A tattoo artist has gone viral after sharing videos appearing to show babies being inked on social media.
Ayala Bratt, 22, has been slammed by users on TikTok after a video of a mum, dad and baby getting matching tattoos racked up more than 22 millions views.
The body art fanatic, who has been inking people since 2013, has defended her actions and believes children being exposed to the world of tattoo art can be a positive experience.
In the viral video, which has racked up 22.5 million views and over 564,000 likes on TikTok, an adorable baby can be seen resting on its dad's knee.
The father, who has just received a thigh tattoo by Ayala, can be seen distracting his son by clicking his fingers as the artist carefully lays a purple stencil of a sun and moon on the baby's leg.
"I think opening kids up to the world of tattoos is completely okay," Ayala told NeedToKnow.Online.
"It's just art and it's a way to express yourself. It's not just something that is related to gangsters."
The stencil acts as a temporary tattoo but confused social media users have rushed to the comments' section to share their thoughts - with some convinced that the ink is permanent.
"Noooo, seriously," wrote one user, followed by a 'mind-blown' emoji.
Another user said: "You can't tattoo a child under 18 years old! And worse, he is an infant."
Someone else added: "I can't believe they did this."
"I hope it's a joke?" another viewer commented.
Other users seemed to understand that the child would not be getting the ink, but simply a stencil.
"This is what they do to my baby when we get tattooed and it makes her very happy," wrote one user.
"Do people actually think they tattooed a baby," asked someone else.
Another person added: "The best part of the video is the people freaking out lol."
Ayala, who has 272,000 followers on her Instagram account @ayalatattoo1, has no regrets sharing the video and believes more children should be allowed to enjoy the world of tattoo art.
"After sharing my videos on TikTok, there was a mixed reaction," she said. "A lot of it was hate but some were funny. Also, I've got so many requests from my customers asking if they can now bring their kid and 'tattoo' them - of course, I've said yes.
"It's clear in my videos that the kids are so happy. They even ask their parents if I can come to their birthday party to tattoo their friends as well.
"Designs I use are based on the child's favourite TV show, movie or book. The cutest kid I ever had was a little girl from Germany. Her mom had a lot of tattoos but the little girl was initially afraid of them.
"She even asked her mom not to get more tattoos because she didn't like them. But after we tried a fake tattoo on her, she was obsessed and decided it was okay for her mum to get more.
"I think we should open kids' world to see that tattoos are okay, as it's art and a way to express yourself – it's not just related to being 'gangster.'"
