I’ve been thinking more about the TikTok thing because I agree with something the person on IG said - it IS strange a grown woman looking at videos posted by a 10 year old child. However, I did not view them for entertainment or pleasure, nor to gather information on any individual. I was merely interested to see what such an anti-bullying advocate and warrior saviour would allow their (underage) child to post on a public video site. And, as we all know here, the results were concerning.
If I had stumbled upon a video of a child I didn’t recognise mouthing swear words and miming violence, would I have followed up with their parents and expected them to be held accountable for it? In all honesty, no, I would not have.
The difference is that Tallulah is the daughter of someone who is, as we have seen many times and will continue to do so, very influential. Rachel may not be famous or able to influence millions but a LOT of the people who follow her are clearly very swayed by how she behaves. She is constantly posting links to where she buys things as she says people always ask her as they want to buy the same. And when she posts a small business on her stories, their followers increase immediately as her “crew” clamour to be just like their leader. Which is great, in positive examples.
But when it comes to impressionable children following her daughter and copying her swearing or simulating violence, that’s not good. Tallulah has PTWM in her TikTok name so the association is undeniable, and in recent videos Rachel herself features. She should be making sure that the content posted on that account is suitable for children to view or she should have made it private from the start.
Instead, what she has done is post a video from TikTok to her (again, public) Instagram profile, for all her hundreds of thousands of followers to see. And when questioned why she was allowing her underage daughter to use an app which is known to be highly unsuitable for children, she merely stated that it’s monitored, which undoubtedly means that other parents reading her comments will be persuaded by their own underage children to use the app, because if PTWM thinks it’s ok, with her knowledge of social media and safeguarding and her police officer husband, then it must be fine! And when these kids flock to TikTok to request to follow Tallulah and get accepted, they’ll see some of the less salubrious videos and who knows where that will lead?
In short, she’s behaving irresponsibly. Yes, it is entirely her choice whether she puts her own children at risk by letting them use social media but she should be more responsible when it comes to her role as ambassador/influencer/blogger etc as her actions today have put other children at risk of seeing things that are totally inappropriate.