About two weeks ago in Utah, a 12-year-old boy escaped from his home through a window and ran to his neighbor’s house. The boy appeared malnourished and had duct tape wrapped around his ankles. He asked his neighbor for water, food and help. The neighbor immediately contacted the police. The boy’s mother was arrested and has been charged with six counts of felony child abuse. As it turns out, she is a relatively well-known influencer.
The child was Mason Franke, one of six children of Ruby Franke, a popular family style vlogger and “momfluencer” who ran a YouTube channel called 8 Passengers which she started in 2015. The family influencer trend has been prevalent for some time now. Other notable family influencers include the LaBrant Family and the ACE family, both of whom have come under fire for their parenting practices and the alleged exploitation of their children for views.
The 8 Passengers channel outlined the Frankes’ family life, mormon practices and strict parenting tactics. Since the arrest, the account has been deleted by YouTube. The streaming site stated the termination of the channel came “in accordance with [their] creator responsibility guidlines.” Franke’s channel had over 2.5 million viewers before it was banned. Franke’s business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, was also charged with six counts of child abuse.
Unfortunately, the allegations are not very surprising to many who have watched the Passenger 8 YouTube channel. Many viewers were made uncomfortable by Franke’s unconventional parenting style. She frequently admitted to withholding food from her children until their chores were completed. In one video, Franke tells viewers that her kindergartener, who is in charge of packing her own lunch, had forgotten to do so. Franke explains that the child’s teacher had called her and told her that her daughter did not have any food and was hungry. Franke stated, “I responded and just said Eve is responsible for making her lunches in the morning and she actually told me she did pack a lunch, so the natural outcome is she’s just going to need to be hungry.”
Franke also made her children maintain the mindset that nothing in life was theirs. The children were allocated no personal property. They can be seen discussing the fact that their bedrooms are not their own; they are their mother’s rooms which they are permitted to use. Their clothes and phones are only lent to them by their parents, and are at risk of being taken away at any time. Not even their beds are sacred. In one video, Franke’s oldest child, Chad, tells viewers that his mother took away his bed as punishment for playing a prank on his brother. Chad said that it had been seven months since she took it away, saying “I was sleeping on a beanbag since October.” His mother laughed in response. Another video shows Franke refusing to wake her kindergartener up for school, saying that it is her responsobility to wake herself up. Franke’s older daugther took it upon herself to wake, dress, and ready the kindergartener for school.
These videos did not go unnoticed. Franke’s treatment of her children sparked concern in many viewers. In 2020, some viewers who were deeply worried created an online petition in order to bring attention, ideally from child protective services, to the videos. The petition gained over 18,000 signatures.
In the wake of the petition, Franke began posting less frequently. Soon, she entered into a business with Jodi Hildenbrandt, founder of ConneXions. They began making videos together discussing parenting and more hot topics. The two women would frequently come under fire for disturbing comments about their beliefs and what children owe their parents.
In the preliminary hearing on Sept. 6, many media streams crashed due to the overload of viewers who tuned in to watch. Recently, celebrity court hearings have been drawing much press. Both the Johnny Depp/ Amber Heard case and the Gweneth Paltrow case were heavily streamed worldwide. It can be assumed this case too wil have much press and viewership as the horror of the family’s stories unfold in court. Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildenbrandt’s next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 21, 2023.
