The Hidden Dangers of Kidfluencing on Netflix

The Dark Truth Behind Piper Rockelle’s Viral Fame: Netflix Exposes Alleged Abuse in New Docuseries

At first glance, Piper Rockelle’s YouTube channel was every tween’s dream—pranks, challenges, and bubbly skits featuring her tight-knit “Squad” of young influencers. But behind the camera, a disturbing reality was unfolding, according to a 2022 lawsuit filed by 11 former members.

Now, a shocking new Netflix docuseries, Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, pulls back the curtain on the alleged abuse, exploitation, and trauma endured by Piper and her young co-stars—with her mother and manager, Tiffany Smith, at the center of the accusations.

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From Viral Fame to Legal Scandal

• The lawsuit claims Piper and her Squad faced “verbal, physical, and at times, sexual abuse” under Tiffany’s management.
• Former members describe grueling filming schedules, emotional manipulation, and unsafe working conditions—all while maintaining a picture-perfect image online.
• After the lawsuit, YouTube demonetized Piper’s channel, drastically altering her career. Though she still posts occasionally, her once-explosive fame has dimmed.

Netflix’s Explosive Docuseries

Bad Influence dives deep into:
✔️ Firsthand accounts from ex-Squad members about their alleged mistreatment.
✔️ The shadowy world of “kidfluencing”—an industry with little regulation despite its massive profits.
✔️ Tiffany Smith’s role in shaping (and allegedly exploiting) Piper’s brand.

The Bigger Problem: Exploitation in Kidfluencer Culture

The documentary highlights how child influencers—despite generating millions—often have no labor protections, leaving them vulnerable to financial and emotional abuse.

Where Are They Now?

• Piper still posts sporadically on social media, but her content has lost its former momentum.
• Tiffany Smith has largely vanished from the public eye since the lawsuit.
• Former Squad members are speaking out, hoping to expose the dark side of viral fame.

Read on to learn more about teen influencer Piper Rockelle, why her mom was sued for $22 million, and where they both are now.

Who is Piper Rockelle?

Piper Rockelle, 17, is an influencer with more than 30 million followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

She rose to viral fame at age 8 when she began posting videos on YouTube with help from her mom and “momager,” Tiffany Smith.

When Piper was 11, Smith began recruiting other kids to appear in her daughter’s videos, and the group of tweens and teens became known as “Piper’s Squad.”

Over the next few years, the Squad churned out hundreds of videos of themselves pulling pranks on each other, dancing to lip sync videos, completing viral challenges, and confessing to their crushes.

The channel was incredibly lucrative for Smith and her daughter. At one point, Piper was earning more than half a million dollars per month for her video content, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Other members of the Squad routinely earned five figures per month via their own YouTube channels thanks to their association with Piper, according to a 2022 court document.

While Piper’s channel was presented as a harmless collection of videos about a group of tweens’ silly pranks and adventures, it reportedly had a darker side.

As the years went on, former Squad members began speaking out about physical, sexual and emotional abuse they had allegedly suffered at the hands of Smith. Accusations of exploitation and labor violations also arose.

A group of former Squad members sued Smith and her business partner, Hunter Hill, in January 2022. Piper was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Why was Piper Rockelle’s mom sued?

In 2022, 11 former members of Piper’s “Squad” sued Rockelle’s mother, Tiffany Smith, seeking damages of at least $2 million each, or $22 million total.

Hill was also named as a defendant, along with Piper Rockelle Inc., the holding company for the family’s content creation business.

Hill, 28, portrayed a big brother-like figure to Piper on screen, but off camera he reportedly had a romantic relationship with Piper’s mom and was “the primary director, editor and cinematographer” of Piper’s YouTube videos, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint sought damages for sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among several other alleged violations.

The plaintiffs, all of whom were minors when the lawsuit was filed, accused Smith of “grossly inappropriate, offensive and abusive treatment.” They claimed Smith made vulgar comments about their bodies, and at times touched them inappropriately.

According to the complaint, Smith encouraged minors in the Squad to behave sexually with each other and to act proactively in videos and photos, such as urging them to make “sexy kissing faces” or to “wear something sluttier” because “sex sells.”

According to the complaint, Smith and Hill would “sabotage” children who left the Squad, targeting their individual YouTube channels.

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Smith and Hill allegedly engaged in a variety of tactics to “tank” former Squad members’ online platforms, such as flooding them with bot subscribers, which can negatively affect how videos are promoted on YouTube, and falsely flagging their channels as “inappropriate” to get their content restricted.

These alleged tactics led to a “significant loss” in subscribers and viewerships for the plaintiffs, which translated to a loss of income, according to the lawsuit.

