Viral Video of Bullied Child

After 9-year-old Quaden Bayles’ mother, Yarraka, posted a video of him on Facebook, things escalated quickly. The video, which showed Quaden crying about being bullied when his mom picked him up from school, went viral, racking up millions of views. (1, 2)

In the now-deleted video, Quaden broke down about being bullied for achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. Quaden was distraught and can be heard asking for a knife to take his own life. (1, 2)

“I’ve just picked my son up from school, witnessed a bullying episode, rang the principal, and I want people to know — parents, educators, teachers — this is the effect that bullying has,” Quaden’s mother, Yarraka, said in the video. (1)

“This is the impact that bullying has on a 9-year-old kid that just wants to go to school, get an education, and have fun,” Yarraka said in the video. “But every single freaking day, something happens. Another episode, another bullying, another taunt, another name-calling.” (1)

Outpouring of Support

Yarraka posted the video on Facebook on Wednesday, February 19, 2020. Within just a few days, the video of Quaden crying after being bullied had been viewed 25 million times. And celebrities, including Hugh Jackman and Cardi B, reached out with messages of support. (1)

Brad Williams, an American comedian who also has achondroplasia, set up a GoFundMe page to send Quaden and his mother to Disneyland. Donations quickly exceeded the original goal of $10,000, with more than 20,000 donating more than $460,000. (1, 3)

The Bayles family has since said that, rather than taking the vacation to Disneyland, they would donate the money to charities that get to the heart of the issues that Quaden is facing. They reported that the money would go to Dwarfism Awareness Australia and the Balunu Healing Foundation. (2)

Children’s Right to Consent and Privacy

But this is not the first time Quaden has been the subject of a viral video posted by his mother. In October 2014, when Quaden was just three years old, Yarraka shared a video of him yelling, “Stop looking at me!” to a group of girls staring at him. That video also went viral, and Yarraka discussed it during an appearance on the Australian show Studio 10. She also spoke about fighting against the stigma associated with dwarfism. (1)

And in 2015, Quaden made another television appearance on Living Black, a show about the Australian indigenous community. Quaden is of aboriginal descent. The show documents a surgery to relieve pressure on Quaden’s brain and spinal cord. On the show, Yarraka discusses her decision to document and share about her son’s dwarfism. (1)

Because of Quaden’s television appearances, his experience with a parent sharing his life on social media is unique and more extreme than others. But the most recent video that his mother shared of him crying about bullying raises questions for all parents about the ethics of sharing their children’s lives online. 

Children’s Digital Identities

In the age of social media, many parents are creating digital lives for their children long before they can say their first word. Internet-security firm AVG conducted a study that found that almost 25% of children’s online footprints begin when their parents share their sonograms on social media. And 92% of toddlers under 2-years-old already have a digital identity. (4, 5)

“Parents now shape their children’s digital identity long before these young people open their first email. The disclosures parents make online are sure to follow their children into adulthood,” says a report by the University of Florida Levin College of Law. (6)

The problem with this is that these digital identities are created without children’s consent. An article from The Atlantic proclaims that it’s now a rite of passage for tweens and teens to Google themselves. Some learn for the first time just how much of their life has been documented online. And they don’t always like what they see. (4)

I think we can assume that Yannaka’s heart was in the right place when she posted the video of Quaden. But he’s still a 9-year-old child who can’t yet conceive the long-term impact of the exposure the video brought to him. As we decide each day whether or not to post about the children in our lives, let’s ask ourselves, “Ten years from now, will they want to find this on Google?” (1, 4)