University of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World" Journal of Cyberspace Studies 2588-5499 10 1 2026 01 01 Children, consent, and control in Persian social media 239 256 105098 10.22059/jcss.2025.406842.1207 EN Shaho Sabbar Department of Iranian Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Journal Article 2025 11 23 <strong>Background:</strong> Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X have redefined the norms of sociality, identity performance, and participation in the public sphere.<br /><strong>Aims: </strong>This study examines how Persian-language users on X negotiate the visibility of children in online spaces through affective discourse and vernacular governance.<br /><strong>Methodology: </strong>Analyzing 2,392 posts, we identify seven thematic formations—ranging from family blogging and sharenting to screenshot-based mockery, celebrity child cultures, and rights-based critiques. Using a hybrid methodological approach combining high-recall data retrieval, supervised multi-label topic modeling, and sentiment–intensity analysis, we map how practices like quote-tweeting and screenshotting structure public debates around parental branding, childhood agency, privacy, and consent. Central to this ecosystem is the culturally specific figure of “Arat’s father”, a discursive shorthand for the commodification of childhood under platform economies.<br /><strong>Findings: </strong>The findings reveal a layered affective landscape where humor, outrage, and pedagogical neutrality coexist, enabling users to police age norms and negotiate ethical boundaries in real time.<br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> This study reveals how ordinary users in Iran and Persian-speaking contexts regulate childhood visibility through platform affordances, emotional repertoires, and normative claims. It also proposes a reproducible pipeline for analyzing culturally specific digital publics with methodological transparency and ethical sensitivity. https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_105098_809129815e0c1c42c347c381cb8043aa.pdf