Behind the ring lights: inside the troubling world of “kidfluencers”
- Nicole Manolitsas
- 11 minutes ago
- 4 min read
On April 9, Netflix premiered a new documentary on child influencing, or “kidfluencing”. Over three episodes, the docuseries uncovers the horrors some children have experienced behind the scenes.
Quickly rocketing to a place in the Top Ten of Netflix Australia’s TV shows, Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, has sparked a frenzy around the ethics of online child stars.
It began in 2018, when Piper Rockelle and her mother, Tiffany Smith, started ‘The Squad’. This group of children created content for YouTube and other social media platforms.
Whilst filming videos together, 'The Squad' members also promoted each other’s personal YouTube channels.
The Squad has changed over the years as early members, including Sophie Fergi, Corrine Joy, Claire RockSmith and Sawyer Sharbino, among others, decided to leave.
What first seemed innocent soon turned dark, as members started leaving 'The Squad' as early as 2019, alleging extreme work conditions and abuse.
In a 2022 civil lawsuit, filed by 11 former Squad members, it detailed many acts of wrongdoing and hurtful behaviour towards the influencers.
The lawsuit outlines the alleged financial abuse the "kidfluencers" experienced. According to former Squad members, they were allegedly not compensated for their work and had their YouTube channels sabotaged by Tiffany Smith.
This affected their income whilst Piper Rockelle, who did not file the lawsuit, was earning $300,000 to $500,000 USD per month.
In the documentary, the former members and mothers spoke of the difficult working conditions and pressure they were exposed to.
In Episode One, titled ‘#momager’, Sophie Fergi says 'The Squad' filmed “ten to fifteen videos a day”.
“Everyone had to be there at 11:00 a.m., and we would shoot till 1:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.,” says Fergi.
While juggling school work and lack of breaks, Fergi explains that it was extremely tiring.
Former Squad members also spoke out about alleged sexual abuse from the “momager”, Tiffany Smith.
In the docuseries, Corrine Joy, Sophie Fergi and Claire and Reese RockSmith openly discuss alleged sexual abuse they experienced from Smith.
Tiffany Smith and her boyfriend/cameraman, Hunter Hill, have continuously denied these allegations.
In 2024, the lawsuit settled for $1.85 million USD.
In the docuseries, content strategist Brandon Stewart and author Taylor Lorenz say that there are no regulations in the U.S. that protect child influencers.
The main reason for the lack of laws is because the kid/s are working with their parents. Therefore, it doesn’t seem like a job.
According to the ABC, in the past two years, some states in the U.S. have created laws to financially protect "kidfluencers". California, Illinois, Minnesota and Utah require children to be compensated for their work in online content.
The laws differ in each state, but the main principle is that the child influencers have to be compensated financially.
Although the documentary outlines that this isn’t really protecting them, since the law means that they can continue to be exploited by their parents, they just get paid for it.
Similar to the U.S., Australia has very limited regulations and practices to protect child influencers.
In Victoria, an employer who wants to hire a child under 15 years of age in the entertainment industry must have an entertainment licence.
The Victorian government says that “employing a child without a licence is a crime and may be penalised”.
However, there are no enforceable laws made by the government to protect Australia’s child influencers.
The Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO), is an industry body that aims to protect influencers.
In 2020, AiMCO published its Influencer Marketing Code of Practice to help establish safety guidelines for the influencer industry.
Under these practices, AiMCO can help to protect the overall wellbeing of child influencers. The Code covers influencer qualifications and vetting, which require brands to examine whether the young influencer is physically and/or mentally able to be employed.
Amongst other things, the Code protects intellectual property rights and encourages guardian supervision.
Although influencer codes are a step in the right direction, they are practices, not laws.
Megan McEwin from the Australian Association of National Advertisers says that they created the Children’s Advertising Code, which can help to protect "kidfluencers".
Coming into effect in 2023, the Code “prohibits advertising inappropriate or unsafe products or services to children”.
McEwin says that child influencers carry “a high risk that the audience is also children”, therefore, “advertising via kidfluencers” should not promote “any product or service that is inappropriate or unsafe for children”.
The Australian Government passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill in 2024 to ban those under 16 from certain social media platforms.
It will come into effect by December 2025, but it is not yet known what it will mean for child influencers.
McEwin states that the social media ban for children under 16 “will address many of the concerns of children seeing inappropriate content”.
“It may also stop Australian children being kidfluencers on those platforms in their own right,” says McEwin.
She says that “Australian brands will continue to be wary of being associated with child influencers from a brand safety point of view”.
The Netflix documentary has revealed a new, dangerous, side of child influencers. It serves as a reminder that there is always a dark side to social media, no matter how innocent it seems.
In Episode Three of the docuseries, Ashley RockSmith, the mother of Claire and Reese RockSmith, says that through “sharing [her] experience”, she hopes that she “can prevent other kids from going through the situation that [her] kids went through”.
With a lack of federal or state laws protecting the exploitation of "kidfluencers" in the U.S. and Australia, the wellbeing of these children remains uncertain.
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