An Update on Our Family, a new docuseries on HBO, explores the complex, popular and potentially lucrative world of family vlogging. Inspired by features writer Caitlin Moscatello’s 2020 article Un-Adopted, the three-part documentary series unpacks the rise and fall of Ohio-based vlogger parents Myka and James Stauffer and the sudden online disappearance of their adopted son.
Weaving together YouTube footage of the Stauffers and other family vloggers, as well as insights from YouTube consumers, vlogging experts, adoption specialists, and parents, the series provokes a salient conversation about privacy on the internet, the nuances of transnational adoption, and the unregulated industry of monetizing one’s family.
“This documentary series is premiering more than four years after I first reported on the Stauffers for New York, not to mention more than four years since I’d first heard the term ‘family vlogger,’ and it’s somehow even more relevant now than it was then,” said Moscatello, who also served as a co-executive producer of the series. “In the aftermath of the story being published, we saw state lawmakers propose legislation to give the kids of content creators more agency. And this past summer, a law in Illinois went into effect that aims to financially protect the children of content creators. But for the most part, the business of family vlogging is still the Wild West. The children on these YouTube channels don’t have the protections provided to child actors. Family vlogs continue to be popular, even in the wake of horrific cases such as Ruby Franke, the former family vlogger who is now in jail for child abuse, which I’ve also reported on for New York. To me, the question of whether or not these children are being exploited has an obvious answer. The deeper questions fall around not only the creators, but also their audiences, sponsors, and most crucially, the platforms that profit from this unregulated industry. In An Update on Our Family, directed by Rachel Mason, we were able to explore these topics in even greater depth.”
An Update on Our Family debuted Wednesday, January 15 on HBO and is available to stream on Max. New episodes will debut on subsequent Wednesdays through January 29. The documentary had its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival and is a Vox Media Studios production.
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