Deleting penis photos a 'full time job' for underage Instagram models

This 10-year-old has been on Instagram for over a year and has tens of thousands of followers. Photo / Instagram

The mother of an Australian child model has spoken about the 'disgusting comments' her daughter receives on a daily basis.

Nicole, a "mumager", told 10 daily her daughter has been modelling since she was six years old. The mum manages her daughter's social media pages and monitors everything that gets posted.

"Monitoring the direct messages is like a full time job, deleting penis photos, marriage proposals, all sorts of disgusting comments," Nicole told 10 daily.

Constantly monitoring her daughter's social media accounts, Nicole sees it all every day.

She decided to speak out against some parents, agents and photographers in the industry who seemed to be exploiting children for Instagram "likes", rather than protecting them.

"I've seen mums at photo shoots and they are the ones who are unbuttoning their 10-year-old daughter's tops and telling them what to do," she said.

She says she knows what she's talking about because, she admits, she's been there.

She recalled a time when a photographer convinced her to let him take a photo of her daughter with her pigtales covering her naked chest - something Nicole regrets to this day.

"I felt sick about it. I ended up telling him that I thought it was inappropriate and the photo has never been shared or published, thankfully," she said.

Instagram is filled with photos of underage models, all easily found.

Another mother who spoke to 10 daily says her 10-year-old daughter has been an Instagram model for the past year.

"She got her first modelling gig on Instagram after a New Zealand photographer saw her page."

Activists against the sexualisation of children and objectification of women have warned against posting photos of minors on social media and tell parents to think carefully before agreeing to let their daughters take part in that.

"Do they not understand the implications for their child or do they not care? Is it about fame ahead of their child's rights and safety?" girls and women's advocate Caitlin Roper said.