Still from the docuseries Bad Influence on Netflix.
The Netflix docuseries Bad Influence examines the social media landscape through the story of a YouTuber named Piper Rockellewho grew up on social media, along with a group of her friends called ‘the Squad’.Netflix/Supplied
At my son’s sixth birthday party, we hired a magician. After performing a few tricks he asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. Nearly a third of them said gamers. One said a doctor. And the rest wanted to be YouTube stars.
Their answers weren’t surprising, considering so many kids watch YouTube. Children see themselves reflected back in their favourite content creators’ videos. But there’s a dark side to the “kidfluencing” industry that’s growing incredibly worrisome.
It’s that seedy aspect that the Netflix docuseries Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing captures. The project examines the landscape through the story of a YouTuber named Piper Rockelle, a now-17-year-old who grew up on social media. Rockelle, along with a group of her friends called “the Squad” made millions of dollars with their videos under the management of Rockelle’s mother, Tiffany Smith.
But the families speaking out in the doc claim that not everyone profited from those returns. They say that after participating in the Squad machine, their kids will never be the same. Through interviews with these parents, experts and the children who once counted themselves part of the Squad, stories of physical and emotional abuse, slander, extreme working conditions and predatory behaviour emerge.
These stories paint a picture of a cult-like environment of exploitation under Smith and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill. Some Squad members moved in with Rockelle and her mother to produce even more content. Others gave their own social media accounts over to the duo, relinquishing control.
When families attempted to distance themselves from the Squad or called Smith out on her behaviour, they were blacklisted, losing their friends and social media followings in one swoop. In January, 2022, 11 former Squad members filed a lawsuit claiming they were “subjected to an emotionally, physically and sometimes sexually abusive environment perpetrated by Piper’s mom.” Eventually, they reached a US$1.85-million settlement.
These claims form the backbone of the docuseries, as the subjects reveal one horror story after another. Smith, Rockelle and Hill have denied the claims and did not participate, so the doc is certainly one-sided. However, directors Jenna Rosher and Kief Davidson include plenty of video of the trio to familiarize them with audiences. After all, there’s no shortage of footage out there, particularly of Rockelle, whose content and upbringing are out there for the world to see.
At one point, Rockelle and her brand sponsorships were estimated to be worth nearly half a million dollars per month. According to her former Squad members and their parents, the girl has been influencing full-time since the age of eight, and has never gone to school. The series then digs into ethical rights and the lack of laws in place to protect these children, and criticizes a system in which older decision-makers don’t understand the true nature of social media and the content it produces.
Bad Influence also touches on social-media stalkers, substance abuse issues, the power of algorithms and worrying stats about adults who subscribe to kidfluencing content. In the end, the doc is as much an examination of what happened to the Squad when the cameras weren’t rolling as it is a call to action. These families are fighting for their stories to be heard and to implement change to keep kids safe as the world of social media continues to evolve – particularly as parents just want to help their kids achieve their dreams.
