Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Documentary, Netflix
Ilana Frost
If you’re looking for yet another deeply distressing docuseries, you’re in luck: Netflix’s Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing is coming in April. The three-part series is about YouTube star Piper Rockelle and her friends, and the alleged exploitation and abuse they faced at the hands of Piper’s mother and manager, Tiffany Smith. Directed by Jenna Rosher and Kief Davidson and produced by Decoy Productions, the investigative doc “peels back the curtain to reveal Piper’s former Squad-mates’ disturbing stories of alleged exploitation, cult-like manipulation, and abuse,” per Netflix. Where are Piper Rockelle and Tiffany Smith today? What exactly are the allegations against Tiffany? Here’s everything to know about Piper Rockelle, Tiffany Smith, and the Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing documentary.
Piper Rockelle is a 17-year-old YouTube sensation and actress. At 8 years old, she rose to fame on YouTube when her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, Hunter Hill, helped her create content that went viral. Over time, Piper’s amassed more than 12 million followers on YouTube and nearly six million followers on Instagram.
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In 2017, Piper began making videos with a group of tween friends known as The Squad. They all grew up in front of the camera, staging pranks around Los Angeles, hinting at crushes in the friend group, and participating in trends. Their videos got billions of views, and they were recently earning more than $500,000 a month in brand deals and other income streams.
In January 2022, 11 members of The Squad filed a lawsuit, alleging that they were exploited and “frequently subjected to an emotionally, physically and sometimes sexually abusive environment perpetrated by Piper’s mom.” The child abuse lawsuit was settled in October 2024, and Tiffany has denied those allegations.
“Obviously we didn’t do anything that was alleged, but sadly, money is a big motivator for certain personalities in this world,” she said in a statement. “Piper is a minor, and has already been through a great deal of unnecessary and harmful scrutiny. So we prioritized mental health, and made the decision to put this behind us and focus on the next phase of her career.”
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In her own statement, Piper called the experience “extremely painful and, honestly, hard to understand.” She added, “Not just because of the people making ridiculous claims about me and my family — but also how the media has been.”
Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing will come to Netflix on April 9.