Fans are questioning Ant Anstead's judgment and intentions as a parent as the reality TV star has continued to share photos of his young son, Hudson, despite his own objections to Hudson's mother doing the same.
In early October 2022, Christina Hall announced that she will no longer share photos of Hudson on social media or have him participate in the family's reality series. Christina appeared to point directly at Ant in the announcement, which she began by explaining, "Hudson's father has made attempts to turn my family, friends and fans against me through manipulation tactics and false information. This has had great impact on me and my household."
She added that her decision would apply to everything she shares, not just paid advertisements online. Christina added, "Because of this, I have made the decision to no longer feature Hudson on Instagram, my tv shows or any social platforms until he is old enough to make this decision for himself."
She also added that she's "always been fine not having Hudson appear on public platforms and have made that clear" and that it wouldn't be a big deal to move on with this new plan. At the time, it appeared this change came after months of Ant's insistence that Christina was failing as a parent by allowing Hudson to participate in anything where money was made.
Christina concluded, "Hudson's father has made it clear via his public court filings he is using Instagram to rate the kind of parent I am, since that is the only access he has to my personal life. This has been the case since July 2020."
This made it all the more surprising when Ant shared new photos of Hudson with his family on October 13, 2022. Numerous commenters wrote that it seems "unfair" that Ant can share photos when Christina cannot.
Ant replied to one commenter by writing, "She can post as many as she likes x," and another with, "Hudzo childhood is not for sale. As a dad I will continue to step up for him x."
Of course, there is an argument for claiming that any exposure via social media is potentially harmful for children, not just paid advertisements.
Fatherly's Adam Bulger covered the topic in his July 2022 piece "Why All Parents Should Think Twice Before Posting Photos of Their Kids Online." As he wrote, there are a lot of reasons why sharing photos of your kids online isn't a good idea. He explained, "Sharing pictures of kids exposes them to the world — including parts of the world parents may want to protect them from. Through technology and details in photos parents often overlook, uploaded photos make children easy to discover. Experts say that indiscriminately sharing photos of children can set them up for risks ranging from embarrassment to identity theft."
For some, there is little discernible difference between a photo that is part of a paid advertisement campaign and a photo that is not. Fans of a couple, family, or individual are likely to respond enthusiastically to either, and people who aren't fans are likely to respond negatively to either. Ant's photos that feature Hudson consistently get tens of thousands of likes, and there's no telling how many more people see the photos and/or comment on them.
To some degree, any time any of us post a photo or video online, we are selling part of ourselves, our children, or part of whoever or whatever is in the photo. As Shayne Sherman, CEO of Techloris, told Fatherly, "Technically speaking, every time you upload a photograph on a social media networking site, they own the rights to use such images in any way they see fit. They can sell it to advertisers and make profit themselves without needing anything from you.
"Their terms and conditions often state that from the moment the image is uploaded, they own the rights to use them without any consent. Which can be a really scary thought when you have no idea what it can be used for and by whom."
With that in mind, one can draw at least two conclusions: Ant's request to keep Hudson's image out of paid campaigns is a reasonable one, but perhaps he should further examine his own motivations for posting his young son in the first place. It certainly appears that his mother has done all that and more.
