Latest news with #PiperRockelle
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Piper Rockelle Reveals Whether She's Watched Netflix's 'Bad Influence' Docuseries
Piper Rockelle spoke with about Netflix's and revealed whether she's watched it or not. The social media star opened up about the in-depth docuseries about her childhood and the impact it's had on her since its April 9 release. Rockelle discussed how much of the Netflix series is true based on the clips she's seen circle social media, especially her "For You Page" on TikTok. Piper Rockelle has thoughts on Netflix's Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing. Almost a month after the docuseries' release, the teen influencer, 17, broke her silence during a conversation with Rolling Stone published on May 1. Simply put, Rockelle hasn't seen the documentary; however, she shared that she can't seem to escape it since clips have been circling social media — particularly her "For You Page" on TikTok. Bad Influence extrapolates on the complaint 11 underage content creators filed against Rockelle's mom, Tiffany Smith in 2022, which accused her of "emotional, verbal, physical, and at times, sexual abuse" when they were active in the teen's viral group of friends nicknamed "Squad." Related: The 10 Biggest Bombshells from Bad Influence, the Shocking Docuseries About Tiffany Smith, Piper Rockelle and Her Squad The child abuse lawsuit that followed was settled in October 2024, with the 11 teens receiving $1.85 million. (All parties specifically disclaimed any liability.) Netflix's three-parter offered the former Squad members and their parents another way to share their alleged experiences working with Smith. "They're not making it up, but they're extending the truth,' Rockelle shared with Rolling Stone of Bad Influence, adding, "I was there. I witnessed every day." The influencer said that she doesn't believe it was as bad as it appears in the Netflix exposé, but shared with the outlet that everything wasn't perfect either. 'I think that they believe what they are saying, but I was there and I saw everything," she said. Related: Where Is Piper Rockelle Now? Inside the Child Influencer's Controversial Career It wasn't just the recent Bad Influence release that had an effect on Rockelle. She noted that she had an uneasy feeling about everything since the trailer dropped in March. Then, it gradually got worse. "I just completely fell apart,' she admitted. "I did not think I was going to get through it." The content creator said she had "awful thoughts," but didn't want to share them with her mother because she felt she was dealing with a lot herself. Negative public perception of her mom and potential legal consequences were among her biggest fears. "That's something I have to worry about is people coming and trying to take away my mother because they always envied my mom and I's relationship," Rockelle said. "My father was never in my life so it's always just been her." Related: Piper Rockelle Teases She's Ready to Tell Her 'Own Story' After Bad Influence Doc Release As a result, per Rolling Stone, Rockelle is especially protective of Smith. Despite the challenge and backlash post-doc release, the popular influencer — who boasts 6M followers on Instagram and 15.6M on TikTok — won't be stepping back from social media, rather continuing what she enjoys doing. "I can't make it look like it's affecting me," she said. "I won't. Social media is about entertaining people and I want to entertain them and make them happy... I'll be fine. I'm getting the hard stuff out of the way. By the time I'm 30, I'll be Zen. I'll be good." Related: Piper Rockelle Speaks Out After Bad Influence Doc Release with Series of Cryptic Posts On April 8, Smith issued a statement to PEOPLE in response to the biggest claims made in Bad Influence. "This whole experience — from the claims and power plays from the stage moms to, now, the Netflix reality show — has been the most upsetting and difficult experience of my life," she said. "And it's been even harder for my daughter, Piper, who's become collateral damage in a mess of adults behaving badly." "I do believe Piper will want justice one day—and see that the truth is finally shared," Smith told PEOPLE. "But in the meantime, shame on Netflix for perpetuating a knowingly false narrative that puts kids in danger. I truly can't wait for this to all be behind us." Since the docuseries' release, Rockelle has dropped subtle hints on her social platforms in reference to it. "Can't wait to tell my own story and not have other people tell it for me," she wrote on Instagram on April 21. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Family-Vlogger Documentary Trend Magnifies a Serious Societal Problem
