Why Utah Is Regulating Mom Influencers

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Journal – "Why Utah Is Regulating Mom Influencers"

Release Date: March 31, 2025

Hosts: Kate Linebaugh, Ryan Knutson, and Jessica Mendoza
Produced by: The Wall Street Journal & Gimlet
Co-Produced by: Spotify and The Wall Street Journal

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Introduction to Utah’s Mom Influencer Phenomenon

The episode opens with host Kate Linebaugh introducing the burgeoning trend of mom influencers in Utah, showcasing their daily lives and family activities on social media platforms. This niche has seen remarkable growth, capturing the fascination of audiences nationwide.

Notable Quote:

Kate Linebaugh [00:05]: "There's a corner of social media that's become really popular and it includes moms in Utah who share their families day to day lives."

The Rise and Appeal of Traditional Family Content

Expert insights reveal that Utah mom influencers predominantly share content centered around traditional home life. Videos often feature cooking, cleaning, gardening, and other domestic activities, resonating with viewers who appreciate the authenticity and relatability of these depictions.

Notable Quotes:

Unnamed Influencer Expert [00:23]: "This whole scene of mom influencers has just exploded in Utah."

Unnamed Influencer Expert [00:57]: "It's all about very traditional home life, I would say. So, you know, there's videos of people cooking for their kids... gardening, all stuff around the home."

The appeal is further amplified by Utah's cultural backdrop, where a significant portion of the population belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). This community values large families and often sees women as primary caregivers, making influencer roles a natural extension of these traditions.

Notable Quote:

Unnamed Influencer Expert [04:16]: "Utah has a really different image than a lot of states. I would say they're really proud of their families and they're really a family first kind of state."

Monetization and Business of Influencing

The influencer industry in Utah is not just a social phenomenon but a lucrative business. Influencers earn revenue through advertising, brand partnerships, and product endorsements, turning their online presence into a substantial income source.

Notable Quote:

Unnamed Influencer Expert [01:38]: "This whole thing is a whole money making venture... making their whole family livelihood on YouTube and Instagram."

The Ruby Franke Scandal: A Turning Point

The tranquility of Utah’s influencer scene was shattered by the Ruby Franke scandal, which exposed severe child abuse within a prominent influencer family. Ruby Franke, a mother of six and face of the YouTube channel "8Passengers," faced public scrutiny after revelations about her harsh disciplinary methods came to light.

Notable Quotes:

Kate Linebaugh [02:04]: "But Utah's influencer industry is about to change because last week the state passed a new law that aims to protect the children in these videos."

Unnamed Influencer Expert [06:09]: "Ruby Franke is a mother of six... to about 2.5 million subscribers, had over a billion views on YouTube."

The scandal escalated when one of Ruby's sons appeared at a neighbor's doorstep, severely malnourished and in distress, leading to Ruby's arrest and a subsequent investigation that confirmed widespread abuse.

Notable Quote:

Unnamed Influencer Expert [09:57]: "Ms. Franke... pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse."

Ruby Franke was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, marking a significant moment in the discussion around influencer responsibilities and child protection.

Legislative Response: Protecting Child Influencers

In the wake of the scandal, Utah lawmakers moved swiftly to introduce and pass legislation aimed at safeguarding children appearing in influencer content. State Representative Doug Owens spearheaded the bill, which mandates that families earning over $150,000 annually from social media must place a portion of their earnings into a trust fund for their children.

Notable Quotes:

Unnamed Influencer Expert [14:45]: "So, you know, child actors in Hollywood... but this is the wild west right now. There are no protections."

Unnamed Influencer Expert [16:42]: "What the law says is that if children appear in videos and their parents make more than $150,000 a year off social media, that they have to put some money away in a trust for their kids."

Additionally, the law grants children the right to remove embarrassing or harmful videos once they reach adulthood, addressing long-term privacy concerns.

Industry and Public Reaction

The response from Utah’s influencer community was notably muted. Most influencers refrained from commenting on the new regulations, with many prioritizing profit over regulatory compliance. However, the absence of a united front against the legislation highlighted a shift in the industry's willingness to accept necessary changes for child protection.

Notable Quotes:

Unnamed Influencer Expert [15:41]: "The influencers in Utah are very quiet about this law... they did not take the stand of opposing the bill."

Sherry Franke’s Advocacy and Memoir

Ruby Franke’s daughter, Sherry Franke, emerged as a vocal advocate for child protection in influencer spaces following her family's downfall. In her memoir, "House of My Mother," Sherry provides a harrowing account of her experiences growing up under constant surveillance and abuse, shedding light on the psychological toll of being an influencer's child.

Notable Quotes:

Zuzia Ellenson [12:01]: "For me, every video shoot remained a special kind of torture... puberty is brutal enough, let alone with an audience."

