YouTube, TikTok, Instagram… Who are your children's favorite influencers?

Their faces may not tell you anything, and yet they are the ones your children and little brothers and sisters see almost every day on their phone screens. Some are filming themselves testing food and toys. Others regularly share their favorite dance moves or fashion and beauty tips.

The work of these young influencers was at the heart of a bill passed Wednesday in the Assembly. Its goal? Set a framework for the work provided by minor influencers, limiting their weekly shooting hours and making the platforms on which they perform more responsible.

The stakes are high, because these social media stars sometimes collect millions of views * on a multitude of platforms. YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram… They master all the codes. And sometimes get real income from it. An overview of the most popular among them.

Neo and Swan (Swan The Voice), stars of the youngest

4.55 million subscribers on YouTube 4.2 billion total views on YouTube

Arrived in 2015 on the video platform, Néo and Swan, two brothers of 15 and 8 years old, are among the most followed young people on YouTube in France. Their chain, first created to film the songs of Swan, who dreamed of participating in the program "The Voice" (hence the name of the chain), extended to testing toys, food or popular challenges on YouTube. Recently, the two boys had fun customizing sneakers or playing amateur chemists while making moss in their garden.

Neo and Swan are not idle: their channel publishes nearly three videos of more than 15 minutes each week. Without counting the additional channels of the family, such as that of Neo (1.64 million subscribers), or their mother (Sophie Fantasy, 750,000 subscribers).

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Everyone in the family has a role. The children are the stars, the mom films and their dad, Greg, takes care of the editing. "Today is really a full-time job," Sophie Fantasy already explained in an interview with the youtubeur TiboInShape in 2019. "I work for them, I work on the chain all day," she said.

Kalys and Athena (Studio Bubble Tea), almost heroines

1.56 million subscribers on YouTube 1.6 billion total views on YouTube

Challenges, games, toy tests… Kalys and Athena, too, master the great YouTube classics of the youngest. With one particularity: the two girls, 12 and 7 years old, often try their hand at comedy, playing the characters of the comic strip "Sisters", where two sisters are constantly bickering. The recipe works so well that Kalys and Athéna have also become the heroines of their own comic book, entitled "The Quest for the Stones of Nautiléa", released a few months ago.

Their publication rate is also intense: every week, three long videos are broadcast on their main channel called “Studio Bubble Tea”. They also have spin-off channels, where they are filmed testing food and video games.

Mickaël, the father of the two girls, says he launched the channel at the request of his daughter Kalys, who started on YouTube almost six years ago. "We had fun making podcast videos, […] and then we said we were going to put this on YouTube," he explains in a question and answer video in 2016.

Enzo (@enzotaistoi), aficionado de TikTok

2.1 million subscribers on TikTok 1.18 million subscribers on YouTube 863,000 subscribers on Instagram

As for teens and tweens, it's on the side of TikTok that we should rather turn. The application - formerly Musical.ly - offers very short vertical clips, embellished with pieces of music, texts and visual effects. It is on this application that Enzo, known by the pseudonym "Enzo, Shut up!" Has the most subscribers.

The 16-year-old Valenciennois gives it his all, taking up all the popular forms of videos, such as mime to music, jokes with friends, and everyday moments filmed with special effects.

On YouTube, where he has been present for more than four years, Enzo prefers humorous videos, videos telling his life as a teenager, or games with friends. His notoriety is such that he thought of the government to promote the Universal National Service last summer, in his Instagram stories.

Rose (@ rose.thr), as close as possible to her community

2.8 million subscribers on TikTok 860,000 subscribers on Instagram 174,000 subscribers on YouTube

For her, social networks are a passion, "like horse riding or football". Rose, 17, has almost 3 million subscribers on TikTok. And several hundred thousand on other platforms. However, its content is simple, she sums up. “The videos I make are spontaneous, I make them as I want. […] I often film myself in my room, with a light, a telephone, ”she assures us.

It is since entering high school that the Toulousaine - who was also the first runner-up of the Miss Midi-Pyrénées 15-17 year olds in 2019 - has appeared on social networks, with fairly diverse content. Playback videos, "comedies", dances ... She touches everything, for a "community" which she says is "super close". "I respond to all their messages, to all the videos they make on me, I share everything with them, within the limits of my private life of course," she says.

The high school student, currently in S grade, sees herself well "continuing her momentum" after the bac, without getting into it full time. "Studying is really what I want to do," she insists, while specifying that she would see herself using her platform to study marketing or communication.

Marylou (@marylouleloup), queen of montages

1.6 million subscribers on TikTok 518,000 subscribers on Instagram 110,000 subscribers on YouTube

It has always defined itself as "creative". Marylou, 17, is also one of the Tiktokeuses stars of France, with short videos that sometimes reach millions of views. “The video that made me known was a video at Europapark which made 3 million likes and 23 million views. I had filmed plans in the park and, at the end, I am in front of a merry-go-round splashing with water. On the video, it looks like it is me who propels the water with my hands, ”she recalls.

