In today’s world of influencers, fame comes with a price, especially for kids. “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” exposes the risks of child stardom through the story of Piper Rockelle, a YouTube and TikTok star who rose to fame alongside her young group of friends, “The Squad.” By age 10, Piper had millions of followers, with her mother, Tiffany Smith, acting as both manager and the driving force behind their content.
At first, the documentary feels like a typical influencer success story: bright lights, big followings and perfectly edited vlogs. But, it doesn’t take long before things start to feel off. Forced smiles, scripted drama and an overwhelming pressure to perform beginto reveal themselves. That dream career quickly becomes something darker — childhood packaged for content, and a trusted adult who puts profit before protection.
As both Piper’s mother and manager, Tiffany Smith controls every part of her daughter’s career, which makes her behavior in the documentary all the more disturbing. Because Tiffany wasn’t just a parent but also the one organizing videos, writing scripts, and managing brand deals, she had complete control over what the kids said and did on camera. Former Squad members describe her as emotionally damaging and manipulative. “She’d scream at us off-camera if we didn’t smile enough,” one says. Another admits, “She treated us like props, not people.” Some videos featured “crush” challenges or staged dating drama, even though the kids were barely teenagers. These scenes raised questions about what’s appropriate and who was really making the decisions. By organizing videos with suggestive themes to pressure kids into filming when they were clearly uncomfortable, Tiffany’s influence was more harmful than helpful.
Her claim that she was “just doing what any manager would do” feels especially hollow when weighed against the emotional toll she left behind. Rather than supporting and protecting the kids involved, she treated their lives like a business, one that prioritized views over mental health. The damage she caused didn’t stop when the cameras stopped rolling.
What’s even more disturbing is that this kind of exploitation is still happening. Piper and Tiffany’s story isn’t some rare, shocking case, it’s just one example of what’s going on across the influencer world. Young creators today are still being pushed into inappropriate or emotionally harmful situations by adults who care more about likes and revenue than their well-being.
Bad Influence doesn’t just expose one toxic story about a kid influencer, it shines a light on an industry with almost no rules, where kids can be exploited for views and money. This documentary is a haunting reminder that sometimes the greatest betrayal doesn’t come from strangers online, but from a parent, someone who should protect their child, not profit off their pain.