A photo of The Squad from Netflix’s “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Since the age of eight, YouTuber Piper Rockelle has been sharing her life online, posting playful videos solo and with The Squad, a group of fellow aspiring child stars known for sharing pranks, dances, and skits. But in the largely unregulated world of kid influencers earning big money, things can go downhill quickly–and that’s exactly what happened.
Rockelle’s rise to online fame was primarily engineered by her mother, Tiffany Smith. As her channel pulled in billions of views and millions of dollars, members of The Squad and their parents started to suspect something was off. Eventually, they came forward with serious allegations, accusing Smith in a lawsuit of creating an environment that was emotionally, physically, and, in some cases, sexually abusive.
ForbesWhere Is Tiffany Smith Now? Inside The Disturbing Scandal Involving Piper Rockelle’s MomBy Monica MercuriDirected by Jenna Rosher and Kief Davidson, Netflix’s new three-part docuseries, Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, explores the troubling allegations raised by former members of Rockelle’s YouTube group. From Rockelle’s rise to fame and her mother’s alleged manipulation to the disturbing lawsuit filed by 11 former members of The Squad, here’s everything to know about what happened.
Who Is Piper Rockelle?
Piper Rockelle in “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” on Netflix.
Courtesy of Netflix
Piper Rockelle is a 17-year-old YouTuber and social media influencer born in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 21, 2007. She began her career as a dancer and child actor, appearing in a mix of scripted and unscripted programming, according to Netflix.
Around the age of eight, Rockelle began posting videos on YouTube and rapidly gained a massive following. She reportedly earned more than $500,000 monthly through brand deals and other revenue streams at the peak of her success. As of April 9, 2025, she has 12.1 million subscribers on her channel, @PiperRockelle.
What Is The Squad?
The Squad in “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” on Netflix.
Courtesy of Netflix
As Rockelle’s fame grew, she began collaborating with a group of fellow young influencers who would come to be known as “The Squad.” Together, they produced similar content, ranging from skits to challenges, and regularly cross-promoted each other’s videos across their channels. Members over the years have included Sophie Fergi, Gavin Magnus, Sawyer Sharbino, Hayden Haas, Corinne Joy, Jentzen Ramirez, Claire Rock Smith, Symonne Harrison, and others.
Some Squad members even moved in with Rockelle and her mother to increase their content output. Over time, a few of the parents grew concerned, alleging they witnessed manipulative behavior and other troubling conduct from Smith. According to Netflix, those accusations eventually led the momager to remove some of their children from the group.
What Did Piper Rockelle’s Mother, Tiffany Smith, Allegedly Do?
Tiffany Smith From Netflix’s “The Dark Side of Kidfluencing.”
Courtesy of Netflix
In January 2022, 11 former Squad members and their guardians filed a lawsuit against Smith, seeking at least $22 million in damages. The Plaintiffs alleged that they were frequently subjected to “an emotionally, physically and sometimes sexually abusive environment perpetrated by Ms. Smith on and off set during filming sessions for Piper’s YouTube channel.”
Smith earned the reputation of allegedly being a “mean-spirited control freak” whose interactions with the content creators “were not only sexually inappropriate and confrontational, but often reprehensible and even illegal,” the lawsuit claimed.
Smith was also accused of touching the plaintiffs inappropriately, including “sticking a finger in Plaintiffs’ butts when they walked past her,” commenting on how “big” one Plaintiff’s breasts looked and attempting to squeeze them, and “taking a wooden spoon and smacking it all over” one Plaintiff’s body.
On numerous occasions, she also allegedly said sexually explicit things to the male teens about their penises. In one instance, Smith supposedly “mailed out several of Piper’s soiled training bras and panties to an unknown individual” and said that “old men like to smell this stuff,” according to the lawsuit.
Former Squad members also claimed that Smith failed to properly compensate them for their work. According to The LA Times, while Rockelle earned up to $625,000 a month, the other teens claimed they often worked without meals or rest breaks and were not given on-set schooling.
The lawsuit also alleged that the defendants “conspired amongst each other to intentionally interfere with and sabotage Plaintiffs’ individual YouTube channels by driving subscribers and video “views” down,” which diminished the Plaintiffs’ own revenue in response.
A 2022 LA Times investigation into Rockelle’s business revealed even more disturbing allegations. Some of the Plaintiffs said Smith offered to show an 11-year-old girl how to perform oral sex and touched some Squad members inappropriately, and sometimes impersonated the voice of a dead cat while doing so.
Did Tiffany Smith Get In Trouble?
A few months after the lawsuit was filed, Smith and Rockelle countersued for $30 million. Under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, they accused mothers of conspiring to extort money by fabricating sexual abuse allegations against Smith. The case was dropped shortly after.
In October 2024, the former Squad members and Smith settled the lawsuit for $1.85 million, significantly less than what the plaintiffs sought. Still, Matthew Sarelson, the group’s attorney, told The LA Times that the settlement allowed the Plaintiffs to avoid a trial, which he said would have taken months and “required the kids and their parents and their friends and their doctors to testify about things that the kids have put behind them.”
Heather Trimmer, the mother of former Squad member Sophie Fergi, said at the time that “the lawsuit was never about money. It was about exposing an industry that is unregulated and the people taking advantage of it.”
What Happened To Piper Rockelle And Her YouTube Channel?
Piper Rockelle and Tiffany Smith From Netflix’s “The Dark Side of Kidfluencing.”
Courtesy of Netflix
Before the Squad’s lawsuit, Rockelle reportedly made between $4.2 million and $7.5 million a year. However, not long after the allegations against her mother surfaced, YouTube demonetized Rockelle’s channel, even though she was one of the most popular teen influencers at the time. As a result, she could no longer run advertisements or generate revenue from her videos.
“We have indefinitely suspended monetization on Piper Rockelle’s channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy by engaging in off-platform behavior that harms the YouTube community and have removed them from the YouTube Partner Program,” a YouTube spokesperson told Business Insider in February 2022. “In this case, Piper’s mother Tiffany Smith, who administers the earnings on this channel, is facing multiple allegations of child abuse and exploitation.”
ForbesWhere Is Piper Rockelle Now? Teen Influencer Slams Netflix Docuseries As ‘Untrue’By Monica MercuriCourt records obtained by The LA Times reported that the demonetization caused Piper and Smith’s business to lose $300,000 to $500,000 a month. In 2022, Smith told the publication that she believed the claims against her derived from The Squad’s “financial jealousy of a 15-year-old girl.”
Smith has publicly denied all the allegations.
Bad Influence: The Dark Side Of Kidfluencing is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.
