Netflix recently released a new documentary mini-series called “Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing” and it is a chilling insight into the world of child influencers.
The documentary was released on April 9, according to IMBD, and documents the rise to fame of YouTube star Piper Rockelle, who I had never heard of going into this documentary. This series made it very clear to me why we as a society need to stop allowing young children to become influencers.
When I was growing up, the child influencers I knew were the girls from Dance Moms or the young actors in shows I watched. Now, children grow up using YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, etc., which has completely changed the child entertainment industry. The series went into detail about how Rockelle got started in her career, when her career started to take off and eventually what the cause of her downfall was. Her mother, Tiffany Smith, was instrumental in her career and was a main character mentioned in the documentary, though her and her daughter refused to do interviews or give comments for the show. Without comments from the other side, the documentary was somewhat one-dimensional as it only covered one perspective of the story.
Smith managed Rockelle and eventually started what came to be known as the ‘Squad,’ a group of child YouTube stars who lived together to create content, similar to Jake Paul and Team10 or what we used to see with the Hype House and Sway Boys on TikTok. The documentary details how Smith controlled the lives of the children who she worked with and in some cases even acted inappropriately toward. Smith and her husband, Hunter Hill, were sued by parents of children who were formally involved in their group and this documentary details the events leading up to it. Smith and Hill treated the children under their care horribly and put them in multiple situations that no child should face.
It includes audio recordings, video clips and insider information into what the lives of child stars can look like. These audio clips were revealing and proved claims that at first were hard to believe. It points out the major issue of not having regulations on this industry and what some states and organizations are doing to push back against this.
Overall, it gave a look behind the scenes of an industry that is growing more popular by the day. It is something that needs to be brought to people’s attention and this film does so in a way that is both informative and entertaining. There is still tons of room for these regulations to grow, which the docuseries points out, and the only way to evoke change is through things like this documentary which prove how big of an issue this is. The child entertainment industry encourages the dynamic where a child is the main provider for a home. No child should have to suffer that much responsibility and no child should be coerced into a situation they feel uncomfortable in.