Recent documentaries like Hulu's Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke and Netflix's Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing should have society — or at least social media — shook. Both projects shine a spotlight on abuses of minors in the hugely popular family-vlogging space. Behind the shiny-happy presentation of children, tweens and teens is a mostly-unregulated environment that can bend (if not completely breaks) child labor laws, enable online predators and create unknown damage to the psyche of developing brains. Instagram and YouTube are where most of these parents offend, two activists featured in Bad Influence, which examines troubling behind-the-scenes behavior of adults involved with Piper Rockelle's popular YouTube channel, mainly her 'momager' Tiffany Smith, told The Hollywood Reporter. Though YouTube gets the most play in the documentaries (and for good reason: the 20-year-old site with 20 billion videos gets the largest share of TV viewership of any media company, including Disney), Instagram may be the more potentially-dangerous platform, both experts said, as it allows an account's followers to pay for walled content — with some restrictions. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Hazbin Hotel' Offshoot 'Helluva Boss' Gets Prime Video Run, Two-Season Renewal $8.9B in YouTube Ads Help Power Alphabet to Hugely Profitable Quarter On YouTube's 20th Anniversary, the Platform Says Over 20 Billion Videos Have Been Uploaded Chris McCarty, the founder of Quit Clicking Kids, said it is 'particularly concerning when you have exclusive content of kids that is behind a paywall — the implications of that are pretty serious.' In a separate conversation with THR, Sarah Adams, the founder of Kids Are Not Content who goes by on social media, called Instagram 'particularly bad because … there's a lot of predators on there.' Meta, the parent company of Instagram, says it takes child safety very seriously, and has also been improving safeguards already in place. A policy implemented in April 2024 made it so that Instagram accounts run by adults that 'primarily post content of children' cannot offer subscriptions, receive gifts or receive badges (both are Instagram currency), a spokesperson told THR. Users as young as 13 can create their own accounts, but minor-created accounts have never had a monetization option available to them. Children under 13 are allowed to have a 'presence' on Instagram, but the account must be 'actively managed by a parent or manager, who is responsible for the account's content, privacy settings and interactions with others.' Instagram uses 'technology to prevent potentially suspicious adults from interacting with teen accounts, and with accounts that predominantly feature minors,' the company said. From just October-December 2024, Instagram removed two million pieces of child-exploitation content from Instagram, over 99 percent of which was found proactively before being reported. The platform's introduction of 'Teen Accounts' in September 2024 added more privacy and messaging restrictions, the spokesperson said. (Anyone under 18 is automatically enrolled in a Teen Account, though 16- and 17-year-olds can then opt out; kids under 16 need a parent's permission to opt out of a Teen Account.) Like Instagram, 13-year-olds can set up their own YouTube channel; children under 13 can have a 'supervised' channel linked to a parent's channel. Unlike Instagram, there are no paywalls on YouTube channels. 'We want creators to have fun and be creative, but they must also follow our Community Guidelines, Creator Responsibility policies and applicable laws,' YouTube spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle told THR. 'If we see that a creator's on- and/or off-platform behavior is harmful to the wider YouTube community we take swift action.' Swift action here included a 2022 indefinite suspension of monetization on Piper Rockelle's channel for off-platform behavior. And in August 2023, the month Franke was arrested (and later pled guilty to) child abuse charges, YouTube terminated two channels linked to her. 'YouTube developed a set of quality principles to help guide YouTube's kids and family creators,' Bullwinkle continued. 'These principles were developed in partnership with child development specialists, and are based on extensive research.' McCarty's and Adams' respective websites are considered sister sites in the fight against the exploitation of children on social media. They share a similar cause — one we should all share, frankly — but approach the problem differently. McCarty, a 20-year-old Political Science and Chinese double-major honors student at the University of Washington (Seattle), became appalled by the lack of accountability in the space after reading about Myka and James Stauffer, married midwest family vloggers who shared the process of adopting a two-year-old special needs child from China with their substantial YouTube audience. Two-and-a-half years later, they essentially gave the child back, citing an inability to meet all of his needs. The swift online backlash is chronicled in HBO documentary series An Update on Our Family. Then 17, McCarty began cold-calling and cold-emailing Washington state legislators, pushing a homemade policy to combat such exploitative 'sharenting' (a term first coined in the Wall Street Journal in 2010). LOL, teenagers, right? Except this teenager's optimism and passion (mixed with, yes, some healthy naiveté) worked. 