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The rich and famous are increasingly exploiting their kids on Instagram to further their careers. But non-celebrity parents should also be careful how they present their children on social media

Anthony Weiner, the scandal-mired US politician, with his son Jordan at the polls in 2013 in an unsuccessful bid to rehabilitate his public image Pic: Getty

Kids shouldn’t be used as props for their parents’ careers: not on social media forums such as Twitter and Instagram, and not anywhere else either. The whole point of being a parent is that you’re supposed to shield your kids from the world, not send them out ahead of you into the firing line. That’s fairly simple stuff, right? A basic home truth?

So you’d think, but it’s a maxim that it appears ...