Bad Influence: Die Schattenseite von Kidfluencing

It is the story of a girl who became a sensation through social media platforms. It is the journey of Piper, who became a breadwinner for her single mother.

The title of the latest documentary series on Netflix aims to draw society's attention to the grim side of the lives of kid influencers. The doc dated back to 2017, when YouTube was slowly becoming a thing. The birth of a Momager, Tiffany, who created havoc across the internet through her kids and another adolescent, making them a SQAUD.

The three-part deliberately maintained the attention over the creepy life parts where a bunch of growing kids start losing life as they slowly become a money-making machine.

In 2025, when internet celebrities are roaring louder than ever, the series chronicles the early stage of the phenomenon. It talked about that time when the internet was still not cheap and peasants were slowly becoming more accessible.

The case of Piper shot at its peak when other members of the famous SQUAD brought serious allegations against Tiffany.

Three episodes include snippets from the past when children used to live under one roof, while being filmed under different circumstances. The act of kissing, a fake love trope, has been used to reflect the toxic environment these kids grow up. With the intervention that happened back in 2022, things started changing.

When we expose our real life to the world, things start changing. Life starts acting differently, and the comments and reactions received from strangers play a decisive role in life. Making your child a source of income is not a decision that parents should take. By making them as your source of income, you are not jeopardising their childhood or adolescence, but stopping them from finding what they are seeking from life.

"Bad Influence" is a grim 3-part Netflix docuseries about kidfluencers and the awful parents who monetize their childhoods for clicks. It's well-produced, but the whole thing feels exploitative, invasive, and downright icky. I'm grateful we don't have children; I can't imagine raising a kid in an age where everyone has the attention span of a gnat. AND where kids take life advice from someone like Piper Rockelle, who I only know because she did a cursed collab with the witless Katy Perry, who recently rode Bezos' penis rocket into space cosplay with Gayle King (who is now shocked, shocked!, by backlash). This series rightly lays blame on the momagers, the platforms, and the adult enablers, especially the legions of creepy men who follow these minors and collect photos like they're Pokémon cards. I may not be a digital native (I still remember our first VCR), but I do know this: nothing about this influencer economy feels safe, decent, or sane.

Well if you know Lethal Weapon, you know where I was going with this (though I imagine even without knowing it most will be able to guess) ... that said and as always: no pun intended. The show shines a light on a phenomena ... I mean to me kid beauty shows are a monstrosity ... so there is that ... but this is about influencer.

Not easy to watch - and while those accused did not respond to many requests, I think we can all make up our own minds what that is telling us ... or the world. There are quite the serious allegations and accusations hurled and thrown ... even if only half of it is true ... crazy I'd say.

The world is changing - but as parents eveyone is still meant to protect their kids ... and not make money off of them ... well not at every price/cost (again no pun intended) ... just saying ... and it's also what this docu show is saying.

Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing is a three-part docu-series that centers on Piper Rockelle, a teen YouTuber who gained fame through videos featuring her group, "The Squad," managed by her mother, Tiffany Smith. While their content appeared lighthearted, former Squad members alleged there was a much darker side to what was going on. It wasn't my favorite Netflix documentary. Felt like it could have been better. It did bring up the reality that there needs to be better child labor laws for social media kid influencers. Because the one thing I kept saying to myself was, don't these kids go to school?!

I've seen a lot of Netflix documentaries and this one definitely is a stand out. With these types of docs, I'm used to my time being wasted and treated like i'm barely even watching. Surprisingly almost every bit of this documentary is disturbing and telling. It is a problem I was vaguely aware of but not nearly to this extent or what was really at play. There are many jaw dropping moments and it has a lot of substance to really think about. While at times the interviews are a bit frustrating because of the lack of accountability and blame shifting, I think it leaves a lot of food for thought and effectively reveals the truth.