Being a red state (紅州，政治上偏保守的州), the legislator there is very skeptical (懷疑的) about intruding (干涉、侵犯) into family life with government regulations, with laws, so it’s a big surprise that Utah just became the first state to pass a law (通過法律) that requires online influencers who use their children to market their brands to set aside (預留、保留) money for the kids. And the law also grants (授予) the kids to take down all contents that they deem (認為) inappropriate once they reach adulthood.

So why did a conservative state like Utah go out of their way to enact (制定) a law which they would normally consider an intrusion into family life? The bill was actually lobbied (遊說) and written by two daughters of a former Utah mom influencer, Ruby Franke.

Many of you may not know this, but Utah is actually home to many popular mom influencers in the US. It has long been a family-first (以家庭為重的) kind of state due to a large percentage of its population being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormon. The Mormon community has encouraged big family which usually has at least six kids and women to stay home as primary caregiver. Even though women mostly stay home, they are encouraged by the church to financially contribute to the family from home. So they have come up with all sorts of family business models.

And since the American public have long been curious about (對…好奇) the lifestyle of Mormon, vlogging has become a popular way for wives here to capitalize on (利用…來賺錢) the curiosity. Ruby Franke is one of the popular mom influencers.

Ruby Franke is a mother of six kids, and was married to Kevin Franke, an engineering college professor. Around 2015, they decided to start a YouTube channel which they named Eight Passengers because of the number of people in the family. The channel quickly took off (起飛，爆紅) and eventually it garnered (獲得) almost 3 million subscribers.

Ruby chronicled (紀錄) the daily life of the family. People were fascinated by (被…吸引) their home life and how Ruby and Kevin raised their kids based on the teaching of the Mormon theology. The camera was constantly rolling, and every moment of kids’ lives was exposed (曝光) to the public, including their most humiliating (羞辱性的) moments. Ruby was making good money from the videos.

But sometime around 2020, this perfect family image started to disintegrate (瓦解). Viewers began to notice some inappropriate content and comments made by Ruby. For example, once Ruby got into a pretty serious car accident with all her six kids in the car, but throughout the accident, she continued filming. Her kids’ distraught (心煩意亂) and distress (痛苦、困境) were all captured for viewers to see. And some viewers also noticed some of the punishments (懲罰) that Ruby issued to her kids were unusually severe, such as depriving them of food or bed to sleep on.

Fast forward to (快轉到) 2023, Ruby and Kevin separated, and Ruby moved in with her therapist, taking two of her youngest kids. And the Eight Passengers YouTube was shut down.

Then everything was even more bizarre (怪異的) and scarier when in 2023, one of the youngest kids escaped (逃跑) and knocked on a neighbor‘s door, asking them to call the police. The kid looked malnourished (營養不良的) and scrawny (瘦弱的). The police went to Ruby’s house and found the second kid. They also discovered Ruby and her therapist had been depriving kids of food and forcing them to work in hot sun, and all in the name of turning them into “good, obedient” kids.

Last year Ruby was sentenced to (被判刑) 30 years in jail, pleading guilty (認罪) in all counts of child abuse. But that’s not enough for Ruby’s oldest daughter, Sheri. She wants all kids like her to be protected by law. According to her own statement, “every video shoot remained a special kind of torture (折磨).”

We see all these YouTube or IG videos of happy families but we really don’t know the truth behind the images.

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