On the surface, Piper Rockelle’s massively popular YouTube channel was glossy, fun and kid friendly. Starting when Piper was 11, her account featured videos of her and her posse of tween sidekicks pulling pranks, performing skits and doing goofy viral challenges for millions of followers.
However, for all their upbeat smiles on camera, Piper and her friends were experiencing a much darker reality behind the scenes, including alleged “verbal, physical and, at times, sexual abuse” at the hands of Piper’s mother and producer, Tiffany Smith, a lawsuit filed in January 2022 by 11 former “Squad” members says.
A new three-part Netflix docuseries, “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing,” shares the stories of several former child influencers who were members of “Piper’s Squad.”
The documentary also sheds light on the world of “kidfluencing,” a legally murky and largely unregulated sector of the entertainment industry.
Several former members of Piper Rockelle’s “Squad” spoke out in
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