In 2020, mommy vlogger Ruby Franke's 8 Passengers YouTube channel was at its peak. In 2024, Franke was sentenced to four consecutive one-to-15-year terms in prison for second-degree aggravated child abuse.
Her popular and lucrative vlog featured every aspect of her children's lives, whether the children were being humiliated, disciplined, or unwilling participants or not. The revelations that came out after her arrest led to widespread scrutiny of parents who force their children's lives onto video to create online content, seeking virality and fame.
A person unwilling to participate in a neighbor's content creation turned to the "Am I The A**hole" (AITA) subReddit for feedback.
Tuniya_Hn asked:
"AITA for refusing to appear in apology video?"
The original poster (OP) explained:
"A week ago a neighbor (16, female) unintentionally scratched my car with her bike. She immediately stopped, started crying, and called her mother for assistance. Scratch appeared worse than it actually was and in store, it was simply polished away for a small amount.
"Since it was an accident and a very minor one, I didn't charge the girl or her mom. When she apologized, I told her it was alright and advised her to be extra cautious next time, especially around cars."
"A few days later, her mother wrote that her daughter still feels a bit bad and wishes to offer more sincere apology. I wrote that everything is good and I don't have any problems with them."
"She said they would only deliver a cake as a small act of peace. I agreed and thought, 'okay that would be sweet'."
"When they arrived, the girl was holding a cake box in her hands, and her mother had a phone. The girl began muttering about taking responsibility and putting things right, but it appeared as though she wanted the earth to engulf her."
"Then her mom quietly said, 'Now give him the cake and ask if he accepts your apology'. I looked at her again and asked if this was being filmed."
"Her mother said that she wanted to make a video as it serves as an excellent illustration of how young people can take responsibility for their actions. She said she could hide my face, but she needed to video me accepting the apology from her daughter."
"I took the cake and told the girl that everything was okay between us and that I had already accepted her apology that day. Then I turned to her mom and said I didn’t want to be part of the video."
"She started arguing with me, said that I could have just let her finish properly, but in the end I just went home."
"Girl's mom is upset with me now and doesn't even say hello when she sees me. For the sake of good neighbor relations, perhaps I could have waited 30 seconds."
"But I don't like how a simple apology was transformed into a scene, girl seemed really uncomfortable, I was filmed without my permission, and I might have looked after it was published as someone who demands apologies from kids."
"That girl look really sad and embarrassed. She was forced to do it, no doubt."
"AITA?"
The OP summed up why they might be the a**hole in their situation.
"I might be an a**hole because I could have just let the girl finish the apology on camera for 30 seconds, as now her mom is angry with me. I also may have made her feel more embarrassed by refusing to do it than she already was."
Redditors weighed in by declaring:
- NTA - Not The A**hole
- YTA - You're The A**hole
- NAH - No A**holes Here
- ESH - Everyone Sucks Here
- INFO - more information needed
Redditors decided the OP was not the a**hole (NTA).
"Congratulations, you just survived your first 'momfluencer' in the wild. She’s exploiting her child for online content for her mommy vlog, hoping to go viral with a staged apology video."
"These parents that stage and exploit every moment of their children's lives for content are disgusting parasites. Look up Ruby Franke to see their natural progression."
"NTA. Thanks for looking out for the girl's well-being since her mother won't." ~ MohawMais
"Phones are truly the bane of our collective existence nowadays. Id be upset if I was the girl with my mom showboating my 'integrity' for her stupid mommy vlogger content." ~ CarlDaBoozbag
"I wonder how many years it'll take before that mom is on some estranged parents forum wondering why her daughter never talks to her." ~ Nyxelestia
"That's really creepy. And bad parenting." ~ Flat-Replacement4828
"Parents using children as props for social media fame should be outlawed." ~ Flat-Replacement4828
"Parents shouldn't be allow to do this kind of public humiliation for engagement farming." ~ AccountNameNeeded
"I would consider being petty enough to have someone with a phone filming me going up to the mom and asking why she had to not only try to embarrass her own kid for an accident that they had already apologized for and you had forgiven, and why they think it’s okay to spring filming on people with no forewarning just to shame their own kid?"
"Ask was it for the likes? To show how great of a parent you are? Or to lord over your kid forever, since the Internet is forever?"
"Just to see what sort of 'content' you could make out of her being caught off guard for her a**holery." ~ chicken-nanban
"I’m not saying you should report this to child protective services, but I’m not not saying that parents should be reported for forcing their children to engage in performative skits to have their likeness posted eternally on the internet in videos they are extremely uncomfortable and coerced into performing in with strangers so mommy can get content for her vlog." ~ 1000LivesBeforeIDie
"That girl's whole school would have seen the video within a few days. Not to mention that it sounded like immediately after the scratch happened the girl was immediately remorseful and apologetic. No further lesson needed, just content creation farming for likes and follows." ~ INeedAReverseHarem
"NTA, OP actually handled the daughter part really well. Accepted the cake, told her it was already forgiven, and let her leave with dignity."
"The mom turned what could have been a simple closure moment into a content creation opportunity with a clearly uncomfortable teenager. Not wanting to appear in a video you didn't consent to, that might be published online, is quite rational." ~ Mariusz_Bobek
"This lady was 10,000% going to post that on social media. Right message—'if you f*ck something up, make it up to the person'—but totally wrong motive and way of going about it."
"It’s insane to me how parents think it’s OK to document their children’s worst/most private moments and to eternalize them on the internet just to flex their A+ parenting for likes online." ~ lostmymarbles1177
"NTA that mom wasn’t making a video to show that young people can take responsibility. She was making a post so that the internet could give her kudos for publicly shaming her daughter. That poor girl." ~ fabulousautie
"The girl cried at the scene, looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her, and was visibly uncomfortable the entire time. Her mom's response to all of that was to keep filming. That tells you everything about who this video was actually for—mommy's online followers." ~ Vegetable_Ask_357
"It stopped being about the apology the moment she pulled out the phone and turned it into content instead of a simple sincere moment." ~ Distinct-Smile-9621
"NTA. This has absolutely nothing to do with the girl and her apology. The neighbour wants to do some performative parenting for social media." ~ Thick_Rich8726
"Yeah, this sh*t is nuts. When I read stuff like this, it's no wonder so many people enter adulthood confused about their identity and purpose in life. It's sad." ~ Freakocereus
"The ironic part is that there must have been some actual good parenting at some point, because the daughter did exactly what she should have done when the accident happened: took responsibility and sincerely apologized."
"A lot of kids would have just kept on going and OP would never have known where the scratch came from. That the mom would reward that behavior by publicly shaming her daughter just for social media content is sad." ~ Appropriate-Bar-2822
Several states are considering laws to limit the hours children can be forced to film content for their parents, restrictions on the exploitation of children, and laws outlining the distribution of the money parents make off their children.
Ruby Franke's estranged oldest daughter is an activist for influencer children's rights.
Shari Franke is a vocal advocate against the exploitation of children in the family vlogging industry. After surviving severe abuse in the million-dollar-making "8 Passengers" household, she now works to protect minors from facing the childhood exploitation she endured.
The family vlogging and "kidfluencer" industry is noted by financial and legal experts to be a multibillion-dollar global industry. With millions of dollars on the line, and no safeguards like there are for child actors, the potential for abuse and theft of assets is high.
