The WDR5 program “Curiosity is Enough – The Feature” explores the topic of family influencers, examining how much insight they provide into their daily lives and how they portray their children. For this episode, editor Lisa Rauschenberger interviews influencers, a child advocate, and researchers.
Dr. Stephan Dreyer contributes a media law perspective. He discusses the findings of the HBI study, “Portrayal of Babies and Toddlers in Monetized Social Media Profiles,” published in spring 2026. The analysis of 201 posts shows that children appear in less than half of the examined photos and videos. When they appear, children often do not play a leading role. Instead, they might run through the frame or be seen as a baby in a carrier while the mother speaks to the camera.
Although some parent accounts feature young children who play an active role and interact directly with the camera, two-thirds of posts with children obscure their identities. For example, parents may show their children from behind or cover their faces with emojis. Stephan Dreyer views this as a positive sign.
“We see that parents are aware that they’re putting their children in the public eye and therefore prefer not to make them identifiable. The public debate about showing one’s children online has had an effect.”
The program “Neugier genügt – das Feature” [Curiosity is Enough: The Feature] is only available in German in the ARD audio library, ARD SOUNDS.