For those who watched YouTuber Piper Rockelle and her friends grow up on social media, the world they inhabited seemed playfully idyllic. Known collectively as The Squad, the group staged elaborate pranks, navigated crushes, and frolicked throughout Los Angeles in search of fun, racking up billions of views — and millions of dollars — along the way. Virtually every step of Rockelle’s success was engineered by her mother, Tiffany Smith, who invited a number of aspiring child stars to join her daughter in front of the camera. But as time went on, several members of The Squad — as well as their parents — began to feel that something was seriously wrong.
Directed by Jenna Rosher and Kief Davidson and produced by Decoy Productions, Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing is a three-part investigative docuseries which premiered on Netflix on April 9. The series peels back the curtain to reveal Piper’s former Squad-mates’ disturbing stories of alleged exploitation, cult-like manipulation, and abuse at the hands of momager Tiffany. To hear more from the filmmakers, listen to their interview on the You Can’t Make This Up podcast.
Piper Rockelle
Piper Rockelle is a 17-year-old actress and influencer who, starting at 8 years old, would rise to online superstardom through her YouTube channel and other social media platforms. Before she hit her stride producing short-form content with the help of her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, Hunter Hill, she danced and acted, appearing on scripted and unscripted shows as a young child. As she continued to post online, Piper amassed millions of followers along with a lot of revenue — at one point, reportedly upwards of over half a million dollars per month — in the form of brand deals and other income streams.
The Squad
Starting around 2018, Piper began to appear in her videos alongside a rotating cast of tween “friends” that became known as The Squad. Together, they would create content and cross-promote one another’s personal media channels. While the lineup shifted over the years, Squad members have included Sophie Fergi, Gavin Magnus, Sawyer Sharbino, Hayden Haas, Corinne Joy, Jentzen Ramirez, Claire RockSmith, and Symonne Harrison, among others. Eventually, some members of The Squad moved in with Piper and her mother in order to increase their content output. While the videos they made emphasized silly, innocent fun, behind the scenes many parents of The Squad members eventually distanced themselves from what they felt were Tiffany’s questionable behavior and manipulation tactics — which led Tiffany to oust some of their children from the group.
Some parents of The Squad members took issue with the way Tiffany directed their children to behave, both on and off camera, as well as her tendency to retaliate against those who questioned her judgment. Eventually, some members of The Squad began to allege that Tiffany had engaged in inappropriate behavior, and in January 2022, 11 of them filed a lawsuit complaining of exploitation and being “frequently subjected to an emotionally, physically and sometimes sexually abusive environment perpetrated by Piper’s mom” per the lawsuit. (Tiffany has publicly denied the allegations). The docuseries delves into the context and many of the specifics alleged in the complaint.
In the clip below, Corinne and her mother tell a particularly chilling story of Tiffany’s alleged behavior — one of the many that caused major concern among the other Squad members and their parents.
The three-part docuseries premiered on April 9, 2025.
Watch the clip at the top of the page to see a snippet of how The Squad’s strategically crafted and carefree world quickly unraveled.
Work out where the stars shine.
Solve the classic numbers game.
Piece together the big picture.
Turn shapes into something bigger.
Swap letters and emojis into words.
Find the path hidden in words.
Just add vowels.
Put the words back together.
