimping their child out for that money. where is the gun to the parents heads that’s forcing them to film and exploit their children instead of going and getting a regular job?? I’ll wait…
I, a complete stranger, should not care more about the safety of your child than you do. and yet, it seems I do. as a victim of CSA I can’t help but weep in frustration for these children who were unfortunate enough to be born to these parasitic families, I genuinely hope you are able to grow up normally or at the very least get the opportunity to rock your parents shit one good time. whichever is more healing for you.
(complete side note. the fact that she spoke to that absolute low life worm Kevin Franke after that passive abuser allowed his sickening wife to do what she did I had to question the author a bit. yes I know he wasn’t charged with anything but knowing and allowing abuse to happen to your children means you are complicit)
April 21, 2026
This book was recommended by a friend, and it was mind-boggling. The author brought up so many different aspects of family vlogging and mom-fluencing that I had never considered before. I really appreciated that she pointed out that her point in writing the book was to bring nuance to conversations on the topic. It really is a much more complex and gray subject than I had expected. My one gripe is that, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I don’t think she allowed the same nuance in the chapter about influencers that are members of our church as she did about other topics throughout the rest of the book. But otherwise, very thought-provoking and well researched.
April 17, 2026
There were some interesting tidbits (The Mormon Church actually pays to support tradwife influencers, really?!), but after a bit it became repetitive (here’s another example and another and another).
It felt like with some editing this could have been a long form magazine article. The author cherry-picked or distorted some statistics beyond recognition to make some political points (what’s new?). Anyway, if one is super-interested in the topics of mom influencers and their income streams then this may be a helpful skim, beyond that I wasn’t impressed.
It felt like with some editing this could have been a long form magazine article. The author cherry-picked or distorted some statistics beyond recognition to make some political points (what’s new?). Anyway, if one is super-interested in the topics of mom influencers and their income streams then this may be a helpful skim, beyond that I wasn’t impressed.
April 13, 2026
3.5 ★
i’m left conflicted after finishing this book. i liked it, i found it readable and i liked how the author’s voice remained present and strong throughout. it’s clearly well researched, and it discusses a number of different perspectives/ examples for each issue. i just cannot shake the feeling that this book would have been greatly improved with some more vigorous editing. this was most felt for me in the amount of repetition. for example, there were a bunch of sections where points or ideas were repeated only pages or paragraphs after they first appeared. the same thing happened with people having their introductions/background repeated each time they were brought back up. certainly there was a more elegant way to do this by grouping the ideas differently, like by case study instead of topic, for example.
basically, this book reads like the first or second draft of a book that will eventually be extremely good, but is just not there yet.
i’m left conflicted after finishing this book. i liked it, i found it readable and i liked how the author’s voice remained present and strong throughout. it’s clearly well researched, and it discusses a number of different perspectives/ examples for each issue. i just cannot shake the feeling that this book would have been greatly improved with some more vigorous editing. this was most felt for me in the amount of repetition. for example, there were a bunch of sections where points or ideas were repeated only pages or paragraphs after they first appeared. the same thing happened with people having their introductions/background repeated each time they were brought back up. certainly there was a more elegant way to do this by grouping the ideas differently, like by case study instead of topic, for example.
basically, this book reads like the first or second draft of a book that will eventually be extremely good, but is just not there yet.
April 16, 2026
Get your kids off the Internet for real!
April 20, 2026
Such a strange time to be alive. This book deftly researches and informs about this path of social media influencers. It was very well done but now I feel exhausted.
April 23, 2026
an objective, well researched look into the world of family vlogging/influencing and the effects it can have on the children involved. such a great read!
April 26, 2026
I have selected this book as Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 4/26, as it stands heads above other recently published books on this topic.
April 23, 2026
Deeply unsettling and exactly what you expect
April 14, 2026
3.5. Repetitive, but necessary
Read
April 21, 2026Well researched and thorough. Such an important topic that should be more heavily discussed.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Listen, I didn't come into Like, Follow, and Subscribe by Fortesa Latifi without some preconceptions. I abhor parents who use their children for online content. It's dangerous, unfair, and incredibly selfish. Needless to say, I wanted this book to be a no holds barred take down of people who put profit before parenting.
This was unfair of me and probably not the best approach in looking at this corrosive phenomenon. Luckily, Latifi is a journalist and thus would put her own feelings to the side. Well, mostly. Latifi does occasionally insert herself into the story as a brand new mom herself, but she didn't use the copious amount of four letter words I would have used.
