Ruby Frank, once a popular YouTuber known for her family channel, “8 Passengers”, had her world crash down when she was accused of child abuse. It’s a harsh lesson about the dark side of internet fame and how extreme parenting can be dangerous.

Franke got famous by filming her daily life with her six kids. Her husband, Kevin Franke, a BYU professor, showed up in a couple of the videos as well. People started getting worried about the strict parenting she’s been doing, it was seeming way too harsh. Things were getting worse when she teamed up with Jodi Hilderbrandt, a former therapist, who started the religious group ConneXions. Hilderbrandt seemed to have an influence on Ruby Franke to become an even stricter discipline, which freaked people out a lot more.

The situation got really bad on August 30, 2023. Ruby Franke’s 12-year old son ran away from Hilderbrandt’s house in Ivins, Utah. He was skinny and had horrible wounds covered in duct tape. He was begging a neighbor for help, and they ended up calling the police right away. Cops found a journal where Ruby was writing about how horrible she was treating her kids, calling them names and explaining horrible punishments she gave them. She was shaving their heads and tying them up.

After that all happened, Ruby and Hilderbrandt got arrested and charged with six counts of child abuse. In December 2023, Ruby decided to admit she was on four counts and ended up getting a prison sentence of 4 to 30 years. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will decide how long she’ll be staying behind bars.

Ruby’s actions were driven by Hilderbrandt and the ConneXions teachings, which supported absurd strict discipline. This ended up making Ruby’s tough parenting even worse, it ended up leading to criminal abuse. This case has had a lot of talks about whether it should be ok to vlog your family life and if kids are being used for clout or online content.