Iran's absence of regulation is seeing children as young as toddlers exploited online as desperate families use unscrupulous measures to make ends meet amid the country's economic crisis.

Children, often as young as toddlers, are being used to create content for social media on platforms such as Instagram with some posts earning as much as $200 for better known 'influencers,' the equivalent of an average month's salary in Iran.

The desire for visibility, fame, and most importantly, income, is at the heart of the trend. Some parents generate revenue by documenting every aspect of their children’s lives since their birth.

Research done by Iran International on some of these pages shows that advertising rates can vary. A story to advertise a product might cost around $100, but if the child plays with a toy or wears the advertised diapers, the cost can rise to $200. Depending on the promotion method, prices can range between $10 to $1000.

"Child labor in the digital space, where children are engaged in income-generating activities while dressed neatly and fashionably, has been overlooked by many," wrote Nazila Ansaripour, a social affairs expert from Isfahan, in a report by Mehr News Agency on Sunday.

Until a few years ago, child labor involved things like selling flowers and gum at intersections or those working in underground workshops.

However, the emergence of social networks such as Instagram has led to the concept of virtual child labor. Children are placed in front of a camera by one or more family members to produce content for social media due to their beauty, charm, or skill.

The business of sacrificing childhood

This instrumental use of children, according to experts, can lead to disorders in their interactions with peers. When all of a parent's thoughts and behaviors focus on exploiting the child, it is expected that the child's needs will not be met, leading to potential anger towards their parents in adulthood.

"When a child grows up to become a CEO or engages in political activities, that photo or video is not deleted. This can lead to various social and psychological pressures on that person," Samaneh Savadi, a law expert from the UK's University of Sussex in Brighton, told Iran International.

Shadi Ramez, a psychiatrist, told Iran International it also impairs personal development. “A way to ensure healthy development in children is to give them the chance to define their identities without any conditions through trial and error. Unfortunately, child influencers lack this opportunity because they are pressured to maintain a persona created for them on social media, preventing them from experiencing trial and error.”

Government apathy or complicity?

Iran’s government, notorious for its heavy-handed internet censorship, is conspicuously silent on the issue of child exploitation on social media. While websites critical of the government are swiftly shut down and dissidents relentlessly pursued, platforms rife with child exploitation continue to flourish.

Although laws were approved in 2020 to protect child laborers in Iran, no practical steps have been taken to enforce them. Some observers believe that the government is fully aware of these practices but does nothing to stop them. Instead, they focus on censoring political dissent while such abusive practices continue unchecked.

While the country continues to spiral into poverty amid global sanctions, according to Iran's Parliament Research Center, 15% of the country's children are now engaged in labor activities.

At least 10% of these working children do not have the opportunity to attend school, depriving them of essential educational opportunities, the report revealed last year.

In 2017, out of nine million Iranian children, 499,000 were considered "active," signifying that nearly half a million children in the country were either engaged in labor or searching for work.

But the latest report suggests that the population of working children has now reached approximately 1.35 million, based on an estimated 15% involvement in child labor as the country's crisis escalates.