Latifi's narrative is various chapters which look at how parents could find themselves looking at dollar signs when they look at their kiddos. However, first Latifi throws the reader a wake up call. She looks at the roots of parent blogging which was very much rooted in a positive attempt to connect mothers across the internet. These blogs, well before constant videos and pictures, were a way for mothers to confer on things not discussed in polite society like miscarriages, post-partum depression, and the daily pressures of parenting. This time period of sharing life on the internet was unquestionably a good faith effort to connect and create a community. The thing was, though, that these blogs were about the parents. Now, well, that's a whole different animal.
This is where the rest of Latifi's book takes us. We learn how much money is in the kidfluencing (the very word might give me an aneurysm) industry, the people who are watching these videos, and the multitude of psychological questions which are raised. The numbers are clear. Videos which focus on children get better numbers. Why? Well, at least one answer to that question is sexual predators.
Latifi covers a lot of ground in about 250 pages. It means she is asking a lot of questions without necessarily digging too deeply into each topic area. As someone who has seen a few documentaries and read books by people in this industry, I didn't get a ton of new information. However, I think this could be very eye-opening to someone who hasn't consumed other media on the subject. If you want a rigorous narrative that provides numerous studies and data, then this one may not be deep enough for you. For everyone else, I think this could be just the wake up call that you need.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Gallery Books.)
This was unfair of me and probably not the best approach in looking at this corrosive phenomenon. Luckily, Latifi is a journalist and thus would put her own feelings to the side. Well, mostly. Latifi does occasionally insert herself into the story as a brand new mom herself, but she didn't use the copious amount of four letter words I would have used.
Latifi's narrative is various chapters which look at how parents could find themselves looking at dollar signs when they look at their kiddos. However, first Latifi throws the reader a wake up call. She looks at the roots of parent blogging which was very much rooted in a positive attempt to connect mothers across the internet. These blogs, well before constant videos and pictures, were a way for mothers to confer on things not discussed in polite society like miscarriages, post-partum depression, and the daily pressures of parenting. This time period of sharing life on the internet was unquestionably a good faith effort to connect and create a community. The thing was, though, that these blogs were about the parents. Now, well, that's a whole different animal.
This is where the rest of Latifi's book takes us. We learn how much money is in the kidfluencing (the very word might give me an aneurysm) industry, the people who are watching these videos, and the multitude of psychological questions which are raised. The numbers are clear. Videos which focus on children get better numbers. Why? Well, at least one answer to that question is sexual predators.
Latifi covers a lot of ground in about 250 pages. It means she is asking a lot of questions without necessarily digging too deeply into each topic area. As someone who has seen a few documentaries and read books by people in this industry, I didn't get a ton of new information. However, I think this could be very eye-opening to someone who hasn't consumed other media on the subject. If you want a rigorous narrative that provides numerous studies and data, then this one may not be deep enough for you. For everyone else, I think this could be just the wake up call that you need.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Gallery Books.)
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
“The deeper you get into it, the more you numb out from it. And I think this is probably true for every creator. The biggest fear that they have is losing the influence they’ve gained, so they’ll do anything they can to keep it. There’s no room for misgiving. There’s no room for a conscience at that point.”
Big thanks to Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
That quote is from a former influencer describing how they, and other influencers, have admitted they would do anything for views. It’s a wild revelation, but far from the most shocking details in this book. Fortesa Latifi spent time researching and talking to influencers to piece together this picture of why family vloggers and mom influencers are so popular.
She starts off with “mommy bloggers” who she credits with being the first people to talk about the realities of motherhood. They were relatable and honest, and people felt a genuine connection to them. Soon enough, bloggers were able to add banner ads and monetize their blog which opened a door to influencing as we know it today.
It’s fascinating to hear how these influencers justify posting so much of their children’s lives. They say variations of the same thing and want to seem as though they still protect their children’s privacy. There’s an entire chapter on why so many of these mom influencers are Mormons and it was honestly shocking, but in a way almost not. So many of these influencers are portraying a perfect life and are hiding the amount of help they have in the background. But they’re also filming their children’s personal, intimate, or embarrassing moments which the parents know will garner views. There is such a potential for harm, and it seems that these parents don’t mind if it generates money.
I ripped through this book in two days and would have read it in one sitting if I’d had the time. The book aims to answer if the money, fame, and economic freedom is worth the lack of privacy and exploitation of children. And in the end, I agree with Latifi. It isn’t.
