Did you know that tweens are funding their birthday parties from predators?

“There’s a certain type of individual who would be donating to this birthday party,” the terrified mum says in her viral warning to all parents.

“This is a first.”

That’s how Sarah Adams, who goes by @mom.uncharted, began her most recent video addressing the latest trend of tweens crowdfunding their birthday parties.

It might sound innocent enough, but apparently it's a predator's dream, because in exchange for their donations, the girls promise things like, "Tonnes of fun footage and reels of [us] hanging out and enjoying life together.”

In other words: potential child exploitation material. 

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"At this point I shouldn’t be shocked but I AM SHOCKED," Adams captioned the video. Image: @mom.uncharted

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"Predators crowdfunding birthday parties"

The fact that this is new information for Adams, who’s made it her mission to shed light on internet-based child exploitation, says something about how insidious this trend is.

The mum-of-two and advocate referred to it as “predator crowdfunding birthday parties” and believes that awareness is the most effective way to tackle the issue.

Adams is no stranger to "calling things out for what they are”, having previously exposed “mummy-run accounts” and “kidfluencer” pages for attracting predators too.

And in her newest clip, she backs up her latest claim by showing the follower analytics from posts the girls are using to get funds from strangers.

On one page, which she believes is run by a “13 to 14-year old,” her research shows that 82% of that girl's 280,000 followers are male.

Their average ages are between 25 and 34, according to the stats.

“I think it’s okay to assume that there’s a certain type of individual who would be donating to this birthday party,” Adams says.

“Anonymous…male…” she reads as she scrolls through the list of donors, who’ve contributed various amounts between $ 20 USD and $250.

"Predatory behaviour of our young girls is now normalised"

According to the girls' bios, tweens are promising content in exchange for donations - and they make that clear.

@mom.uncharted noted that one child “has the subscribe button” and they also monetise photos of themselves on “private websites.”

She drives her point home by warning: “Child exploitation is rampant on social media.

“The hyper-sexualisation of our young girls is out of control. Predatory behaviour towards our young girls and children is becoming almost normalised and accepted.”

She also calls out parents for “allowing and requesting their predatory audience to pay for their child’s birthday.”

“What is happening, where are we, I want to get off this f***ing ride," she concludes. 

The demographics of the followers (left) and the fundraising pages' bio (right) Image: @mom.uncharted

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"Keep fighting the fight until this ends"

Adams' followers were equally concerned and enraged. "Keep fighting this fight until this ends," one viewer encouraged.

Another replied, "I agree with you 100%. Thank you for making these videos and bringing this to our attention."

And this comment expressed everyone's disbelief: "I will never understand how parents can do this to their kids!" 

Others called it "sickening," "dystopic" and "insane."

"I can't believe this is happening in plain sight," another added. 

Many parents also raised the issue of their own kids having their image shared online by their friends who monetise their birthdays in this way.

This woman asked, "Do the other parents know their children may be included in these photos?!? So even if I do my best to protect my kids they could be subject to this..."

This post was updated in September 2023.

Originally published as Did you know that tweens are funding their birthday parties from predators?