Smith denied the allegations against her. In July 2023, she countersued for $30 million, accusing the plaintiffs’ mothers of attempting to extort her by making false allegations of sexual abuse, according to NBC News. She later voluntarily abandoned the lawsuit.

In a December 2022 interview with The Los Angeles Times, Smith questioned the motives of the plaintiffs bringing the lawsuit against her.

“This whole case is based on lies that are driven by financial jealousy,” she said. “Financial jealousy of a 15-year-old girl.”

Smith has also denied allegations that she violated California labor laws in the filming of the Squad videos. Several parents of former Squad members have said their children filmed up to 12 hours per day and did not receive proper education on set, according to the Times.

TODAY.com has reached out to Hill for comment and has not heard back at the time of publication.

“Imagine if these kids had been on a movie set for Lionsgate,” Matthew Sarelson, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the Times in 2022. “People would go to jail if this had happened at a studio.”

Smith has denied that she was running a professional production studio and said it was parents’ responsibility to manage their kids’ schooling.

The Squad members’ lawsuit was settled in October 2024 for $1.85 million, according to NBC News.

“This was never about the money — it was about holding an individual accountable, telling the truth, and taking a step toward healing,” Angela Sharbino, the parent of one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement, according to NBC News. “All of these kids have now moved on from the ‘Squad’ and are closing this chapter of their lives.”

Piper Rockelle & Tiffany Smith: Where Are They Now?

Since their controversial 2022 lawsuit, Piper Rockelle and her mother, Tiffany Smith, have kept a relatively low profile—but Piper is still active online.

Piper’s Post-Lawsuit Social Media Presence

• YouTube Demonetized: After the lawsuit (which alleged exploitative working conditions for minors in Piper’s content), YouTube revoked monetization on her channel. Despite this, Piper still posts occasionally.
• Recent Uploads: In November 2024, she dropped a 10-minute vlog titled “Week in My Life as a Full-Time Influencer,” showing glimpses of her current lifestyle.
• Social Media Life: She remains active on Instagram & TikTok, where she engages with fans and shares updates—though her content is far less frequent than at her peak.

Tiffany Smith’s Role

• Tiffany, who managed Piper’s brand and faced backlash over the lawsuit, has stepped back from the public eye. There have been no recent updates on her involvement in Piper’s career.

What’s Next for Piper?

Without YouTube ad revenue, Piper likely relies on brand deals, merch sales, and influencer sponsorships. Some fans speculate she could pivot to acting or music, but for now, she seems focused on rebuilding her digital presence—just without the team that once surrounded her.

The Big Question: Can Piper Rockelle make a comeback—or is her influencer era truly over? Only time (and views) will tell.

After the 2022 lawsuit was filed, YouTube demonetized Piper’s channel, meaning she could no longer earn revenue from her videos. She still posts occasional YouTube videos, such as a 10-minute vlog entitled “Week in my Life as a Full Time Influencer” in November 2024.

“Obviously I film vlogs like this, but I don’t really get a lot out of it besides the satisfaction of knowing you guys enjoy watching them, and I get a lot of fun memories that I can go back and watch, which I think is cool,” she says in the video.

The teen adds that she now does other types of work to “you know, keep the house over my head,” such as brand deals and paid TikTok videos.

Smith and Hill still appear to oversee the creation of Piper’s videos. In her 2024 “Week in the Life” video, a narrator who appears to be Hill says Smith “completely rearranged and decorated” a room in their house so Piper could film TikTok videos at all hours.

One scene from the 2024 vlog shows Piper decorating a Christmas tree at 11:30 p.m. as part of a paid brand deal.

The narrator, who appears to be Hill, says in the video that after they are done filming the Christmas tree scene, they still have to shoot something for her vlog that is going out “in a couple hours.”

“I have to finish editing it and we don’t have a thumbnail for it,” he says. “So there are so many stresses, you guys have no idea what this is like.”

“But it’s not that bad,” Piper chimes in.

Piper has more than 14 million fans on TikTok, where she posts frequent videos featuring her hanging out with her boyfriend, lip syncing to viral songs, and sometimes posing in bikinis and other revealing outfits.

She also has an account on BrandArmy, a platform that allows creators as young as 13 to share paid photos and videos of themselves, with parental oversight. The site is only open to subscribers over the age of 18.

In her 2024 vlog, Piper says she is “grateful” for the opportunity to create content, but also shares a candid look at her life and responsibilities.

“I have no room to complain about my life because things could be a lot worse. But what I do have to say is, it is hard work on my end. I’ve never had, like, a normal job, but whatever I’m doing right now, it feels like a job. It takes a lot out of me. I go to bed at night and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what did I do today?’” she says.

“And on top of everything, all I want to do most of the time is just go work out because it makes me so happy,” she continues. “It’s, like, the one moment in my life when everything is quiet and I don’t have to think about anything or please anybody.”