Fiction – paperback; Europa Editions; 300 pages; 2023. Translated from the French by Alison Anderson.
Children’s right to privacy in the Internet age is at the heart of Kids Run the Show, a provocative novel — part crime thriller, part social commentary — by French writer Delphine de Vigan.
The story focuses on Mélanie Claux, a young mother of two, who exploits her children online for financial gain.
It is set against a backdrop of calls to regulate the commercial exploitation of children by their parents and to classify the activity as work. In fact, in 2021, France introduced a law to protect “child influencers” on social media because it regards it as a form of child labour, which is already outlawed. The legislation is designed to protect the rights of children who are making money online via online platforms and the Internet.
Mélanie, a failed reality TV star (she got voted off Loft Story, France’s first reality TV show, an adaptation of the Big Brother franchise, early in the first season), is desperate for love and attention. Unable to achieve it for herself, she sets about achieving it vicariously through her children via a YouTube account called “Happy Recess”.
Here she posts cute videos of 8-year-old Sammy and 6-year-old Kimmy, which go viral, attract millions of “likes” and rack up the follower numbers. Happy Recess becomes so successful it generates enough money to support both Mélanie and her husband, Bruno, who live in a beautiful apartment full of beautiful objects, many of which are “freebies” sent to them for review or endorsement purposes.
Kidnapped for ransom
But when Kimmy disappears while playing hide-and-seek with other children in their apartment building early one evening, Mélanie’s carefully curated life begins to fall apart.
At 21:30 Mélanie Claux received a short private message on her Instagram account. The sender, whose name was unknown to her, had no followers of their own. Everything indicated that the account had been created with the sole purpose of sending her the following message: “Kid missing, deal coming,” which confirmed the theory of kidnapping for ransom. (page 33)
The case is referred to the Paris Crime Squad and investigative officer Clara Roussel has the thankless task of trawling through hours and hours of Happy Recess YouTube videos, looking for clues to Kimmy’s disappearance.
The list of suspects is long (possibly anyone who has ever watched a Kimmy video) and Clara’s task is a challenging one. But this isn’t a strict police procedural, rather it’s a thought-provoking examination of how social media has eroded our sense of privacy and created new opportunities to generate lucrative income streams — but at what cost?
The borders between private and public had disappeared long ago. This staging of the self, of one’s everyday life, the pursuit of likes: this was not something Mélanie had made up. It had become a way of life, a way of being in the world. One-third of the children who were born already had a digital life. (page 190)
The last section of the novel fast-forwards to 2031 to look at the long-term impact of the case on each of the main protagonists. It makes for uncomfortable reading.
Kids Run the Show is a clarion call, warning parents about the dangers of turning children into media stars before they are old enough to understand the consequences of their fame.
Guy at His Futile Preoccupations has also reviewed this.
Reading Matters 
We used to think that those American moms entering their kids in beauty contests was a bad look, but these influencers are a whole new distasteful thing.
But of course the real culprits are the ones who follow them…
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I’m not sure followers are the culprits, because many will lack the critical thinking required to interrogate what they are seeing online. I think it is the influencers who lack authenticity and integrity and who curate a false impression of their lives for the sake of making money that are the issue, and, in turn, the unregulated social platforms that are at fault. The book certainly has a lot in it to discuss and is worth reading for those reasons alone.
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Hmm, I think that adults, at least, have to take responsibility for what they follow. Across the world, people are better educated than ever they have been before, and we start teaching critical thinking — specific to online sites — in upper primary school. I do agree that unregulated social platforms have a responsibility, but ultimately it’s up to individuals to assess and interrogate what they see online.
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I’ve only previously read one Delphine de Vigan – I can’t even remember what it was, but I recall not really enjoying it. But I think I should make an exception here and try her again, even though – or because – the subject sounds a rather shocking and distasteful.
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This was my first Delphine de Vigan and from what I can tell is quite different to her earlier work. This book certainly throws up some interesting points worth discussing/thinking about.
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This sounds a bit morally black-and-white for me, but I can see it making a compelling thriller.
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Correct… there’s not much nuance in this book, and it confirms my bias (against influencers who are not transparent). To be honest, the thriller aspect isn’t that thrilling… the resolution is a bit wishy-washy… but it’s a great character study because the author fleshes out the mother’s background and motivations against the investigating officer’s, and while it’s probably over-simplified pop psychology, it does make you consider why people do the things they do and follow the careers they choose etc.
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I haven’t found de Vigan to be for me—I’ve only read one of hers, Loyalties, which also focused on children and (bad) parenting, and which had a slightly preachy feeling to it as well as a slightly OTT premise. If she’s parlayed it into writing an effective thriller, though (which Loyalties wasn’t quite), then maybe she’s found a niche.
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To be honest, it’s not much of a thriller… and there is a lot of editorialising (ie. there’s no escaping what the author thinks of influencers who profit from their children) but I think it’s a timely book and France seems to be ahead of the game in terms of regulating the industry so that children’s privacy and labour is respected. I reckon this would be a good book for book groups as there’s so much to discuss… the 2030 scenario at the end provides much food for thought.
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Hi Kim! One of my best friends translated this novel. I’ll probably read it eventually for that reason, but you do make it sound interesting. I have a whole stack of John Banville novels. I’m looking forward to listening to the latest link you sent about him! He is gorgeous at the sentence level.
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Amazing… you know a few translators, no?
Hope you enjoy the Banville/s
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I just finished this one and was a bit disappointed. I felt very preached at the whole way through.
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There’s certainly an element of editorialising but I didn’t mind that, probably because it chimed with my own thoughts on the issue of social media influencers and child “stars”
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I’m certainly in the camp that says children can’t give permission so their images shouldn’t be used for profit (and I’m not sure either they should be trained up for professional sport). One of my daughters puts her children’s photos on FB and one doesn’t. The issue not being profit, viewing is restricted, but the possibility of unauthorised dissemination.
Good on the French for banning child based influencing.
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