Sharenting on TikTok: Exploring Parental Sharing Behaviors and the Discourse Around Children's Online Privacy

Since the inception of social media, parents have been sharing information about their children online. Unfortunately, this “sharenting” can expose children to several online and offline risks. Although researchers have studied sharenting on multiple platforms, sharenting on short-form video platforms like TikTok—where posts can contain detailed information, spread quickly, and spark considerable engagement—is understudied. Thus, we provide a targeted exploration of sharenting on TikTok. We analyzed 328 TikTok videos that demonstrate sharenting and 438 videos where TikTok creators discuss sharenting norms. Our results indicate that sharenting on TikTok indeed creates several risks for children, not only within individual posts but also in broader patterns of sharenting that arise when parents repeatedly use children to generate viral content. At the same time, creators voiced sharenting concerns and boundaries that reflect what has been observed on other platforms, indicating the presence of cross-platform norms. Promisingly, we observed that TikTok users are engaging in thoughtful conversations around sharenting and beginning to shift norms toward safer sharenting. We offer concrete suggestions for designers and platforms based on our findings.