A new documentary series released on Netflix last month has raised eyebrows and concerns alike all over social media. Involving a teen influencer and the ones around her, “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” showcases young teen influencer Piper Rockelle, her mother Tiffany Smith and Piper’s ex-“squad” members across three brutal episodes as directors Kief Davidson (“The Ivory Game”) and Jenna Rosher (“Let’s Spend the Night Together”) dive into the allegations towards Piper’s mom and the personal experiences the members went through while in the “squad” of recurring guest stars and fellow content creators.
Piper Rockelle is an actress, writer, singer and YouTuber. The 17-year-old has co-starred in YouTube web series such as “Chicken Girls” and “Mani” as well as her own TV series “Piperazzi”. Rockelle has basically been on camera her whole life. When she was four, she competed in beauty pageants, and at seven, she made lip-syncing videos on Musical.ly, the app now known as TikTok. Finally, at the age of eight, she posted her first YouTube video, which really kicked off her career as a young influencer.
With her momanager (a portmanteau of “mom” and “manager”) at her side and generating video ideas starring her, Rockelle’s YouTube videos garnered millions of views and became popular nearly overnight. Many other child influencers and YouTubers collaborated with Rockelle at such a young age, including The Royalty Family, Rebecca Zamolo, Danielle Cohn, Corinne Joy, Jordan Matter and Hayley LeBlanc. Rockelle’s videos were initially mostly geared towards younger children like her, featuring common younger child activities such as slime making and playing with squishies, but as she got older, the videos started to drift away from innocent and innocuous and started becoming an onslaught of mean-spirited pranks and inappropriate, suggestive challenges.
As Rockelle’s YouTube channel took off, she and her mom decided to create “The Squad”— a suggestion from Smith’s boyfriend, Hunter Hill. This squad would include friends and family members of Rockelle such as Elliana Walmsley, Sophie Fergi, Lev Cameron, Emily Dobson, Jentzen Ramirez, Claire RockSmith and even Smith and Hill.
Soon enough, making videos and creating memories together became plagued with nasty rumors about abuse and harassment behind the scenes. Over the subsequent years, members left one by one from the squad, cutting contact with Rockelle, Smith and Hill, pursuing their own careers. The “squad” soon was left with just Rockelle, her mom and her mom’s boyfriend causing Rockelle to make new friends and create new squads, which also resulted in the members leaving.
Managing most of Rockelle’s YouTube and Instagram activities as well as appearing in some of the content, ex-squad members brought to the public the accusations that began as gossip—that Smith allegedly abused, exploited and manipulated them during various video productions, stating that Smith did not allow bathroom or meal breaks nor on-set schooling. The parents of a few members also stated that they were concerned about the fact that their child was working up to 12 hours a day instead of eight, which is against the law in California regarding child performers.
As the squad members continued to work under Rockelle and her mom, more disturbing accusations were brought to court. A complaint filed by multiple members of the squad in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in January of 2022 detailed Smith’s attempts to harm their personal social media accounts after they left the group as well as subjecting the child actors to a “physically, emotionally and sometimes sexually abusive environment.” One of the squad members claimed that she saw Smith attempting to forcibly kiss Piper, and when she tried to pull away, her mother allegedly replied, “What? I’m just trying to teach you how to kiss—you’re going to want to learn if you’re going to be with boys.” Smith and Piper both roundly denied this and all other accusations.
The complaint also alleged that Smith instructed the underage members to make “kissy faces,” “push their bottoms out” and “suck their stomachs in” for the thumbnails of videos, among other claims. Again, Smith denied all of these allegations, and any she admitted to came with the assurance that nothing inappropriate happened. Smith and Rockelle then countersued the mothers of the 11 ex-squad members for attempted extortion and defamation, but Smith voluntarily dismissed the claim later on, settling all the cases to avoid prolonged litigation and decided to focus on Rockelle’s career.
“I used to wish [I was] in the squad, but after watching the documentary,” Latreace Tart (8) said. “I’m glad I wasn’t.”
“Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” dives into this dark truth of child influencing. The documentary series interviews a few of the former members and what they went through with Smith at such a young age as well as some family members of Rockelle and other ex-members. Fergi speaks on how she and Piper had to lie to Child Protective Services (CPS) and tell them that Smith was “amazing” and that “everything was great,” as well as how she experienced the worst years when she was 12 years old. Joy explains how she and other members were exposed to an environment that encouraged sexually suggestive content like dressing in provocative outfits and participating in content that seemed a little too much for their age, especially considering that a good portion of their audience were adult men.
Upon the show’s release, Rockelle’s fans took to social media, horrified after hearing what the members went through and the allegations to Rockelle’s name. Videos expressing how bad they felt for everyone who went through what was detailed in the docuseries surfaced and spread quickly. Some also showed concern for Rockelle because of her age. Viewers wondered too why the victims didn’t wait until Rockelle was 18 and why she hadn’t spoken out yet.
The closest Rockelle has come to saying anything regarding the accusations were a few videos stating she will “expose” everything when she turns 18. As of now, however, she has said time and time again that she and her mother deny all accusations made online or in the documentary.
“I was very disturbed when I watched this documentary.” Sami Angeles (10) said. “I hope the whole truth is brought into the light and the victims get justice if the allegations are true.”
Shocking stories from such young influencers took the media by surprise and concern, but as many have pointed out, even before YouTube and social media, there have been stories about child stars getting embroiled in scandal thanks to their parents. “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” really presents some of the disturbing parts of being a child influencer in today’s day and age. What so many viewers think is fun and innocent on the surface, unfortunately, has sinister roots beneath.