Big thanks to Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
That quote is from a former influencer describing how they, and other influencers, have admitted they would do anything for views. It’s a wild revelation, but far from the most shocking details in this book. Fortesa Latifi spent time researching and talking to influencers to piece together this picture of why family vloggers and mom influencers are so popular.
She starts off with “mommy bloggers” who she credits with being the first people to talk about the realities of motherhood. They were relatable and honest, and people felt a genuine connection to them. Soon enough, bloggers were able to add banner ads and monetize their blog which opened a door to influencing as we know it today.
It’s fascinating to hear how these influencers justify posting so much of their children’s lives. They say variations of the same thing and want to seem as though they still protect their children’s privacy. There’s an entire chapter on why so many of these mom influencers are Mormons and it was honestly shocking, but in a way almost not. So many of these influencers are portraying a perfect life and are hiding the amount of help they have in the background. But they’re also filming their children’s personal, intimate, or embarrassing moments which the parents know will garner views. There is such a potential for harm, and it seems that these parents don’t mind if it generates money.
I ripped through this book in two days and would have read it in one sitting if I’d had the time. The book aims to answer if the money, fame, and economic freedom is worth the lack of privacy and exploitation of children. And in the end, I agree with Latifi. It isn’t.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you @simon.audio @gallerybooks #partner for the gifted copies of this book!
Okay…this one was an eye opening ride 😳📱
This book delivered on what I expected…a bit of a trainwreck but also SO much more thought-provoking and just downright more sad than I anticipated.
I’ll be honest, I picked this up thinking I’d get a behind the scenes look at the chaos of influencer families, and yep…that’s definitely in here. But what really got me was how well the author breaks down how and why people get pulled into this world in the first place. What started as a hobby in the 2010s has turned into something so much bigger (and darker) than most could have imagined.
Full disclosure: I don’t follow mommy bloggers at all (my feed is basically just books 😂) and I didn’t recognize any of the people mentioned but you better believe I was googling as I went because I needed the full picture.
There were SO many moments where I just sat there like…what are we doing here?! I mean…the scene with the father recording instead of calling 911 made me want to smack him upside the head! I physically could not process that. Or the mormon church encouraging it. EEK. Or the fact that many are aware of the risks but continue to post is just heart breaking. We know how algorithms push kids’ content to men and yet people still continue to do it anyway knowing these risks. Money truly is the root of all evil. :(
That said, I really appreciated how balanced this book felt. The author doesn’t just attack these moms. She acknowledges the nuances, the gray areas and how quickly this all spiraled into something no one fully understood at the start.
I do think this is one of those issues that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. People consume this content like crazy it seems but man…you just hope kids’ safety and rights start coming before profit.
All in all, this was incredibly well researched and super engaging read. I could not put it down and flew right through it.
If you’re even a little curious about the reality behind family influencing and “mom blogging”…this is 100% worth the read
Okay…this one was an eye opening ride 😳📱
This book delivered on what I expected…a bit of a trainwreck but also SO much more thought-provoking and just downright more sad than I anticipated.
I’ll be honest, I picked this up thinking I’d get a behind the scenes look at the chaos of influencer families, and yep…that’s definitely in here. But what really got me was how well the author breaks down how and why people get pulled into this world in the first place. What started as a hobby in the 2010s has turned into something so much bigger (and darker) than most could have imagined.
Full disclosure: I don’t follow mommy bloggers at all (my feed is basically just books 😂) and I didn’t recognize any of the people mentioned but you better believe I was googling as I went because I needed the full picture.
There were SO many moments where I just sat there like…what are we doing here?! I mean…the scene with the father recording instead of calling 911 made me want to smack him upside the head! I physically could not process that. Or the mormon church encouraging it. EEK. Or the fact that many are aware of the risks but continue to post is just heart breaking. We know how algorithms push kids’ content to men and yet people still continue to do it anyway knowing these risks. Money truly is the root of all evil. :(
That said, I really appreciated how balanced this book felt. The author doesn’t just attack these moms. She acknowledges the nuances, the gray areas and how quickly this all spiraled into something no one fully understood at the start.
I do think this is one of those issues that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. People consume this content like crazy it seems but man…you just hope kids’ safety and rights start coming before profit.
All in all, this was incredibly well researched and super engaging read. I could not put it down and flew right through it.