'I wasn't expecting anyone to take me up on that,' McCarty said, 'but they did!' Though McCarty's bill was first introduced in Washington state (as HB 2032), it was first picked up in Illinois (SB 1782), where it received bipartisan, unanimous support. Other states (and that bipartisan, unanimous support) followed, including California (SB764), arguably the most important state for all of this. McCarty's lobbying efforts there coincided with the release of the Demi Lovato cautionary-documentary Child Star, which featured McCarty. 'I don't know how the universe worked out that way, but it did,' McCarty said. 'There's this really great photo of [Lovato] being there at the bill-signing with Gov. Gavin Newsom. It was really a satisfying moment to look at that and think, 'Oh, I helped put those two people together in that room.'' McCarty's bill has two primary components: 1) It ensures a percentage of revenue (at least 15 percent, similar to Hollywood's Coogan Law) earned from a minor's participation in social-media videos is set aside for them, and 2) It allows the child performer to request the deletion of content featuring them as a minor when they come of age. As kids, 'they couldn't consent to it,' McCarty argues. Most — but not all — local lawmakers agree on that second piece. Even if YouTube already does. 'YouTube has supported efforts to compensate kids who appear in YouTube content and provide a pathway to remove content made when they were a minor (YouTube already does this voluntarily),' Bullwinkle said. Don't freak out on us here, normal parents who share normal stuff about their kids in a normal way on social media: McCarty's bill only applies to accounts where a minor is featured in 30 percent of the posted videos within the past 30 days and those videos are generating at least 10 cents in revenue per view. As cute as your kids are in their Christmas morning videos, they're probably not get-you-paid cute. McCarty's bill is a great start, but it cannot completely protect kids from parental exploitation in the space. What it can do those is enforce protections on the components of sharenting that are measurable. The government is very interested in how much income one brings in (Meta and YouTube-parent Alphabet are publicly-traded companies; they'll comply), and it is also not debatable as to when a child becomes an adult — 18, in most countries. Unfortunately, unlike a film and TV set, that's about where the protections for vlogging must feasibly end. (Not that protections for children on film and TV sets have been perfected: ID's Quiet on Set showed us that there is still a lot of room for improvement even within the Hollywood studio system.) McCarty wishes the bill could 'require set teachers or regulated work hours,' but neither McCarty or Adams see how that can be enforced when the filming in question is done among family, by family and often within the family home. 'I think it would be very difficult to get into the homes and monitor how much these kids are working,' Adams, said. 'Some [family vloggers] would argue that [the kids] are not working — they're just filming their life.' And that argument would be nonsense in the cases we're discussing: scaled-up, monetized family vlogs. 'Trust me, these kids are acting. They know when the camera is on that they have to perform, they have to say something cute. Who knows what that's doing to their psyche as they develop a sense of self and always have to feel like they're in performance mode?' Adams said. 'But when it comes to regulating, like the labor kids, or like the schooling hours, I think it would be extremely difficult on a state or federal level.' So instead, Adams, 39, is more interested in shifting the culture of sharenting than the laws against it. Her approach is a pragmatic one (perhaps that comes to us all with age, for better or for worse). 'If I can help parents look through a different lens at this — in the way they share their kids, in the way they consume content online — then that's what I can offer,' she said. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
South China Morning Post
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Meet Piper Rockelle, the kidfluencer at the heart of a new Netflix series: the 17-year-old started with pageants before moving to YouTube – but her mum Tiffany Smith has been accused of abuse
