Hannah Hiatt amassed hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers with videos depicting the unglamorous struggles of motherhood — such as a workout constantly interrupted by fussy kids, or dirty diapers strewn about her Utah home. She’s one of many in the modern-day mommy blogger community, a lifestyle niche that evolved into a moneymaking juggernaut on social media and soared on TikTok.
But as the genre's popularity exploded, so have viewers' suspicions of professionally online parents. Hiatt's relationship with her audience took a sharp turn late last year.
Alarmed viewers seized on a short video clip in which the nurse’s 2-year-old son blinks and shields his face as his father hands him a box of frozen mochi in a grocery store. Soon, other "TikTokers" were sharing compilations of what they believed to be the Hiatt family’s most egregious examples of child mistreatment: refusing to buy their son a $35 winter coat, or Hiatt's husband, Braxton, flicking their son's hand as he reached for a french fry. A "flinch test" trend swept the platform, as "TikTokers" waved their hands in their children's faces to demonstrate what they believed was a more typical reflex.
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