A group of young performers joined a YouTube channel in 2022 to market themselves as rising stars. The group, formerly known as “The Squad,” later filed a lawsuit against Tiffany Smith, the mother and manager of YouTube influencer Piper Rockelle, the group’s de facto leader. The suit included disturbing allegations. Smith was accused of sending her preteen daughter’s underwear to adult men and forcing the children to work grueling hours without breaks to create viral content.
Although the lawsuit was settled in 2023, the story didn’t end there. Netflix’s new documentary series Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing dives deeper into the alleged “cult-like manipulation” behind the scenes. Released earlier this month and currently trending, the series explores the broader context of the accusations made by the 11 former members of the social media group.
Smith and her former partner and producer, Hunter Hill, denied the claims. The case ultimately settled for $1.85 million, far less than the $22 million initially sought.
The three-hour series is deeply unsettling. Viewers witness children as young as seven growing up entirely online, with virtually no protection under existing child labor laws. Interviews with both the former child influencers and their “momagers” reveal a toxic environment of fear, bullying, and exploitation, all while producing hundreds, if not thousands, of monetized videos for their channels.
Initially, the content was lighthearted: pranks, friendships, and teenage crushes. But over time, it became increasingly sexualized. The most damning sections of the documentary allege that both public and private online channels were used to profit off this sexualized content, with parents playing a direct role in their children’s exploitation.
The adults tasked with protecting these children were the very ones commodifying their innocence. It’s the ultimate betrayal.
And yet, perhaps the most audacious part is journalist Taylor Lorenz’s central role in the documentary as an expert on child influencers and exploitation. Lorenz has built her career by translating online influencer culture for mainstream outlets such as the Washington Post and the New York Times, and she’s featured prominently throughout the series.
In 2020, Lorenz extensively covered the feud between teenager Claudia Conway and her parents, George and Kellyanne. At the time, writer Meg Conley criticized Lorenz for amplifying Claudia’s online presence against her parents’ wishes. Conley wrote, “Taking kids seriously often means listening to the adults who care for them. It means protecting them from exposure … and allowing the traumas and triumphs of their teen years to remain, ungoogled, in the lip sync landscape of their youth.”
Conley argued that Lorenz has long exploited children online for clicks. In an interview with Digiday, Lorenz said she connects with teenage influencers by commenting things such as “lol” and “oh cool” on TikTok’s “For You” page. She noted that being a woman helps her “slide into these people’s DMs in a non-threatening way,” unlike “a male journalist in his 30s DMing random teen girls.” Her words: “I definitely use that to my advantage.”
Against this backdrop, much of the documentary starts to feel performative. In the final episode, it veers into reality TV territory. Parents gather with lawyers on camera and are reminded, “This is the first time we’re all talking about this … right?” A few awkward glances toward the camera follow, and everyone nods.
In another scene, two of Rockelle’s former castmates perform a staged intervention, imagining what they’d say to her if they ever met again. But these are not retired influencers; each girl still boasts over a million Instagram followers and recently thanked fans for watching the series.
Even Rockelle herself, the show’s central figure, both victim and villain, is cashing in on the attention. After three hours detailing her alleged sexual exploitation, her most recent Instagram video is a glute-focused workout routine. Other posts showcase her “itty bitty bikini” collection.
If I were her parent, especially one accused of exploiting her, I’d be doing everything in my power to protect her image, especially in the weeks before and after the series release.
IN COLORADO, PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS ACTUALLY ARE COMING FOR YOUR CHILDREN
In the end, Bad Influence doesn’t feel like a warning about child fame so much as another vehicle for it. Instead of shedding light on exploitation, it seems to have only amplified the fame of children who were already deeply overexposed.
I’d love to see a documentary about this documentary five years from now. Let’s see where all these children and the adults profiting off them end up next.
Bethany Mandel (@bethanyshondark) is a homeschooling mother of six and a writer. She is the bestselling coauthor of Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation.