US YouTuber’s viral Thailand adoption controversy resurfaces on TikTok, shocking viewers
- Nikki Phillippi, who has 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube, had hoped to adopt a child from Thailand with her husband Dan in 2018
- But policies that would have prohibited them from sharing content about the child on social media for a year made them change their minds
Footage of lifestyle and family influencer Nikki Phillippi saying she and her husband were halting their adoption plans is resurfacing on social media and leading to a renewed backlash against the couple.
In the full video on YouTube, they also said they were unhappy about the length of the adoption process, as it would take a year to finalise, and added that they didn’t want to cause “harm or repercussions to other people, and an entire organisation for that matter” if they broke the social-media rule.
“Does anybody remember this? She still has over a million subscribers on YouTube,” a caption on the TikTok, which received 5 million views, read.
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In the video, Nikki said, “Here’s the situation, Thailand has its own law that’s unique to it that after you pick up your child and they are your child you are not allowed to talk about them or share any images, photos, videos, anything about them online for a year.”
Dan added, “I mean, Nikki’s got a YouTube channel, we share a whole lot.”
“When that hit, we literally were like, ‘What?’” Nikki said.
This is not the first time the clip has resurfaced and caused backlash. In 2021, the video was also uploaded on Twitter and went viral in response to a controversy around the Phillippis putting down their dog, which led to accusations of animal cruelty and resulted in online users discussing old controversies the influencer was involved in.
Holt International, the adoption agency that the Phillippis said they worked with at the time, said in an email in May 2021 that the social-media policy is part of Thai adoption law, which restricts the release of an “adopted child’s information, photos, videos and films to mass media or internet before finalisation by Thai law”.
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Nikki Phillippi did not immediately respond to request for comment at the time, or a renewed request for comment regarding the latest backlash to the clip.
Influencers are increasingly receiving backlash over concerns about the ethics of filming young children. Family vloggers have previously been accused of exploitation for posting videos of their children, due to concerns about whether those children can consent to being filmed. Some parents have deliberately chosen not to spotlight their kids on the internet as a result.
In May last year, Britain’s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee released a report expressing concern that child content creators are “being used by parents and family members as a source of revenue, affecting their privacy and creating security risks”. Meanwhile, in March, the French National Assembly approved draft legislation to protect children’s rights to their own images.
