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A YouTuber and social media influencer who was already called out by the internet for putting down their dog earlier this month, is now receiving backlash for also canceling an adoption because of a rule against exploiting adopted children on social media.
A resurfaced video of vlogger Nikki Phillippi and her husband Dan talking about adopting a child from Thailand went viral in light of their other recent controversies. In the video they explain why they won't be doing a foreign adopt from Thailand.
The video is from 2018, but is being scrutinized again after the couple were called out for monetizing their dog's euthanasia.
AGED LIKE MILK: Nikki Phillippi and her husband Dan discuss giving up adopting a child from Thailand because they wouldn't be able to use the child in their YouTube videos due to Thai law. Nikki and Dan are currently under fire for putting their dog down after he bit their son.pic.twitter.com/FLZK4ZbWnR— Def Noodles (@Def Noodles) 1620522063
The YouTubers were trying to adopt through an organization called Holt International, a Christian organization that assists in adoptions. They informed the couple of a law in Thailand that prohibits sharing photos and videos of the child on social media for one year to keep people from exploiting adopted Thai children for social media clout.
This made the couple change their mind, as they explained:
"When that hit we literally were like 'Oh what?' So we were like going round the houses like trying to figure out how this could work like 'Hashtag baby blur face'."
Holt International warned the couple the country takes rules like this very seriously, and violations could jeopardize the organization's relationship with the country.
Nikki worried if they did something wrong while skirting the law, she could ruin things for other families.
"I almost Snapchatted while I was signing an NDA once. I'm going to totally mess up, and then I'll ruin it for other families."
It apparently never occurred to the couple to simply comply with the law.
They claimed they didn't like the idea of a government being so involved in the process and the adoption not being finalized for a year—Thailand's method of ensuring couples adhere to adoption laws.
However, they also claimed later in their process they were going to look at fostering as a social media friendly alternative. The foster care process also requires an extensive amount of government involvement.
The couple later got pregnant and stopped looking at adoption or fostering.
things I\u2019ve learned about @NikkiPhillippi over the past few days : Anti Vaxxer\nAnti Mask\nInvolved with the scam that is Young Living\nDog murderer\nThinks children are props for \u201ccontent\u201d— nick snider (@nick snider) 1620604776
Influencers influence the worst of themselves. To think that this "adults" could take care of a child is a bad joke, and now turning to another country looking like they are choosing a car ... madness!— Ruben of the Amorims (@Ruben of the Amorims) 1620817507
This is the video that made me stop following @NikkiPhillippi and her husband. Wanting to exploit a child from another country for views!! Nikki Phillippi Discusses Giving Up Adoption Because She can't Exploit T... https://youtu.be/6cD8147I3aE\u00a0 via @YouTube.— Melody Barker (@Melody Barker) 1620610103
The whole situation was scrutinized by people online.
The Phillippis are influencers with more than a million followers on YouTube. Since the backlash from their situation with putting down their dog, they've turned comments off on their videos and made their other social media profiles private.
Others online looked into the situation and found the Phillippis discussed looking at adopting from Thailand, Korea, Columbia, domestic adoption and fostering very publicly on their channel over the course of 15 months.
Many of the issues the couple raised in their videos, criticizing these processes, would have been discovered from a quick google and initial research on adoption or fostering.
Adoption takes a long time, with some taking several months to over a year. So it seemed strange they would make such public announcements before doing any research on the process.
Online commenters chalked it up to the couple being interested only in the profit potential.
It\u2019s even worse, 2 years ago they decided to not adopt a child just because they weren\u2019t allowed to show him on social media for a yearhttps://youtu.be/wYUw3Hq8vNg— SDN (@SDN) 1620361408
In order words, they wouldn\u2019t be able to profit of that baby unitl after a year so they decided not to adopt.— Lily (@Lily) 1620807732
#idiots should never be allowed near any child, ever!! #NikkiPhillippi #DanPhillippi They just repeat the #cycle of #stupidity and #narcissist #stopthecrazies\nNikki and Dan Phillippi under fire for calling adoption due to 'social media' rules https://ca.style.yahoo.com/influencer-couple-under-fire-adoption-173154293.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr\u00a0\u2026 via @Yahoo— barb dawson (@barb dawson) 1620935524
and by posting this video they are telling other countries adoption agencies that they intend in fact, use the child in their channels which in return could lead to predatory behavior, harassment, bullying and potentially mental disorder that is based on social media activities.— Hugh Jackpool (@Hugh Jackpool) 1620930776
Friendly reminder that Nikki Phillippi and her husband didn\u2019t adopt a child from Thailand solely because the Thailand government ruled that they weren\u2019t allowed to exploit their child by filming them or posting photos of them online. <3 Just saying.— Experiment X (@Experiment X) 1620658298
The couple have gone dark online while these controversies rage on.
A Change.org petition to demonetize their YouTube videos has over 60,000 signatures at time of writing, though it's unlikely this would lead to action.