The young Alsatian has always loved photography, video and editing. This is what characterizes her content the most, where she often enjoys changing the appearance of a snap of her fingers. "Making a TikTok takes me between 5 minutes and 3 hours, it all depends on the type of video I want to make," says the high school student. On Instagram, she prefers to share lifestyle and fashion photos.

Currently, her daily life is divided between her lessons, which she follows at home, and her obligations as an influencer. "I manage to calmly manage the networks and the courses, even if at the moment I am very much in demand to move around, so I am less able to concentrate," confides the young woman, who admits having suffered for a long time from harassment and school phobia. After the bac, she wants to continue social networks full time. "I can resume my studies whenever I want," she says.

Célia (@ celia_7721), committed influencer

1.3 million subscribers on TikTok 255,000 subscribers on Instagram

His dream ? Become an actress. For her 14 years, Célia has enjoyed staging herself on TikTok in slow-motion montages and “actings”, videos in which she embodies very specific characters. "I especially like telling stories and defending causes, against harassment or global warming," she explains.

The 15 and a half year old teenager, who lives in Île-de-France, is still in second, which gives him a little time - and less pressure - to post a maximum on social networks. “I try to post once a day when I can […] Actings earlier in the week, because I finish school late and it's easier to do. And at the end of the week I shoot as much as possible, ”she summarizes.

A commitment that she intends to pursue for later, but not full-time. "It remains a hobby that I will continue as long as I like it," says Célia, who sees herself much later "in the world of cinema, even communication or fashion".

Fabian (@fabiancrfx), makeup expert

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#prayforaustralia ❤️ Inspiration @ shine.shadows ❤️

A post shared by Fabian CAYUELA - RUIZ (@fabiancrfx) on Jan 8, 2020 at 8:16 am PST

1.3 million subscribers on TikTok 381,000 subscribers on Instagram 128,000 subscribers on YouTube

In a year and a half, he managed to gather more than a million subscribers on TikTok. Fabian, a young makeup lover, still can't believe it. The 19-year-old Montpellier resident, who took a sabbatical year after high school to become an influencer, specializes in artistic makeup. Mission accomplished, since he says he can now live on his income from partnerships with brands.

For each platform, it has specific content: make-up selfies on Instagram, tutorials on YouTube, dance and others on TikTok. His tutorials are what propelled him, like his imitation of makeup for Bratz dolls or his optical illusion of a mask. "In France, I saw few boys applying makeup as I do, that's why I said to myself: I'm going to show what I can do, " says the influencer.

Today, Fabian is proud of the community he has built, and which notably protects him from drifts. “At first, I had homophobic and sexist remarks, I even had death threats. […] I was prepared for it, so it affected me less, ”explains the young man who hopes, one day, to have his own brand of cosmetics, like other popular youtubers before him.

Élise (@ Élise_cm), amateur humorist

1.1 million subscribers on TikTok 242,000 subscribers on Instagram 750,000 views on YouTube in total

As a child, Élise liked to shoot "miniclips" to make her parents and family laugh, she tells the Parisian. “When I discovered Musical.ly at 14/15 years old, I saw that it looked like what I was already doing. So I started posting videos, and I saw that people liked my content, it pushed me, ”recalls the 18-year-old Bordeaux girl.

Thanks to her participation in a challenge launched with the singer Soprano, and a repost on her account then endowed with 1 million subscribers, the schoolgirl arrived in the most followed personalities on social networks. Today, she most often posts covers of sketches, which she prepares, records and edits on her own.

And later ? "I favor studies, in advertising, marketing or communication," she says. "I will keep my account, but I know that social networks are ephemeral", judges the student in high school.

Hector (@hector_dnl), the escape video

921,000 subscribers on TikTok 341,000 subscribers on Instagram

9 million total views on YouTube

School, he didn't like too much. It is therefore on social networks that Hector escaped from the age of 17. When he starts, he likes to set up tutorials to teach his spectators how to succeed on Musical.ly, the old TikTok. "I really said how to do everything, I explained the algorithm, what challenges had to be done and how, so that they could like the app when at the time, it was very frowned upon", explains us- there.

Well-established methods, since in just over a year, Hector has accumulated nearly a million subscribers on the platform. As for his YouTube account, he has millions of views. Today, the 18-year-old Angevin divides his time between his filming, his editing and his studies in BTS notarial work, which he follows from a distance. Its content ? Mainly "humor and self-deprecating" videos, he describes.

"It's a passion," he repeats, speaking of his work as an influencer, which he wishes to pursue later, while having the ambition of going "even further". "Why not do castings, on TV, animation ...", he foreshadows.

* All the figures noted in this article are dated mid-February, and are therefore intended to change.