Netflix just dropped its shocking new documentary, Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, about teen influencer Piper Rockelle and her viral friends known as The Squad – but not everyone is happy about the chilling exposé. The Squad were teen content creators who were featured on her YouTube channel. They claimed that they were 'frequently subjected to an emotionally, physically and sometimes sexually abusive environment' perpetrated by Rockelle's mother, Tiffany Smith, during filming and that they spent time and energy on the videos 'without compensation', per People. They sued Smith, and the claimants received US$1.85 million as settlement in 2024. Rockelle told USA Today, 'Honestly, I just want to move on from all of this because it's really painful to deal with every day,' adding that her 'mental health has suffered more than anyone knows'. Advertisement Referring to the accusations against her mother, she asserted, '[The rumours are] mean, untrue, and honestly all about money. My mom did not do any of those things that they said. And I'll stand by my mom to the end.' Rockelle is estranged from her father, and a YouTube video in 2022 appears to show them reuniting – but his face and identity has been obscured. The Netflix docuseries reveals that their complaints remain unchanged. Speaking to People, Smith griped that it is 'unfair to Piper, who didn't do anything wrong and now struggles with her mental health because of all the unfair scrutiny and negative attention'. Before the release of Bad Influence, Rockelle received backlash for hanging out with the adult content creator crew Bop House. So what else do we know about Piper Rockelle? She got her start with pageants Piper Rockelle got her start in child pageants and reality shows, such as Toddlers & Tiaras, which also helped launch the likes of Honey Boo Boo. Photo: @piperrockelle/Instagram
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This Shocking Docuseries Is The Top Show On Netflix Right Now
According to Netflix's public ranking system, 'Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing' is currently the most popular show on the platform. As the title suggests, the shocking docuseries examines the troubling reality of the child influencer industry. Specifically, the show focuses on the rise and fall of social media star Piper Rockelle, her mother's role in her career and her 'squad' of friends. 'Bad Influence' consists of three episodes ranging between 45 and 52 minutes and features interview with parents, former child influencers and industry experts. Read on for more trending shows of the moment across streaming services including Apple TV+, Hulu, Max and Disney+. And if you want to stay informed about all things streaming, subscribe to the Streamline newsletter. The most popular show on Apple TV+ is 'Your Friends & Neighbors,' which premiered on April 11 with the release of the first two episodes. Starring Jon Hamm, the darkly comedic crime drama follows a newly divorced and unemployed hedge fund manager who turns to criminal tactics to maintain his wealth. Olivia Munn and Amanda Peet also star. 'Hacks' is trending on Max at the moment. The fourth season of the critically acclaimed comedy drama debuted on April 10. Hannah Einbinder plays a disgruntled comedy writer who takes a job working for a legendary comedian, portrayed by Jean Smart. The dystopian Hulu series 'The Handmaid's Tale' returned for sixth and final season on April 8. Based on Margaret Atwood's famous 1985 novel, the show stars Elisabeth Moss as a determined woman living in world where collapsing fertility rates and civil war have resulted in the establishment of a totalitarian, theonomic government in the former U.S. 'Doctor Who' is trending on Disney+ following the premiere of the new season on April 12. Ncuti Gatwa returns as the Fifteenth Doctor ― an alien humanoid 'Time Lord' who travels the universe to gain knowledge and help others. The latest installment also features Varada Sethu and Millie Gibson. 'The Last Of Us' Season 2 Premiere Had A Shocking Reveal 'The Pitt' Finale Proves Why It's The Best Medical Drama On Television This 'Black Mirror' Episode Is Surprisingly Not Depressing — And It's A Must-Watch
NBC News
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
New Netflix docuseries explores 'Dark Side of Kidfluencing'
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. 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. 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. 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.' Where are Piper Rockelle and Tiffany Smith now? Piper continues to share content on social media. 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.'
