BAD INFLUENCE: THE DARK SIDE OF KIDFLUENCING Season 1 Episode 1

Here is the decision. This first episode is genuinely well made — a concise, well-reported opening chapter that lets the kids and parents who lived it speak for themselves. It has a clear moral spine: it condemns what was done to these children and names the wider practices of "kidfluencing" that let it happen. If you're an older teen or an adult, there's real value here in understanding a world that runs on kids' faces and parents' ambition.

But the material is heavy, and it only gets heavier. This episode sets the stage for allegations of an unsafe, exploitative workplace and inappropriate conduct toward children — a fuller reckoning the series saves for later. Add a few obscenities, and this is plainly not a family watch.

So: worth your attention if you're an adult or older teen who wants to understand the dangers behind child social-media stardom — but wait and see, and know what you're stepping into before you press play.

Raised by a single mother, Piper Rockelle started young — pageants, then posts on Musically, the app that became TikTok. A role on the reality show DANCE TWINS changed everything, and a move to Los Angeles and a part on the YouTube show MANNY made her presence bigger still.

Alongside her mother and manager, Tiffany Smith, Piper built a "Squad" of fellow kid influencers, drawing in other mothers and children to make videos together. Then the questions began — about money the other families never saw, and about the content those kids were being asked to make.

Four stars, and here's what they mean. This is strong documentary filmmaking: the interviews with the children and parents at the center of the "Squad" are interesting and informative, and the episode gives a clear, concise overview of who Piper and her circle are. It sets up the series without rushing or sensationalizing.

It's the latest in a run of bombshell exposés on the dark side of child stardom, and it earns its place there. As an opening chapter, it does exactly what a first episode should — it orients you, introduces the players, and lays the groundwork for the more serious reckoning to come, all while keeping you watching.

For all its hard subject matter, this episode carries a strong moral point of view — and it's one worth naming plainly. It condemns the exploitation these kid influencers faced, both from an industry that profits off children and from the parents entrusted to protect them. Tiffany Smith's actions are criticized directly: bullying children on camera under the cover of "teasing," encouraging cyberbullying of kids she cast out, verbally abusing the adults and children around Piper, and withholding money those children helped earn. The film treats all of this as wrong, and it's right to.

The episode also references, briefly, the allegations of sexual misconduct against Smith — including that she asked one boy in the "Squad" whether he was aroused while looking at her — though it holds the deeper investigation for later episodes. It also includes an interview with a trans man who knew Tiffany and the "Squad."

At bottom, this is a story about adults who used children for gain and called it love. Scripture takes that failure with the utmost seriousness: "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck" (Matthew 18:5–6).

This is a well-made, morally serious documentary that names real wrongs done to real children — and that makes it valuable for the right viewers and unsuitable for young ones. So here's our answer, the same one we opened with: wait and see. It's for older teens and adults, and even then, go in knowing the weight of what's discussed. Planning something for the whole family instead? Start with our latest family-friendly picks.