Child’s privacy versus mother’s fame: unravelling the biased decision-making process of momfluencers to portray their children online

Many privacy concerns are related to influencer sharenting, or the practice of influencers sharing content about their children on social media. This study uncovers how momfluencers (i.e., mothers who collected a large following on their social media channels by sharing insights of their motherhood experiences) reflect on these privacy concerns and examines how these concerns rationally and/or biasedly impact their sharenting behaviour. By conducting in-depth interviews with 20 Flemish momfluencers on Instagram, this study reveals that, while they are concerned about their child(ren)’s privacy and take some privacy-related measures to protect it, cognitive biases (unconsciously) reduce their risk perceptions. As such, privacy risks are perceived as relatively abstract and distant because the majority of them have not (yet) personally experienced them. Additionally, a privacy-openness paradox occurs in which mothers tend to lose the explicit and immediate benefits of influencer sharenting when protecting their child(ren)’s privacy, further stimulating them to disclose personal details. These results show that children derive little to no benefits from their mothers’ influencer activities, yet are the ones carrying the potential privacy risks.