My kid wants to be a YouTube star, and I’m unsure how to discuss that with him. I know I’m not the only parent who’s run into this. I do everything I can to reasonably limit his engagement with the platform. His YouTube exposure correlates to how much time he spends playing outside. I think that’s a good balance to strike: A pedagogical attempt at showing him screen time isn’t everything, there are other options, and moderation is key.

He has a YouTube Kids profile, and he sees other children on the platform. He sees how they act, and he wants to mimic it.

When a hobby becomes a job

To be fair, I don’t have a problem with children making videos for fun. It’s a creative outlet, and I totally understand the desire to perform and share those performances with others. I’ve shown him videos of me performing music online. I’ve tried to model YouTube as a space for purposeful videos that allow people to share their art and creativity—or spread helpful information.

But I know that’s not what he wants at this age. Mostly, he just wants to be on camera and see other kids doing the same. This seemingly universal desire is the impetus for the new Netflix docuseries Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing. Released in 2025, the series follows Piper Rockelle, who started appearing on YouTube at the age of 8 with the help of her “momager,” Tiffany Smith.

Piper’s YouTube channel grew exponentially at an impressive rate. A quick look shows over 12 million subscribers. But the number of views her videos garner has varied over time.

YouTube allows viewers to search for the oldest, latest, and most popular videos. With Piper’s content, there is an obvious bell curve. Early videos had fewer views; they peaked a few years ago, and now they are back down to the earlier numbers. Still, her earliest videos from seven to eight years ago averaged from a couple hundred thousand to a few million.

The first of her early videos to reach 3 million views were related to topics like her “first kiss,” a “sleepover with BFF” and “24 hours handcuffed to [her] ‘boyfriend.’” Those video descriptions are telling in lieu of accusations explored in Bad Influence.

‘The Squad’

The series works well as a three-part documentary analyzing the rise and fall of Piper Rockelle Inc, a talent holdings company referred to as PRI, and the associated allegations of child abuse. The first episode provides enough background and contextual information to give the audience a fair introduction to child-driven internet-based social media influencing—or “kidfluencing.”

To help set the stage for the environment Piper and her mother navigate so well, episode one begins with a discussion on the genesis of social media platforms that are easily accessible to children. Slowly, the audience is also introduced to other children Piper’s mom recruits for collaboration. “The Squad,” as they become known, consists of multiple male and female preteens who work under the direction of Smith and her business and romantic partner, Hunter Hill. Oddly, he’s introduced initially on Piper’s channel as her brother.

Once recruited, Squad members would sign contracts relinquishing control of their own personal YouTube channels so they could be run by PRI. As the children’s parents note, at first this was a net positive: Not only were their children receiving an extraordinary amount of exposure from their work on Piper’s channel, but their association with PRI also helped skyrocket their personal channel’s subscribers.

This, in turn, leads to more money. As explained in Bad Influence, once they can monetize their videos, they develop a revenue stream paid out by YouTube in compensation for the advertisements run during their media. The more views the videos receive, the more income they generate.

Moreover, channels with large followings are also more likely to garner paid advertisements and product placements in their videos. Those deals can become extremely lucrative. At one point, Piper’s channel generated upwards of $500,000 per month in revenue.

However, as is usually the case, those funds don’t come without compromises.

A lack of regulation

Throughout the series, we learn that 11 former “squad” members alleged Smith and Hill engaged in inappropriate activities with them, including excessive work hours, unsuitable work conditions and inadequate compensation. Additionally, there were accusations of sexual misconduct.

A 2022 lawsuit was filed on the children’s behalf, naming Smith, Hill and PRI as defendants. Allegations included unjust enrichment, civil conspiracy and sexual battery.

Dhillon Law Group represented the plaintiffs, and the case eventually settled, according to the firm’s website.

In the documentary, their parents claim the suit was never about money; it was about exposing the underbelly of the child internet-influencer culture.

I want other parents to watch Bad Influence, so I’ll leave out spoilers related to the accusations. Nevertheless, they were troubling. I could wrap my head around the nature of the exploitation regarding the channel’s content because, as the old saying goes, “Just follow the money.” Certain types of videos obviously led to more views, and as we discussed, views equal money.

However, I kept asking myself, “How are these ‘working’ conditions allowed considering child labor laws?”

Bad Influence makes a concerted effort to educate the audience about the odd intersection between content creation as a hobby and child labor . It discusses how legislation has fallen behind, mainly due to lawmakers’ lack of understanding regarding content creation and how it works as a revenue-generating stream.

And existing laws don’t change much regarding the root problem, because parents can still exploit their children—they just have to pay them for it.

So often in this column, I spill ink complaining about true crime documentaries that exhaust all their energy identifying a problem without presenting a solution. However, this series does an outstanding job of not only focusing on the underlying issue but also explaining the context of that complication along with the current status of efforts to address it. Moreover, it’s refreshing that the production team provides additional examples of avenues that could lead to further assistance.

Closing thoughts

Earlier in this piece, I mentioned Piper’s videos that first resulted in millions of views. It’s no coincidence they all involved quasi-exploitative terms that take on a much more problematic tone when considered in context of children. But sadly, they worked; and PRI doubled down. Similar dating-type content continued to proliferate the channel, often times generating views exceeding 5-10 million. A more recent video, “100 Christmas Wishlist ideas 2024,” has approximately 778,000 views. Sure, fame can be fleeting at that level, but the underlying question inferred by the documentary still remains: What was/is the cost of success?

To be fair, rarely does success come without sacrifice. Nevertheless, that immolation of innocence hits differently when children are involved.

My son dislikes my disdain for his YouTube star dreams. Maybe one day he’ll read this column, or he’ll watch a documentary like Bad Influence and know I was only trying to protect him.

Adam Banner

Adam R. Banner is the founder and lead attorney of the Oklahoma Legal Group, a criminal defense law firm in Oklahoma City. His practice focuses solely on state and federal criminal defense. He represents the accused against allegations of sex crimes, violent crimes, drug crimes and white-collar crimes.

The study of law isn’t for everyone, yet its practice and procedure seem to permeate pop culture at an increasing rate. This column is about the intersection of law and pop culture in an attempt to separate the real from the ridiculous.

This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.