Justin Bieber's dad runs Instagram posting bikini pics of daughter, 6

Minutes after she was born in August 2018, Justin Bieber's half-sister, Bay, was prepared for stardom in her own right.

Justin's father, Jeremy Bieber, shared a photo clutching his newborn, who was swaddled tightly in a blanket, as her mother, Chelsey, lay on the hospital bed behind them.

The post on Jeremy's Instagram has since accrued over 357,000 likes.

There was no way for this infant to know that her older brother was a global megastar with close to 100 million Instagram followers — or that she, too, was now an international celebrity.

Three days after her birth, Jeremy, 49, and Chelsey, 36, set up a dedicated Instagram account for Bay, which explicitly states that it is 'run by parents' (the social media platform prohibits children under 13 from using the app).

The first post that same day, showing a sleeping Bay and captioned 'Hi', got 85,000 likes.

Since then, Bay's personal following has boomed, fueled not in small part by regular photos of her with her 'biggest brother' Justin.

Bay's account encourages followers to 'watch me grow' and shares images of her posing on the beach during holidays, at birthday parties and with her junior cheerleading squad.

Now, at six years old, she has amassed over 351,000 followers, with the account posting at least once a week on average for her entire life.

Many of her followers appear to be young girls and their moms who engage with her cheerleading content. But there's another concerning group of admirers — grown men.

And more troubling, experts have told DailyMail.com that accounts featuring children may draw the attention of child predators.

An analysis of Bay Bieber's account, conducted by DailyMail.com using the social media research platform Modash, estimates that 20 percent of Bay's followers are accounts registered as male, almost entirely aged between 18 and 34.

Many of Bay's photos that get the most likes — aside from those of her with Justin — are of her in bikinis and cheer outfits. Additionally, a scan of the comments left by Bay's followers appear to be cause for alarm.

Under a photo of a three-month-old Bay in a bikini, one male user commented 'shawty maaaad thiccc' with a drooling face emoji.

In 2020, when Bay was one, three different male users commented on another swimwear picture.

One user posted a smiley-face emoji with heart eyes, another wrote 'I want it' and a third added 'your very cute [sic]'.

When Bay was three years old, another male user commented on a photo of Bay wearing a floral-print two-piece, writing, 'your legs are very perfect' and asked, 'Bay are you using some oil in your body [sic]?'

That same account remarked earlier this year on another picture, referring to Bay as 'my mini crush'.

These messages and many others have raised concerns – including among Bay's other Instagram followers.

'Bikinis and little clothing on babies puts them at risk of being stalked by predators online,' one person wrote under a picture of three-month-old Bay in a swimsuit. 'It all starts [with] parents posting too much about [their] baby.'

Experts agree that parents must be aware of the risks of predatory online behavior.

'[Instagram is] commonly known to be a leading site visited by pedophiles looking for images of children,' CEO of Protect All Children from Trafficking, Lori Cohen, told the Mail.

In December 2023, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against Instagram's parent company, Meta, accusing them of creating a 'breeding ground' and 'marketplace' for predators to find and exploit children.

A New Mexico judge has since dismissed Meta's motion to throw out the state's claim. The suit is still pending.

In February, the New York Times published an investigation into 5,000 Instagram accounts featuring children and managed by parents.

The NYT found that many of these accounts draw the attention of 'men sexually attracted to children', with the newspaper tracking exchanges on the encrypted communication platform Telegram where 'men openly fantasize about sexually abusing the children they follow on Instagram.'

'A parent would not set loose their bikini-clad child in a room full of pedophiles,' Protect All Children from Trafficking's Lori Cohen told the Mail. 'Why would they post an image of that same child online where they will potentially be viewed and - even more frightening - contacted by many thousands of them?'

One reason parents may overlook the risks posed by Instagram accounts showcasing their children is the financial incentive.

The NYT probe also found that the most popular girls' Instagram accounts can demand up to $3,000 for a single post advertising a brand or product.

While there is no evidence that Jeremy and Chelsey Bieber have profited financially from Bay's account, the profile has repeatedly tagged the children's cheerleading uniform brand 'Rebel Athletic' in posts.

Rebel Athletic did not respond to requests from the Mail for information about the nature of its relationship with Bay's account.

Immediate potential financial incentives aside, Bay's parents are certainly building up a sizeable fanbase that she could profit from when she gets older.

And child safety experts warn that may also present a problem, as juveniles cannot comprehend the possible consequences of the fame that their parents may be cultivating for them.

'Kids and teenagers don't have the executive functioning skills to understand the implications of what they're doing,' clinical psychologist Emma Woodward at the Child Mind Institute said. 'They can't legally give consent for what their parents are posting about them.'

Jeremy Bieber has long faced accusations of having mismanaged his son Justin’s fame.

In October, DailyMail.com exclusively reported that people close to the child star are critical of Jeremy and Pattie Mallette (Justin's mother) for allowing their son, aged 15, to become friends with the now-disgraced rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs.

There is no reason to suggest Bieber's parents knew about Diddy's alleged criminal activity at the time, but these insiders said they believed Justin could have been sheltered from such excesses.

Justin 'should never have been allowed to party with Diddy or anyone else when he was a teen,' sources close to Bieber told the Mail.

Bay Bieber has three other half-siblings in addition to Justin: Jazmyn, 16; Jaxon, 15; and Allie, 17.

All of them have large Instagram followings of their own. Allie has 236,000 followers; Jazmyn has 1.5 million; Jaxon has 1 million.

Neither Justin, Jeremy nor Chelsey Bieber responded to the Mail's requests for comment.