When Children Become Content: Introducing the “Kids as Content” Toolkit

2025

When Children Become Content: Introducing the “Kids as Content” Toolkit

Children are increasingly present on social media — not just as users, but as content. Whether through parenting blogs, family influencers, or child-focused accounts, young people are being featured online in ways that raise important questions about privacy, safety, labour, and wellbeing.

To help navigate this complex reality, the University of Essex has developed the Kids as Content Toolkit — a practical, research-based tool designed to assess the risks associated with sharing child-related content online. Built around six key risk categories, the toolkit explores issues such as financial exploitation, educational impact, family boundaries, and the child’s right to dignity and identity. It’s structured through real-life influencer-style profiles, giving users a chance to see these risks from the perspective of both the child and the audience.

Whether you’re supporting young people directly, designing information services, or simply aiming to understand the digital landscape they grow up in, this resource offers valuable insights for your work and strengthens youth safeguarding.