If you’re even a little curious about the reality behind family influencing and “mom blogging”…this is 100% worth the read
April 18, 2026
This book was fascinating, and I inhaled it. It reminded me of Monsters by Claire Dederer, both in the subject (who are we calling monsters and why) and in tone. I've always had a morbid fascination with family vloggers (rarely watching them directly), and this book also talks about why so many of us have that fascination. I ultimately found myself surprised at the compassion Latifi has for family influencers and more surprised when I evaluated my own feelings. There are chunks of the book and reasoning that I didn't really agree with or care for (Marxist theories of mommy blogging, anyone?), but Latifi makes many great points too. It's full of interviews from current and former influencers, some anonymous, some not. If you're interested in family vloggers, mommy blogging history, teen mom Instagram accounts, snark pages, or the LDS, you'll probably like this book.
General thoughts:
- I appreciated the chapter on snark communities. I'm sometimes a lurker on those pages, but this book caused me to reevaluate that.
- Why are so many influencers are Mormon? Turns out the Church pays influencers - a lot.
- The surprisingly nuanced discussion on legal protections for children of influencers. It's really hard to legally protect kids of influencers. Unlike child actors, the kids don't ever have off hours, and they don't care as much about money. As a law student, I really enjoyed this chapter.
- One thing I felt weird about was the retelling of the children's traumatic/embarrassing stories. If privacy is so important for these kids, should we be retelling the stories, even if the intent is good?
- The discussion on teen mom shaming was excellent. The interviews in this chapter were so good.
General thoughts:
- I appreciated the chapter on snark communities. I'm sometimes a lurker on those pages, but this book caused me to reevaluate that.
- Why are so many influencers are Mormon? Turns out the Church pays influencers - a lot.
- The surprisingly nuanced discussion on legal protections for children of influencers. It's really hard to legally protect kids of influencers. Unlike child actors, the kids don't ever have off hours, and they don't care as much about money. As a law student, I really enjoyed this chapter.
- One thing I felt weird about was the retelling of the children's traumatic/embarrassing stories. If privacy is so important for these kids, should we be retelling the stories, even if the intent is good?
- The discussion on teen mom shaming was excellent. The interviews in this chapter were so good.
April 12, 2026
Surprisingly even-handed look at family vlogging and the impact of sharing so much of kids' lives with millions of strangers. Latifi acknowledges the existential confusion of growing up online, unable to fully consent to your parents making your most embarrassing moments public. She describes horror stories like the ones portrayed in Netflix documentaries about child abuse and death, and uncovers the unseen nannies, housekeepers, makeup artists, lighting experts, etc. working behind the scenes so the most successful moms look perfect while pretending they did it all by themselves.
But Latifi, a new mom, also admits that "sharenting" videos provided a lifeline during her postpartum loneliness and exhaustion, even if they often made her feel inferior and inept in comparison. And she really hits home when presenting family vlogs as a rational response to 21st century capitalism. If everything is commodified, why not make money off being a mom? Should a single mother without a college education turn down the opportunity to earn hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars? If all of this is so awful, why are we still watching?
P.S. As a Xoomer whose kids were born in the 1990s, I'm bemused by Latifi's claim that before the first mommy bloggers, nobody talked about the challenges of motherhood. We knew, honey, and somehow we survived with our battered copies of What to Expect the First Year and our friends' landline phone numbers.
But Latifi, a new mom, also admits that "sharenting" videos provided a lifeline during her postpartum loneliness and exhaustion, even if they often made her feel inferior and inept in comparison. And she really hits home when presenting family vlogs as a rational response to 21st century capitalism. If everything is commodified, why not make money off being a mom? Should a single mother without a college education turn down the opportunity to earn hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars? If all of this is so awful, why are we still watching?
P.S. As a Xoomer whose kids were born in the 1990s, I'm bemused by Latifi's claim that before the first mommy bloggers, nobody talked about the challenges of motherhood. We knew, honey, and somehow we survived with our battered copies of What to Expect the First Year and our friends' landline phone numbers.
October 19, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.
What an interesting read. I actually came across this book on Instagram before I saw it on NetGalley, so once I saw it was available to request, I hopped on that train so fast. This side of YouTube always interested me, especially since I, like many other people, grew up watching these types of families who vlogged their lives and families and uploaded it for people to watch. But in recent years, there have been a lot of controversies with these vlogger families and people pulling back from posting so much. The allure of making thousands of dollars for essentially recording your lives and allowing other people to watch is crazy.
