Fame Under Fire
Episode: Molly-Mae, Bambi and the ‘Sharenting’ Grey Zone
Host: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty
Date: October 23, 2025
Brief Overview
This episode explores the heated debate around “sharenting”—the practice of parents sharing content about their children online—using UK influencer Molly-Mae Hague’s new documentary as a focal point. The conversation unpacks how much is too much when it comes to publicizing a child’s life, who gets to profit, legal protections (or the lack thereof), and the lasting ramifications for children growing up as social media stars. The episode features expert insight from Claire Bessant (Associate Professor, Northumbria University Law School) and US trial attorney Sean Kent, examining the topic through the lenses of law, ethics, and culture.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. The Bambi Controversy: Privacy vs. Entertainment
[01:09–03:28]
- Molly-Mae Hague faces criticism for how much of her daughter Bambi’s life is shared in her new Prime Video series, notably including a scene where Bambi has an accident during bath time.
- The clip prompts concerns about Bambi’s dignity and privacy being compromised for entertainment.
- Audience members express discomfort, predicting that Bambi may be embarrassed or harmed by having such intimate childhood moments forever online.
- The hosts discuss how Bambi is becoming a viral feature in Molly-Mae’s content—sometimes for utterly childlike, raw moments like “plotting” to bite classmates.
Notable Quote:
“I love Molly-Mae, but I find her new series really uncomfortable to watch. And I feel like Bambi's dignity and privacy has been massively compromised in the name of entertainment.” — Anonymous listener [02:25]
2. What Is ‘Sharenting’ and Where Are the Lines?
[03:28–05:01]
- Sharenting becomes the center of analysis: parents sharing children’s lives for personal, social, or commercial reasons.
- The big questions: Should children (who cannot consent) receive a share of profits? Where’s the ethical line between family life and digital exploitation?
3. What Does the Law Say? UK vs. US
[05:01–08:42]
UK (Claire Bessant):
- No specific laws in England targeting sharenting.
- Existing privacy laws and data protection aren’t tailored for child-parent situations, especially since children can’t really use the laws against their own parents for household-level sharing.
- Data Protection regulation can help children erase content shared on a commercial basis, but most sharenting falls outside this.
US (Sean Kent):
- Child actors have been protected by Coogan's Law (since 1930s)—producers must put aside a portion of a child’s earnings in a trust.
- Newer laws (California, Utah, Illinois): if a child features in at least 30% of monetized online content, 65% of their share must go into a trust.
- Difficulty enforcing rules as social media evolves faster than legislation.
Notable Quote:
“They said, look, mom, dad, if you're putting your kid in any of these videos and they’re in at least 30% of the video, you must give the kid 65% of the money you make.” — Sean Kent [07:28]
4. Is the Backlash Warranted?
[09:00–10:41]
- Claire Bessant notes the media backlash may have worsened potential harms by amplifying the content further.
- Suggests parents ask themselves, “How would I feel if this was shared about me?” before posting about their kids.
Notable Quote:
“If someone did something like that to me, I don’t think I would feel comfortable… It’s a question of just thinking sensitively about how would I feel if I was in that situation.” — Claire Bessant [09:45]
5. The Psychological Unknowns
[10:42–11:10]
- Sean Kent worries about long-term psychological effects, emphasizing developmental stages (0–7, 7–14, 14–21) and the potential for scars children might carry from becoming online content before they can understand it.
6. Employment, Consent, and the Law
[12:14–14:02]
- Discussion: If a child is featured in monetized family content, are they essentially being employed by their parent?
- Sean Kent: Yes. The law is starting to catch up—children may even be able to sue parents for “hostile work environments” related to social media content, and they’d have years to do so after reaching adulthood.
Notable Quote:
“If you are taking money for the content they’re creating, they are your employee.” — Sean Kent [12:31]
7. The UK’s Grey Zone: Laws and Norms
[15:22–17:18]
- UK unlikely to see parent-child legal battles; practically and culturally, it’s hard to separate parental life from a child’s life.
- As sharenting is normalized, it erodes the “reasonable expectation of privacy” for everyone.
Notable Quote:
“By the time that children today become adults, it's really hard to know how the courts would deal with that. Would they say, actually this is just a normal part of life, you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy anymore?” — Claire Bessant [16:58]
8. New Dangers: AI, Identity Theft, and Likeness
[18:07–19:30]
- Data shared online can be used to train AI, clone voices, or facilitate identity theft in ways parents and children never imagined.
- Examples given: AI training with children’s images, scam calls using cloned voices.
9. The Prospect of Future Lawsuits
[19:30–22:55]
- Sean Kent: Expects a wave of litigation as first-generation “influencer kids” (like Cam Barrett in the US) grow up and realize real harm—bullying, loss of privacy, parental profit at their expense.
- Protecting children means thinking of them as vulnerable, not simply as smaller adults.
Notable Quote:
“Mom, you thought it was funny… but you were destroying me. Here are my therapy notes… Yeah, I could see those happening now.” — Sean Kent [22:13]
10. What Should Be Done? A Call to Action
[23:22–25:04]
- France has already legislated: platforms must inform parents and children about the risks before uploading kids’ content; children may exercise a “right to be forgotten.”
- Claire Bessant: Advocates for more information and education, plus easily accessible mechanisms for children to remove content once they’re old enough.
Notable Quote:
“Children know they have this right… When people use my information, they're all ideas that we could maybe take forward.” — Claire Bessant [24:40]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------------|----------------------------------------------------| | 02:25 | Listener (anon)| “Bambi’s dignity and privacy has been massively compromised in the name of entertainment.”| | 07:28 | Sean Kent | "If you're putting your kid in any of these videos... you must give the kid 65% of the money you make."| | 09:45 | Claire Bessant | "If someone did something like that to me, I don’t think I would feel comfortable."| | 12:31 | Sean Kent | "If you are taking money for the content they're creating, they are your employee."| | 16:58 | Claire Bessant | "By the time that children today become adults... do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy anymore?"| | 22:13 | Sean Kent | "Mom, you thought it was funny… but you were destroying me. Here are my therapy notes..."| | 24:40 | Claire Bessant | "Children know they have this right... When people use my information..."|
Important Segment Timestamps
- 01:09 – Show introduction, Molly-Mae/Bambi controversy
- 03:28 – ‘Sharenting’ concept and consent questions
- 05:01 – UK legal perspective on sharenting
- 06:06 – US laws (Coogan’s Law, new influencer protections)
- 09:00 – Is the uproar over Molly-Mae’s show justified?
- 10:42 – Child psychology and potential harm
- 12:14 – Employment & legal liability for influencer parents
- 15:22 – UK cultural/legal grey zones
- 18:07 – Dangers: AI, identity theft
- 19:30 – Predicting lawsuits from influencer kids
- 23:22 – International response, France’s model, call to action
Closing Thoughts
The episode strikes a balance between empathy for parents navigating a new digital world and concern for the rights and well-being of children drawn into online fame. With humorous moments and thoughtful hypotheticals, the hosts and guests lay bare the legal and ethical murkiness of ‘sharenting’, advocating for clearer laws, better education, and open debate—before the next digital generation grows up with the consequences.