Have you ever heard about The Royalty Family, The LaBrant Family? What about the Prince Family? Maybe you know the popular ACE Family? If you haven’t heard about these family channels, then good, because they should not exist or should not be watched.

Since Youtube’s rise in 2015, Family channels have become popular within the platform. Family channels are often a group of adults with their children video blogging (vlogging) their daily life, which is often portrayed as glamorous and still humble, according to The Gavel,. However, family channels have been criticized for click-baiting titles and thumbnails, scamming their fanbase, and being accused of exploiting their children by many on the Youtube platform, particularly commentary channels, channels that comment on political and social events, as well as the Youtube community.

In October 2021, Newsweek reported a video made by vlogger Jordan Cheyenne was posted, which demonstrated her trying to make her 7-year son “authentically” cry after the passing of their dog. Despite her content not being a family vlogging channel, viewers were against the exploitation of her child. However, she’s not the only one.

Many of these Youtube Family channels have staged pranks like “PRANKING My Parents For a Whole Day PART 2! **SHOCKING**”, clickbait titles such as “GOOD BYE…OUR LAST VIDEO ON YOUTUBE!”, and using their children for views as “Brother and Sister SKIP SCHOOL, What Happen is Shocking / The Beast Family”.

One of the most successful, but controversial family channels is The ACE Family, which has approximately 18.9 million subscribers and has gained a reputation for its scamming techniques orchestrated by the two adults, Austin McBroom and Catherine Paiz. Last year, they went through a financial crisis, being evicted from their $10 million dollar home due to not paying the mortgage, a boxing event called Social Gloves made by Austin McBroom leading him being sued for failing to pay influencers and artists that participated in the event, with Catherine Paiz also being sued for trying to take over the cosmetic beauty company that was promoting her 1212 Gateway skincare, as well as because of poor customer service packaging.

During the early months of the pandemic, I became interested in watching commentary channels, in which through these channels I discovered more about family channels, particularly The ACE and Prince Family. It disturbs me how many of these channels are able to manipulate their young audience into believing in them, regardless of all the drama that’s reported against them. Regardless, people must be aware of channels that act too good to be true, because they’re not.