Utah adds protections for child influencers following YouTuber Ruby
Franke's child abuse conviction
[March 26, 2025]
By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah on Tuesday added new protections for the
children of online content creators following the child abuse conviction
of Ruby Franke, a mother of six who dispensed parenting advice to
millions on YouTube before her arrest in 2023.
Gov. Spencer Cox signed a law under the encouragement of Franke’s now
ex-husband that gives adults a path to scrub from all platforms the
digital content they were featured in as minors and requires parents to
set aside money for kids featured in content. Kevin Franke told
lawmakers in February that he wished he had never let his ex-wife post
their children’s lives online and use them for profit.
"Children cannot give informed consent to be filmed on social media,
period," he said. “Vlogging my family, putting my children into public
social media, was wrong, and I regret it every day."
The Frankes launched the now-defunct “8 Passengers” channel on YouTube
in 2015 and began chronicling daily life as a seemingly tight-knit
Mormon family in Springville, Utah. With its large nuclear families and
religious lifestyles, the state is a hotbed for the lucrative family
blogging industry. The reality show “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives”
brought widespread attention to a group of Utah-based Mormon moms and
TikTok creators known as “MomTok” who create videos about their families
and faith.
The content-creation industry is largely unregulated, but several states
have added certain safeguards in recent years. Illinois, California and
Minnesota have enacted laws protecting the earnings of young creators,
and Minnesota's law includes a similar provision to Utah's that allows
content featuring minors to be taken down.
Son's escape from home leads to investigation
The Franke children were featured prominently in videos posted up to
five times a week to an audience of 2.5 million in 2010. Two years
later, Ruby Franke stopped posting to the family channel and began
creating parenting content with therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, who
encouraged her to cut contact with Kevin Franke and move her two
youngest children into Hildebrandt's southern Utah home.
The women were arrested on child abuse charges after Ruby Franke's
emaciated 12-year-old son Russell escaped through a window and knocked
on a neighbor's door. The neighbors noticed his ankles wrapped in bloody
duct tape and called 911. Officers then found 9-year-old Eve, the
youngest Franke child, sitting cross-legged in a dark closet in
Hildebrandt’s house with her hair buzzed off.
The women were each sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
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This image from video provided by the Utah State Courts shows Ruby
Franke, during a virtual court appearance, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023 in
St. George, Utah. (Utah State Courts via AP, File)
 In handwritten journal entries, Ruby
Franke insists repeatedly that her son is possessed by the devil and
describes months of daily abuse that included starving her children
and forcing them to work for hours in the summer heat without
protection. The boy told investigators that Hildebrandt had used
rope to bind his limbs to weights on the ground and dressed his
wounds with cayenne pepper and honey, according to the police
report.
Hoping to strike ‘content gold’
In a memoir published after her mother's arrest, Shari, the eldest
child, described how Ruby Franke's obsession with “striking content
gold” and chasing views led her to view her children as employees
who needed to be disciplined, rather than children who needed to be
loved. Shari wrote that her mother directed the children “like a
Hollywood producer" and subjected them to constant video
surveillance. She has called herself a “victim of family vlogging”
and alluded in her book to early signs of abuse from her mother,
including being slapped for disobedience when the now 22-year-old
was 6.
Under the Utah law, online creators who make more than $150,000 a
year from content featuring children will be required to set aside
15% of those earnings into a trust fund that the kids can access
when they turn 18. Parents of child actors appearing in TV or film
projects will also be required to place a portion of their earnings
in a trust.
As the Utah Legislature was considering the measure, a new Hulu
documentary titled “Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke”
reignited interest in the case.
At a hearing last month, Kevin Franke read statements in support of
the bill written by two of his daughters, ages 16 and 11. He filed
for divorce shortly after his wife's arrest and petitioned to regain
custody of his children from the state. His lawyer, Randy Kester,
did not respond to email and phone messages over the past week
seeking to confirm whether Kevin Franke had regained custody in the
sealed case.
Eve Franke, the youngest child who police found emaciated with her
head shaved, wrote in a statement to lawmakers that they had power
to protect other kids from exploitation.
“I’m not saying YouTube is a bad thing. Sometimes it brings us
together,” she wrote. “But kids deserve to be loved, not used by the
ones that are supposed to love them the most.”
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