Sherry Franke [13:24]: "She wanted to go through the changes in her life... not be plastered all over the Internet."

Sherry’s advocacy efforts culminated in pushing for legislative changes, emphasizing the need for legal protections for children in the influencer industry.

Future Implications and Conclusion

Utah's groundbreaking law sets a precedent for other states to follow, potentially transforming the landscape of social media influencing across the United States. As more states consider similar legislation, the role of child influencers and the responsibilities of their parents will undergo significant scrutiny and regulation.

Notable Quote:

Unnamed Influencer Expert [17:32]: "I think protecting children is pretty uncontroversial... So that's something to watch."

The episode concludes by highlighting Sherry Franke’s continued advocacy and the broader implications of Utah's regulatory measures on the influencer economy and child protection standards.

Final Notable Quote:

Kate Linebaugh [19:07]: "At the end of last year, Sherry Franke posted on Instagram that she was going to get married and that it was the end of her sharing her private life. She said she will continue to be an advocate for children."

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Key Takeaways:

• Growth of Mom Influencers: Utah has become a hotspot for family-oriented social media influencers, leveraging traditional home life content to build substantial online followings.

• Monetization and Business Models: Influencers in Utah monetize their content through advertising, brand partnerships, and product endorsements, creating a profitable industry.

• Ruby Franke Scandal: A significant event that exposed severe child abuse within an influencer family, leading to legal repercussions and public outcry.

• Legislative Action: In response to the scandal, Utah enacted laws to protect children in influencer families, mandating financial safeguards and granting privacy rights to children.

• Advocacy and Future Trends: Sherry Franke's advocacy underscores the need for continued protection of child influencers, with potential for nationwide legislative changes.

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This detailed summary encapsulates the critical discussions and insights from "The Journal" podcast episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened to the episode.

Transcript

[Kate Linebaugh]

There's a corner of social media that's become really popular and it includes moms in Utah who share their families day to day lives.

[Zuzia Ellenson]

Here is a day in the life on Lake Powell for a family vacation with my in laws.

[Kate Linebaugh]

So today we are going to be showing you our gender reveal video.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Come along with me as I feed the calves at the dairy barn tonight with the kiddos. This whole scene of mom influencers has just exploded in Utah.

[Kate Linebaugh]

That's our colleague Zuzia Ellenson.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

I mean, I don't think there's a place elsewhere in the US where there's more popular family influencers.

[Kate Linebaugh]

How would you describe the kind of content that comes from a lot of the mom influencers in Utah?

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

So it's all about very traditional home life, I would say. So, you know, there's videos of people cooking for their kids. Welcome to the Valerian Farm kitchen. Today we are making sourdough bread. We're gonna do cleaning, gardening, all stuff around the home.

[Kate Linebaugh]

I'm just gonna walk you through the products I use and the methods I use to clean my house. We are all so tired from apple picking today. I don't know.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

And a lot of these families are enormous and there's just this incredible fascination across America with the intimate details of these people's home lives.

[Kate Linebaugh]

And so these influencers can take that fascination and make money out of it?

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Oh, yeah. I mean, this whole thing is a whole money making venture. Not only do they make money through their advertising on social media, there's a lot of brand partnerships. All of them sell some sort of products that they endorse. It's a very big business. I mean, we talk to people who went from just posting a couple videos to making their whole family livelihood on YouTube and Instagram.

[Kate Linebaugh]

But Utah's influencer industry is about to change because last week the state passed a new law that aims to protect the children in these videos.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

And why is that? I'll tell you why. It's because of a huge scandal involving a woman named Ruby Franke.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Welcome to the Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Kate LINEBAUGH. It's Monday, March 31st. Coming up on the show, the Ruby Franke scandal and how Utah is trying to stop it from happening again. Foreign.

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[Kate Linebaugh]

One of the things that makes these Utah mom influencers popular is where they come from.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Utah has a really different image than a lot of states. I would say they're really proud of their families and they're really a family first kind of state. And so I think this, this whole influencer boom made everyone pretty happy because they're sort of showcasing the thing they care about the most and they're making money doing it.

[Kate Linebaugh]

A large percentage of Utah's population are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. Historically, this Mormon community has encouraged big families and some women stay home as primary caregivers. Zusia says blogging or influencing has been appealing to a lot of Mormon moms.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

You know, we talk to people familiar with the whole scene there and they said it sort of fits in nicely with a lot of Mormon traditions. One is chronicling family life. You know, that's been a long standing tradition. The other thing is that wives in the Mormon community have long been encouraged to sort of contribute financially to the household from home. There's a lot of multi level marketing companies out there where women do that kind of work while raising the kids. And this is another avenue where women could stay home and also bring in some money for the family.

