Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
People do not talk about it enough, but parents creating and running social media accounts for their babies and kids is problematic. And forcing kids to make content every day? That would be a serious labor law violation in a more fair world. The three-part Netflix documentary Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing exposes how “momager” (slang for “mom manager”) Tiffany Smith built a multi-million dollar empire by exploiting her preteen daughter, Piper Rockelle, along with several other children who were recruited to work for Piper’s channel.
The documentary features over half a dozen YouTube stars who used to be part of Piper’s online “squad,” but eventually quit due to the way they were mistreated and allegedly abused by Tiffany Smith. Some of them were only 11 or 12 years old when they started working for her—including Tiffany’s own niece. Nearly everyone has been talking about the Netflix series Adolescence, which is inspired by real events, but it’s Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing that deserves more attention, as it gives voice to real kids whose lives were shaped by social media, and not in a good way.
From being forced to work 16 or more hours a day to having their “first kiss” staged for views, the kids reveal several disturbing experiences they underwent while working under Tiffany. There are numerous audio and even video recordings that demonstrate Tiffany was far from the ideal “momager.” At first, I didn’t want to watch beyond the first fifteen minutes of the documentary, because you get a clear idea early on of how these kids were exploited on their path to online fame. But it’s an important eye-opener for anyone who still thinks children making content on social media is all smiles, games, and fun. It’s not.
Episode three of Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing focuses on the lawsuit filed by eleven former members of Piper Rockelle’s “squad” against her mother, Tiffany Smith, alleging several serious forms of misconduct. After leaving the squad, these kids reportedly faced intense backlash from Tiffany, including online trolling and interference with their income streams. The lawsuit even prompted an FBI investigation, though no significant action was taken. If there’s one thing the kids remain united on, it’s their support for Piper – whom many of their mothers describe as Tiffany’s first victim, manipulated and exploited by her own parent.
“Kidfluencing,” as the documentary calls it, is a highly unregulated industry that continues to fly under the radar of lawmakers across the globe. Bad Influence thus is a chilling reminder that when parents use their children for fame and profit online, the cost is often a lost childhood. If nothing else, this documentary underscores the urgent need for clear legal protections and accountability in the world of child content creation.
Watch the docu-series on Netflix.
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