I appreciate how we get the perspectives of different people who were impacted by this kind of lifestyle. Some people felt more impacted than others; some people felt blessed and didn’t really feel any negative impacts. The author also touches on legislation for the protection of children in these videos and how it’s not super black and white. It’s interesting how the author basically ends this book with “knowing all this, I would never be part of this lifestyle”. I can see why many people want to become famous this way, but I can also see the harms it has—some are more permanent than others.
Overall, I would recommend this book. It’s easy to read and super interesting
What an interesting read. I actually came across this book on Instagram before I saw it on NetGalley, so once I saw it was available to request, I hopped on that train so fast. This side of YouTube always interested me, especially since I, like many other people, grew up watching these types of families who vlogged their lives and families and uploaded it for people to watch. But in recent years, there have been a lot of controversies with these vlogger families and people pulling back from posting so much. The allure of making thousands of dollars for essentially recording your lives and allowing other people to watch is crazy.
I appreciate how we get the perspectives of different people who were impacted by this kind of lifestyle. Some people felt more impacted than others; some people felt blessed and didn’t really feel any negative impacts. The author also touches on legislation for the protection of children in these videos and how it’s not super black and white. It’s interesting how the author basically ends this book with “knowing all this, I would never be part of this lifestyle”. I can see why many people want to become famous this way, but I can also see the harms it has—some are more permanent than others.
Overall, I would recommend this book. It’s easy to read and super interesting
April 8, 2026
Hearing Fortesa’s take on the lives of mom influencers and their children was so eye-opening. Some of the things she revealed were rather shocking and infuriating. As someone who has more than a few opinions about influencers in general. But my thoughts on mom influencers are…unkind, to put it nicely. A lot of the things some of them revealed made my heart hurt for the kids.
Hearing how some families treat their children and how they view influencing/vlogging as a career was fascinating too. I really appreciated all the testimonies from mom influencers, children of mom influencers, and all the different experts that touched on this subject. I loved all the different perspectives, even if I didn’t agree with some of the things said.
Finally, Fortesa’s own thoughts were fair and interesting. It was especially interesting to get her perspective because she was actually a new mom while writing her book. I appreciated her take on being a new mom and how mom influencers affected that journey. She did a great job with this book!
If you’re interested in learning more about mom influencers, child influencers, and the children of mom influencers, this book is definitely one to read.
Hearing how some families treat their children and how they view influencing/vlogging as a career was fascinating too. I really appreciated all the testimonies from mom influencers, children of mom influencers, and all the different experts that touched on this subject. I loved all the different perspectives, even if I didn’t agree with some of the things said.
Finally, Fortesa’s own thoughts were fair and interesting. It was especially interesting to get her perspective because she was actually a new mom while writing her book. I appreciated her take on being a new mom and how mom influencers affected that journey. She did a great job with this book!
If you’re interested in learning more about mom influencers, child influencers, and the children of mom influencers, this book is definitely one to read.
April 12, 2026
The journalism at the center of this was well-researched and as unbiased as such a disturbing topic can be, truthfully. I walked away from this with a more open mind and a lot more understanding for some of why mommy influencers make the decisions they do, which was not a take I thought I would leave with. I appreciate writing that makes me think and question my own stance so I enjoyed the work the author did to provide a holistic perspective for readers to make an informed decision.
Ultimately, if this topic interests you, this is a great piece of journalism that provides you with lots of what you probably already know but also provides insight into why mothers participate in this industry. It separates the original “mommy blogger” and its purpose around the mother’s experience from today’s “child influencer” where the content centers on the child. The author does this in a comprehensive way and provides helpful context around the origins of the beast of children online today. It is also a dark look behind the curtain and confirms a lot of what we know about child influencing and how dangerous it is.
Additionally, an unexpected perk. Her acknowledgments made me cry. Love when mothers are held as it is clear she has been by her village.
Ultimately, if this topic interests you, this is a great piece of journalism that provides you with lots of what you probably already know but also provides insight into why mothers participate in this industry. It separates the original “mommy blogger” and its purpose around the mother’s experience from today’s “child influencer” where the content centers on the child. The author does this in a comprehensive way and provides helpful context around the origins of the beast of children online today. It is also a dark look behind the curtain and confirms a lot of what we know about child influencing and how dangerous it is.
Additionally, an unexpected perk. Her acknowledgments made me cry. Love when mothers are held as it is clear she has been by her village.
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