[Kate Linebaugh]

What kind of curiosity are these influencers tapping into?

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

So it's twofold. I mean, one is that people are just always curious about the Mormon way of life. It's also tapping into this rising curiosity about so called tradwives. And these are women who stay home who dedicate their lives to raising children and homemaking, putting that ahead of, you know, a career.

[Kate Linebaugh]

One mom who tapped that curiosity is Ruby Franke. About a decade ago, she came on the Utah influencer scene when it was just getting started. Good morning passengers. I wanted to share a tip with you that I have learned over the years from being. Oh good. Can you introduce us to Ruby?

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Ruby Franke is a mother of six, was married to Kevin Franke and they were living in small town in Utah when they decided to start a YouTube channel back in around 2015 or so and they called it 8Passengers because of the number of people in their family. And it got really popular very quickly. They grew, you know, in about five years, they grew to about 2.5 million subscribers, had over a billion views on YouTube. People were fascinated by their home life and how they raised their kids, and the family was making a great living off it. To the outside world, it seemed like this picture perfect Mormon family from Utah.

[Kate Linebaugh]

What about the kids? Like, what were they like?

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Well, the one we know best is Sherry. She's the oldest daughter, and she had some of the most memorable moments. One particular viral moment was her mom was waxing her eyebrows, and her mom accidentally ripped off half her left eyebrow.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Ouch.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

And the mom sort of was like, oh, I'm so sorry.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Sherry's crying.

[Zuzia Ellenson]

Are you crying? I see the tear.

[Kate Linebaugh]

I'm so proud of you.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

And, you know, it was a viral sneeze. It was like these kind of embarrassing moments that seem to really attract the attention of viewers. But sometime around 2020, things fell apart. The picture perfect Utah family unraveled after one of their sons got on there and casually mentioned that he'd been sleeping on a beanbag chair for seven months in the basement as punishment for being defiant. And this was just sort of mentioned in one of the videos very casually. But viewers grew very alarmed. And then they started picking up on other instances of punishment that they thought was cruel and unusual to the kids.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Some viewers noticed that after one of the kids forgot their lunch at home, Ruby Franke refused to bring it to school. And after another viewer set up a change.org petition, child protective services were called on the Franke family. In 2022, the couple separated. Ruby took the youngest kids and moved in with a therapist, and they started building a new business together. As this was going on, the 8Passengers YouTube channel was shut down.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

And then things got ratcheted up just to an extreme level in 2023, when one of Ruby Frankie's sons escaped a house that she was living in with her new business partner and showed up on the doorstep of a neighbor. He was emaciated, malnourished. He had duct tape around his ankles and his wrists, and he was asking if she could take him to the police station, the nearest police station.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Police went to the house and found a second child. They arrested Ruby Frankie and her partner and opened an investigation.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Police investigated Ruby Frankie and her new business partner, and they found that they were really abusing the two youngest kids who were living at this house. They were depriving them of food. They were making them work in the hot sun without shoes. They were beating them. It was just awful, horrific. Child abuse.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Prosecutors said the two women appeared to believe that the abuse was necessary to teach the children how to, quote, properly repent for imagined sins and to cast the evil spirits out of their bodies.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Ms. Franke, how do you plead? To count one, aggravated child abuse, a second degree felony.

[Zuzia Ellenson]

Guilty.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Frankie pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse.

[Zuzia Ellenson]

Guilty.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

And to count six, aggravated child abuse, a second Degree felony.

[Zuzia Ellenson]

With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children. Guilty.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Last year, Ruby Franke was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison. But her daughter Sherry wanted to see more protections for other children like her. And she would take that fight to the state capitol. That's next.

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[Kate Linebaugh]

In January, Ruby Franke's 22 year old daughter Sherry published a memoir. It's called the House of My Mother. In it, Sheri describes how her mother bribed and coerced her into embarrassing moments. Here's Sherry reading from the book.

[Zuzia Ellenson]

For me, every video shoot remained a special kind of torture. I could never get used to it or relax. It was like one of those recurring nightmares where you're suddenly naked on a stage with a sea of eyes staring back at you, mocking. I mean, puberty is brutal enough, let alone with an audience.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

What do we see? We see all these YouTube and Instagram videos of a happy family. But what she tells us is what really went on behind the scenes. And this is even before the abuse escalated to extreme levels. Right. She had this extreme pressure on herself to just be a good girl and do what her mom said. And she talks about sort of her mental health struggles because of that, the anxiety, depression, all that sort of thing. On top of the actual, you know, performative aspect of it, this constant surveillance of the cameras. There was all these disgusting online comments, you know, people talking about really gross sexual stuff involving her and other people. I just can't. Can you imagine being a teenager being you Know, having to read all this.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Stuff or having your friends read it.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Yeah, your whole life is out there.

