Netflix’s latest documentary series hits uncomfortably close to home. “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” peels back the perfectly filtered veneer of social media stardom to expose something that’s been lurking in the shadows of our screens all along — a disturbing reality where childhood dreams morph into profit machines, and likes become a currency paid for with innocence.
The story begins deceptively simple. Back in 2016, eight-year-old Piper Rockelle uploaded a DIY slime tutorial to YouTube. Pretty standard fare for the platform — except what followed was anything but standard. That innocent video became the cornerstone of an empire that would eventually spark a $22 million lawsuit and send shockwaves through the creator economy.
Behind the camera stood Tiffany Smith, Piper’s mother, a former pageant mom from Georgia who’d spotted the shifting winds of child stardom. Smith had already guided her daughter to success in the beauty pageant circuit (Piper’s first crown came at age four), but the real gold rush was happening online. First came Musical.ly — now known as TikTok — then YouTube, where the serious money waited.
“She’s making this so perfect for me,” Piper told the Los Angeles Times in 2022, defending her mother’s involvement. But perfection, as it turns out, came with a price tag that no child should ever have to pay.
The allegations that surfaced in January 2022 read like a horror story. Eleven former members of “The Squad” — the rotating cast of young performers who helped build Rockelle’s channel into a viewership behemoth — filed suit against Smith and her boyfriend Hunter Hill. Their claims? A nightmarish cocktail of emotional, verbal, and physical abuse, with darker undertones that make even seasoned industry veterans flinch.
Some details from the lawsuit are almost too disturbing to print. Former Squad members describe inappropriate touching, sexually explicit comments about children’s bodies, and — in perhaps the most skin-crawling revelation — allegations that Smith mailed Rockelle’s undergarments to “an unknown individual” with specific… interests.
Sawyer Sharbino’s testimony cuts deep: “Tiffany absolutely wanted to do more questionable content to get more views and likes.” The kids allegedly faced pressure to participate in increasingly inappropriate challenges, including a “last to stop kissing” video where they received explicit instructions that no child should hear.
But the exploitation didn’t stop at content creation. When Squad members tried to break free, they claim Smith and Hill unleashed digital warfare — false flagging content, deploying bots to tank their followings, even embedding their videos on adult websites. Talk about scorched earth tactics.
What makes this whole mess particularly gut-wrenching is how it exemplifies a broader problem. The kidfluencer industry operates in a Wild West of minimal oversight and maximum profit potential. As co-director Jenna Rosher noted, many kids joined The Squad during Covid lockdowns, seeking community and creative outlet. Instead, they found something far more sinister.
The lawsuit eventually settled for $1.8 million — pocket change compared to the original ask — with Smith maintaining her innocence. Sophie Fergi, a former Squad member, put it plainly: “This lawsuit was never about money. It was to make sure she couldn’t do what she did to me to another kid.”
Fast forward to spring 2024, and 17-year-old Rockelle still commands an empire: 6.1 million Instagram followers, 14.8 million on TikTok, and 12.1 million YouTube subscribers. She stands by her mother, dismissing the accusations as “mean, untrue, and honestly all about money.”
Yet cracks are showing. In a recent video, Rockelle admitted some of her previous content “wasn’t real” — a rare glimpse behind the curtain that suggests all might not be well in the house that clicks built.
As “Bad Influence” climbs Netflix’s trending charts, it serves as more than just another true-crime documentary. It’s a wake-up call about the true cost of early fame and the desperate need for better protections in an industry that’s grown too big, too fast, with too little oversight. Sometimes, it seems, the brightest filters hide the darkest truths.
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