Using Children in Influencer Marketing: Best Practices for Brands in the Age of Digital Child Labour

The influencer marketing industry is standing at an inflection point.

In February 2026, UNICEF published a briefing titled New frontiers in child labour: Why digital risks demand urgent attention. For the first time in a formal global policy context, influencer marketing and monetised content creation were explicitly identified as potential digital child labour risk areas.

That is not a minor footnote, it's a signal flare.

For brands, agencies and talent managers working with child influencers, this changes the landscape. The conversation is no longer just about compliance, brand safety or audience growth. It is about children’s rights, labour standards and responsible business conduct in the digital environment.

At Pepper, we believe this moment demands leadership, not reaction.

What Is “Digital Child Labour” and Why Does It Matter for Influencer Marketing?

Digital child labour refers to work that meets internationally recognised definitions of child labour and is enabled, organised, mediated or amplified by the digital environment.

That includes activity taking place across platforms, apps, algorithms and digital payment systems.

Influencer marketing and monetised content creation now sit within that discussion.

The risk is not that every child who appears online is automatically engaged in child labour. Children create, perform and express themselves online in ways that can be positive, creative and developmentally appropriate.

The concern arises when commercial pressures shift that activity into sustained work.

Risks emerge where:

• Production schedules driven by brand collaborations and platform incentives create sustained work demands that interfere with schooling
• Exposure, harassment or loss of privacy harms a child’s dignity and development
• Very young children have limited ability to refuse participation

In other words, when content creation stops being playful participation and starts resembling structured labour shaped by commercial forces.

That is the line our industry must learn to recognise.

The Commercialisation of Children’s Digital Identities

Digital platforms have created an entirely new economic layer around childhood.

Children’s images, voices and performances can now be monetised through advertising revenue, sponsorships, affiliate links and brand collaborations. In many cases, this activity is organised or mediated by parents or caregivers. In others, children themselves are active participants in platform ecosystems.

The complexity lies in the blur.

Is this creative expression?
Is it permitted light work?
Or has it crossed into child labour?

Digital activities can blur the boundaries between acceptable work and exploitative labour. That ambiguity is precisely why best practice matters. When legal definitions are still evolving, ethical leadership becomes the stabilising force.

Waiting for regulation to force change is a historically common industry pattern. It is also a risky one.

Best Practices for Using Children in Influencer Marketing

Brands searching for guidance on using children in influencer marketing responsibly need more than vague principles. They need operational clarity.

Last year, Pepper developed the Responsible Kidfluence Code to provide structured, industry-led best practice guidance across four pillars:

1. Mental and Physical Wellbeing

Children must not be placed under sustained production pressure. Campaign timelines, content frequency and travel requirements should never compromise education, rest or age-appropriate development.

We advocate:

• Clear limits on production schedules
• Safeguards around filming hours
• Independent oversight where appropriate
• Ongoing assessment of emotional impact

If a campaign cannot operate within child-first boundaries, it should not operate at all.

2. Financial Fairness

Children generating commercial value deserve transparent financial protections.

Best practice includes:

• Clear contractual frameworks
• Trust arrangements where appropriate
• Transparent revenue structures
• Protection against financial exploitation

Commercial success should never obscure the child’s long-term rights and entitlements.

3. Privacy

The permanence of digital identity is often underestimated.

Children cannot fully understand the lifelong implications of searchable content archives, biometric data capture, algorithmic profiling and audience scrutiny.

Responsible brands must:

• Limit unnecessary personal data exposure
• Avoid intimate or overly revealing content formats
• Respect a child’s right to future autonomy over their digital footprint

Privacy is not a marketing obstacle. It is a fundamental right.

4. Safety

Online visibility increases exposure to harassment, exploitation and harmful contact.

While influencer marketing is distinct from the most severe forms of digital exploitation, it exists within the same digital architecture.

Safety protocols must include:

• Moderation strategies
• Platform escalation pathways
• Crisis planning
• Clear safeguarding responsibilities across brands, agencies and caregivers

Responsibility cannot be outsourced to algorithms.

The Regulatory Horizon Is Shifting

Existing child labour frameworks were designed for physical workplaces, not dispersed, platform-mediated environments.

That gap is now under scrutiny.

Labour authorities, child protection stakeholders and digital regulators are increasingly examining:

• Minimum age standards in digital work
• Thresholds for hazardous digital activity
• Cross-border platform responsibility
• Business obligations under child rights frameworks

Influencer marketing is no longer a regulatory blind spot. It is part of a global conversation about children’s rights in the digital economy.

Brands that embed responsible practice now will be structurally stronger when formal standards evolve.

Why Industry Leadership Matters Now

Historically, influencer marketing reform has followed public scandal or legal intervention.

The formal recognition of influencer marketing as a potential digital child labour risk area marks a pivotal shift. The debate has moved from niche ethical discussions to international policy forums.

This is the moment for proactive change.

If you work in:

• Influencer marketing
• Talent management
• Brand partnerships
• Platform governance
• Advertising regulation

You are operating within an ecosystem that shapes children’s digital labour conditions.

The question is not whether children will continue to participate in digital content creation. They will. The question is whether that participation is structured in a way that protects their education, wellbeing, dignity and future autonomy.

Moving Forward: Responsible Kidfluence in Practice

At Pepper, we believe responsible kidfluence is not a constraint on creativity. It's a framework for sustainable innovation.

When campaigns are built around child-first principles:

• Trust increases
• Reputational risk decreases
• Regulatory resilience strengthens
• Long-term brand equity improves

The digital economy is evolving faster than regulation. That means ethics must travel ahead of enforcement.

The future of influencer marketing will be defined not by reach or impressions, but by whether the industry can demonstrate that it understands the difference between participation and exploitation.

Children deserve that clarity, and so does the industry that works with them.