[Kate Linebaugh]

In her memoir, Sherry mentions the eyebrow waxing incident and how mortified she was when she saw her reflection in the mirror.

[Zuzia Ellenson]

Ruby kept the camera rolling, zooming in on my face like she was documenting a rare species of unibrowed teen in its natural habitat. The money shot. Indeed.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

She talked about one time being very violently ill, and that was another viral video moment. And she said she, you know, in retrospect, like the fact that her mom took advantage of that. So really gross, obviously, so all these moments. But the overarching theme was this idea. You know, she was in a precarious preteen and teenage years during this whole time. And just, you know, she. She wanted to go through the changes in her life, have her zits, do all this stuff in private, not be plastered all over the Internet.

[Kate Linebaugh]

After her mother was sentenced last year, Sherry pushed for legislation in Utah. Then State representative Doug Owens proposed a bill last fall.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

I spoke to the bill's author, Doug Owens. He talked a lot about how, you know, the Ruby Frankie scandal was an outlier. But I think what emerged from the scandal was sort of the working conditions that these kids have on a regular basis, how their whole life is spent, you know, taking videos and performing for the camera, how they feel this anxiety. So it really opened the floodgates of what the experience growing up in an influencer family was like for kids. And I think that really drew the attention of state lawmakers who said, we need to protect them.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Weren't there any protections for these kids?

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Yeah, that's the really interesting thing about the story. So, you know, child actors in Hollywood, they long have laws to protect their financial interests and protect their working conditions because they're working. But this is the wild west right now. There are no protections. And I mean, let's be honest, it's these kids that are making these people popular, and yet they're not being paid, they're not being protected, anything.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Three other states, California, Illinois, and Minnesota, have all passed laws to give more rights to children who appear online. And as this law was gaining traction and being discussed in Utah, what were the other influencers saying about it?

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

So the influencers in Utah are very quiet about this law. In fact, we contacted a number of family influencer channels to see if they would talk to us. None of them wanted to talk except for one. One of their representative got back to us and said, how much would you compensate this mother for the interview? And I had to Break it to her that we're not in the business of paying people for interviews. So you could see they're all hustling. They're trying to make money. So obviously they don't want that money to stop. That's something I'm sure they don't want. But at the same time, these content creators did not take the stand of opposing the bill, which is interesting. You could have seen them saying, absolutely, this is going to be a hindrance to a really important industry in Utah. They didn't. I think the Ruby Frankie scandal sort of really caused everyone to pause and take a deep breath and say, we do need to do something, even if this is how we make our money.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Last week, Utah's governor signed the bipartisan bill into law.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

What the law says is that if children appear in videos and their parents make more than $150,000 a year off social media, that they have to put some money away in a trust for their kids. Sort of like how child actors are paid. And then the other thing it does is it gives kids the right when they turn 18 to go to court and take down any embarrassing videos that, you know, they don't want on the Internet when they're an adult. So this is a really dramatic step in Utah. Utah is a red state, and the legislator there is very skeptical about intruding into family life with government regulations, with laws. So it's a big surprise that you're seeing regulations of a family activity in Utah.

[Kate Linebaugh]

Do you think there will be more states passing laws like this?

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Yeah, I do, because their legislation is proposed in a number of other states. All the states that have passed this law have had no trouble doing so. I think protecting children is pretty uncontroversial. I think where it'll get interesting is if this gains a lot of momentum and whether or not the big social media giants will get involved more. So that's something to watch.

[Kate Linebaugh]

I know it's something totally different, but there was a certain age where I stopped posting pictures of my kid on social media.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Yeah. Why did you stop doing that?

[Kate Linebaugh]

I think it just felt like an intrusion.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Yeah.

[Kate Linebaugh]

In his life, you know, he doesn't have a say in it. The voyeurism and social media is, I guess, a little corrosive.

[Unnamed Influencer Expert]

Right. You could see both sides of it in this Utah story. Right. On the one hand, you see these families who are able to make a living off, you know, the way they raise their kids in this very interesting, authentic life they have out there. You could see that it could be helpful in exposing other people how to, how to raise their own kids. So there are positives to it that you could see. But when you look at it from the kids standpoint, I think it's harder to understand those, those benefits. And Sherri Franke talks a lot about this in her memoir. Kids really have no say in the matter. And so to give them a say, she felt was a powerful thing to to do.

[Kate Linebaugh]

At the end of last year, Sheri Franke posted on Instagram that she was going to get married and that it was the end of her sharing her private life. She said she will continue to be an advocate for children. That's all for today. Monday, March 31. The Journal is a coproduction of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. If you like our show, follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We're out every weekday afternoon. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.