What Was Tiffany Smith Accused of?

Netflix’s Unhealthy Affect: The Darkish Facet of Kidfluencing pulls the curtain again on the world of kid content material creation. 

The three-part sequence, which premiered on April 9, facilities on social media star Piper Rockelle, her content material creation “squad” and the disturbing abuse allegations towards Tiffany Smith, Rockelle’s mother and supervisor. 

Rockelle started posting content material on-line at 8 years previous, beginning with the app Musical.ly. By the point she was a tween, her mom had constructed a social media empire round her that spanned YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Smith additionally introduced a number of different youngsters into the fold, forming a content material creation group referred to as The Squad. 

Collectively, The Squad racked up thousands and thousands of views on their collaborative, short-form content material, however behind the scenes, there have been vital allegations of abuse. In January 2022, 11 former Squad members filed a lawsuit towards Smith, accusing her of “emotional, verbal, bodily, and at instances, sexual abuse.”

Two years later, Smith settled the lawsuit, paying $1.85 million. The settlement was entered with all events particularly disclaiming any legal responsibility.

Right here’s all the things to know concerning the allegations on the middle of Unhealthy Affect: The Darkish Facet of Kidfluencing.

Who’s Piper Rockelle? 

Piper Rockelle was born on Aug. 21, 2007, to single mother Smith. She was raised in Georgia, the place she was homeschooled and competed in pageants and dance. 

She started creating social media content material at 8 years previous, starting with lip-synching movies on the app Musical.ly, which might later grow to be TikTok. By 2017, Rockelle had amassed 1000’s of followers throughout a number of totally different platforms, prompting her and her mother to maneuver to Los Angeles.

Rockelle then tried her hand at performing, showing in a number of net sequence from the manufacturing firm Brat, together with Mani and Rooster Ladies. She additionally continued to submit on-line with the assistance of her mom and her mom’s then-boyfriend, Hunter Hill, who served as Rockelle’s video editor. 

At one level in her profession, Rockelle was reportedly making over $​​600,000 a month, per the Los Angeles Occasions. 

Who’s Tiffany Smith? 

Smith is from Canton, Ga., and have become a single mum or dad at 26 after Rockelle’s father left whereas she was pregnant. Recognizing Rockelle’s outgoing persona, Smith enrolled her in pageants at simply 3 years previous. She then created social media accounts for Rockelle and commenced posting movies of her, which shortly went viral. 

Smith’s sister, Persistence Rock Smith, shared in The Darkish Facet of Kidfluencing that from a younger age, Smith pushed Rockelle to be “the most effective” — and Rockelle wished to please her.

“Piper was not in class. When Piper was 8 or so, Ashley [Rock Smith, Patience’s wife] stated to Tiffany, ‘You really want to get her in some sort of college, it is her proper to have the ability to study,’ ” Persistence stated. “And that was a giant struggle. Her foremost focus was on Piper advancing socially.”

After transferring along with her daughter to L.A. to additional pursue their careers, Persistence stated Smith started seeing Hill, who was considerably youthful than her. He served as Rockelle’s video editor and inventive director, whereas additionally posing as her older brother on-line.

What was The Squad? 

Shortly after Smith and Rockelle relocated to L.A., Smith started recruiting different little one influencers to affix Rockelle’s “Squad” and seem in her movies. The Squad developed over time, however a few of the key members had been Sophie Fergi, Gavin Magnus, Sawyer Sharbino, Hayden Haas, Corinne Pleasure, Jentzen Ramirez, Claire RockSmith and Symonne Harrison, amongst others.

Their content material centered totally on the youngsters performing dances, pulling over-the-top pranks and taking part in viral challenges.

From 2017 to 2020, the youngsters allegedly filmed a number of movies a day, lots of which had been orchestrated by Smith and Hill. The matters of those movies diverse, together with the members of The Squad allegedly being requested to stage romantic eventualities with one another, in accordance with NBC Information.

Over time, a number of of the opposite dad and mom started to distance themselves from Smith and take away their kids from the group.

The January 2022 lawsuit additional alleged that Smith conspired to “deliberately intrude with and sabotage” their “particular person YouTube channels” through the use of bots and false reporting/flagging that minimized their views “thereby considerably diminishing” their very own earnings.

Smith denied this in a responsive submitting.

What did The Squad accuse Smith of?

In January 2022, 11 former members of The Squad and their dad and mom filed a criticism towards Smith, accusing her of “harassment, molestation, and abuse.” Hill was additionally named as a defendant. 

The alleged abuse outlined within the criticism included verbal harassment and inappropriate touching, together with allegedly “sticking a finger in Plaintiffs’ butts as they handed by her on or off set,” in accordance with the swimsuit.

The lawsuit additional alleged that Smith mailed “Piper’s dirty coaching bras and panties to an unknown particular person,” and made inappropriate feedback to the male youngsters within the group regarding penis sizes.

Smith denied all of the allegations in her reply to the criticism in a December 2022 interview with the Los Angeles Occasions. “This complete case is predicated on lies which might be pushed by monetary jealousy,” she stated. “Monetary jealousy of a 15-year-old lady.”

The plaintiffs additionally alleged that the teenagers weren’t paid for his or her work and appearances on Rockelle’s channel, although it’s unclear in the event that they had been promised fee.

“I simply need peace again with my youngsters,” Ashley, Smith’s sister-in-law, advised NBC Information of the lawsuit, which names her two daughters, Rockelle’s cousins, as plaintiffs.

“I would like all predators who damage younger youngsters to be delivered to justice,” she added. “I additionally hope we transfer the needle on these platforms which might be permitting this.”

Every plaintiff requested for round $2 million in damages from Smith, bringing the entire to greater than $22 million.

Smith finally reached a $1.85 million settlement in October 2024 with all events particularly disclaiming any legal responsibility.

What occurred to Piper Rockelle and Tiffany Smith?

After the allegations towards her mother surfaced, YouTube demonetized Rockelle’s channel and eliminated it from their Companion Program, in accordance with Enterprise Insider.

This transfer triggered Rockelle’s enterprise to lose $300,000 to $500,000 a month, in accordance with court docket data obtained by the Los Angeles Occasions. 

Now 17 years previous, Rockelle remains to be residing in L.A. and posting on social media.

The teenager declined to be part of the docuseries and has spoken out towards the lawsuit. Forward of the sequence’ launch, she advised PEOPLE that the “complete expertise” has been “extraordinarily painful.” She continued, “Not simply due to the folks making ridiculous claims about me and my household — but additionally how the media has been.”

In July 2022, Smith filed a $30 million countersuit, alleging that the youngsters’ moms had been trying to extort her. Nevertheless, she dropped the case simply months later in October, per the Los Angeles Occasions.

Smith additionally declined to be within the docuseries and continues to disclaim the allegations towards her. In a press release to PEOPLE forward of the present’s premiere, Smith addressed her choice to settle in court docket.

“Clearly we didn’t do something that was alleged, however sadly, cash is a giant motivator for sure personalities on this world,” she stated. “We made the choice to place this behind us as a result of actually, extended litigation could be much more dangerous and painful to everybody concerned — which incorporates youngsters.”