That is the uncomfortable truth beneath the country's booming online comedy industry, where a growing number of content creators are scripting minors into adult-themed skits involving sexual innuendo, "husband-and-wife" roles, prostitution jokes, domestic violence, and degrading language, all packaged for views, shares and diaspora dollars.
It may look like harmless entertainment on a phone screen. But what is being normalized, rehearsed and broadcast is not comedy--it is conditioning. It is the steady erosion of childhood for profit.
As part of this worrisome trend is a four-year-old child, Pinato, whose viral content has turned her into a miniature character acting out adult life for public applause. Her manager, Fasu Kamara, popularly known as "Black Backing", admits the videos serve a financial purpose and that money from viewers helps buy food for the household. He even speaks openly about plans to shift management of the page abroad to make "huge money."
This is a child being turned into an asset, one viral clip at a time.
Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines
Liberia is now confronting its version of that global crisis, made more urgent by poverty, weak enforcement, and the absence of reliable social protections that push families toward whatever generates cash fastest.
But hardship does not excuse exploitation.
A child may recite lines on camera and smile through the performance, but children are not capable of consenting to consequences they cannot understand: digital permanence, public sexualization, online predators, bullying, reputational harm, and the quiet internal damage of being taught to act like an adult long before they have learned to be a child.
When a four-year-old is encouraged to speak about "husbands," romance, aggression, or sexualized themes, society is not nurturing talent--it is rehearsing harm.
Some creators argue the children are merely acting. One manager overseeing minors in husband-and-wife skits insists their comedy is harmless and that they are "not doing any rude stuff." Yet even he acknowledges small earnings through promotions and admits the children meet on Sundays to collaborate, turning childhood weekends into production time.
This is precisely how exploitation hides: behind soft language, familiar struggles, and a culture that shrugs at misconduct once it is wrapped in entertainment.
But a skit that reenacts domestic abuse, normalizes violent insults, or sexualizes minors cannot be "harmless" simply because the audience laughs. Comedy is powerful--it shapes attitudes. It legitimizes what it repeats.
And when the audience gets used to children acting out adult dysfunction, we blur the moral line that should protect them.
As child-rights and family law expert, Cllr. Moriah Yeakulah-Korkpor rightly warns that Liberia's children remain exposed to serious danger not because laws do not exist, but because enforcement is weak. She is blunt: the practice violates provisions of the Children's Law and Penal Code, and Liberia must stop "the commercialization of child abuse."
Human rights lawyer Atty. Jeremiah Samuel Dugbo I calls the trend a constitutional failure, arguing it breaches children's rights and urging stronger regulation--including passage of cybercrime legislation to help address online exploitation.
The Ministry of Gender has condemned the practice and issued warnings. But Liberia must now move from statements to action.
Warnings do not rescue children. Enforcement does.
Liberia must treat this as a child protection issue, not a moral debate, not a culture war, and not a media feud.
A serious response should include:
1) Immediate child welfare assessments
The Ministry of Gender and child protection actors must evaluate minors repeatedly appearing in adult-themed content and determine risk, safeguarding needs, and family support requirements.
2) Police investigations where content crosses legal thresholds
Where there is evidence of sexual exploitation, indecent exposure, harmful performance, or intentional grooming into adult behavior, Liberia National Police should investigate. No one should be untouchable because they are popular online.
3) Clear guidelines for children in digital content
Liberia needs enforceable rules: minors should not act out sexualized roles, domestic violence themes, or adult relationships. Content creators working with minors must meet minimum safeguarding standards.
4) Platform responsibility and takedown processes
High-engagement pages that reshare harmful clips for clicks should not hide behind "I didn't create it." Virality is participation. Platforms and administrators must remove content that exploits minors and block repeat offenders.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
5) Economic support that does not punish children for adult failure
We must be honest: poverty is the fuel beneath this trend. But the solution cannot be to sacrifice children to hunger. Government and partners should strengthen social protection programs so survival does not require turning minors into breadwinners.
Liberia's online comedy scene is creative, fast-growing and influential. It is also becoming a mirror, reflecting how quickly a society can bargain away its values when money is scarce and the rules are weak.
The question is no longer whether the content is "funny."
The question is whether Liberia is willing to protect its children even when exploitation is profitable, even when it comes dressed in entertainment, even when the perpetrators insist they mean no harm.
Because the world is watching--and history will be unforgiving.
If Liberia normalizes the public sexualization of minors today, it will spend years trying to repair the psychological, social and legal damage tomorrow. Childhood cannot be re-edited like a video clip. Once it is stolen, it is gone.
This country must choose: quick laughter, or lasting dignity.
And for the sake of every child whose innocence is being traded for clout, Liberia must choose dignity.
