Narratives of blame and absolution: framing and managing digital risks in harmful sharenting practices

Harmful sharenting, or the harmful sharing of identifying and sensitive information of minors who are exposed online by parents or guardians, is a matter of criminological interest. One reason for this is that it has criminogenic potential and is a form of digital behaviour that, while carried out by many and normalised in certain contexts, is evaluated negatively by others. Negative evaluations focus primarily on the potentially harmful implications for the minors exposed online. This contribution explores the narratives and counternarratives used both by sharers and those condemning sharenting practices online. It forms part of the broader UK ESRC-funded project ProTechThem and relies on a digital ethnography conducted on British and Italian social media users. The chapter advances current understanding of how social media users frame and manage digital risks. It also provides new insights on the contested nature of what is or can be considered as ‘deviant’ or socially harmful in digital fields.