A popular mom-centric creator on TikTok has apparently made the decision to stop posting as many clips of her children online. TikToker Maia Knight (@maiaknight), a single mom of twins whose content regularly featured her kids, has begun to cover their faces in publicly shared clips of them and make videos about her life—rather than her twins.
However, some of her followers weren’t happy with this decision and expressed how they yearned to see the mom’s children again. One fan’s statement disturbed another TikTok user by the name of Sarah (@mom.uncharted), who regularly comments on child influencer safety.
Sarah said the response of Knight’s fans is “weird,” using the situation to highlight how complete strangers can start to feel a sense of entitlement and ownership over other people’s children.
@mom.uncharted There are so many reasons to maintain your child’s right to privacy, informed consent and safety online- strangers developing parasocial relationships with your children should be a red flag to parents that you are oversharing #socialmedia #influencers #parents #sharenting #parasocialrelationships #parenting #parentsoftiktok #privacy #privacymatters #exploitation #exploitationawareness #vloggers #keepkidssafe #protectthechildren ♬ original sound – mom.uncharted
Sarah says in her now-viral TikTok, “This is weird. It’s not funny, it’s not cute, but it articulates how deep and uncomfy these parasocial relationships are, specifically one’s that adults are developing with people’s children.”
At this point in the video a text overlay pops up on Sarah’s clip offering up further context into the situation: “A popular influencer is apparently sharing her children less and this is the reaction from her Stans”
The TikToker then began playing alleged audio from said “stans” who are upset that they cannot see the faces of Maia’s children any longer.
“I just miss my babies,” one woman can be heard saying. “And I know that now we get to see like sneak peeks of the boyfriend which is great, it’s fine, I’m so happy for her. Um, but where are my babies? And can we start seeing them again? No? Can we get an explanation why? No, I’m so invested in them. I feel like we’ve gone through their hating milk and starting solids and diaper rashes and sleep routines and messing up the house and petting the dogs, sleeping in the car [at] McDonald’s…we’re invested now can we see them again? Maybe for Christmas?”
The Daily Dot has reached out to both Sarah and Knight via email for further comment.
Some viewers of Sarah’s post said that if they were Knight, seeing reactions like this would ultimately help reaffirm their decision not to post clips of their children on social media.
Others were jarred by the response Sarah highlighted, like one user who commented, “You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to even act what she said out as a dramatic monologue.”
Some were glad to learn that Knight had made the decision to watch what she shares of her children. “I’m SO glad that Maia has made the conscious decision to keep her kids faces off social media; but unfortunately, it seems like it might be too late :/,” one user wrote.
A few users echoed the sentiment that it may be “too late” to curb people’s obsession with Knight’s children. “Glad she’s hiding them now but people warned her for a year that her kids were being posted on awful sites and she made fun of it. :-/,” another shared.
Knight is just one of several parent creators who’ve consciously decided to cut off the digital footprint of their children. As NBC reported in November, several parents are concerned for the safety and privacy of their kids online, issues that exacerbate with virality and widespread followings.
