01x03 - #unfollow

[bunniefuu]

[Ashley] After we left The Squad,

Piper's video got posted about our kids.

And that was hard.

[tense music playing]

The content on that video was

Piper, Lev, Elliana, Emily.

They were sitting on the edge Piper's bed.

And I remember Piper
going through each of the kids

and why these kids had left.

I just have to say, you know,
everyone that leaves The Squad,

they always blame it on a toxic,
you know, place, environment.

It's really not.
We're all really, really good friends.

And we have a lot of fun.

[Hunter] I'm not gonna sit here
and let people say

that we're a toxic place.

You could tell Piper is...

Piper's uncomfortable.

This was very coached.

[Hunter] There's not me telling... no adult.
There's no one controlling Piper, I swear.

[Ashley] And now that I've been
on the other side of these videos,

you could tell
that she was being very coached.

In the video, she also unfollowed
each of our kids.

I'm on The Squad following page,

and we're going to unfollow them
right now.

First one here is Claire.

Obviously, you know, she's my cousin,

and we've had very, very,
very fun times together.

So our kids sat there and watched this,

and watched the wrath
of what was happening.

And the comments...

The hate comments were... horrible.

[Claire] I was only 13,

and I was getting hate
from all across the world.

I was in such a vulnerable place

where I was really internalizing
what I was seeing.

[Angela] These kids were being attacked.

Like I call them, "the hate campaigns."

I don't know if they were orchestrated
by Tiffany or bots,

or if they were real kids,
but they were being attacked online.

You think about kids in middle America,
and they get bullied.

This is a different level of bullying.

This is not just 100 kids in your town.

This is the whole world.

It definitely hurt a lot to see
everything everybody was saying.

It felt like I was being judged
and criticized.

[Sophie] I feel anger
towards the situation

'cause people will tag me
in what "Piper said about me."

And it's like, I know that's Tiffany.

And you're lying to these fans,

saying that that's your daughter talking,
and it's not, it's you.

[Heather] Tiffany is on her phone,

talking sh*t to children
under Piper's account.

And she'd go into group chats.

She would start hate campaigns to go after
whoever left The Squad at that time,

and just setting up fan accounts.

[Ashley] We know for a fact
Tiffany was running fan accounts

to speak ill of The Squad members
that left.

[Angela] My son is so devastated.

I just would like her to stop.

[voice breaks] Leave my kid alone.
Leave these kids alone.

Focus on your own.
Just leave our kids alone.

[intriguing electronic music playing]

[bubbling]

[rising whir]

[ethereal whirring]

[music fades]

[mouse clicking]

[Angela] After we left The Squad,

all of the kids' social media,
especially their YouTube,

was just tanking and getting no views.

I was emailing YouTube

and talking to people on Fiverr,
trying to do SEO.

I was trying to figure out
what had happened to Sawyer's channel.

[man] When did you start
losing subscribers?

So basically,
Sawyer left on 15th February.

And then, within two days,

now we're losing subscribers.

And hundreds of subscribers a day.

Yeah. This is a... a really unusual falloff.

Um... I would not expect to see,
like, such a... a strong cutoff,

unless there was an active campaign,

where, you know, somebody... an influencer
with influence over their audience

would say, "Hey, go unsubscribe
to this channel," right?

We've seen that many times.

But in this, for us,
going negative within two days,

the audience didn't even know
that Sawyer had left.

They were eventually told
to unsubscribe, but...

Fans didn't know Sawyer had left
The Squad at this point.

Yeah. Only, you know, Hunter and Tiffany.

[intriguing music playing]

[Ashley] We felt like they were doing this
to our channels.

When Claire's channel numbers
started going down,

that's whenever I thought,
"Oh no. Here we go."

We had multiple phone calls
between the parents.

You know, here's Claire's analytics.
Here's these other kids' analytics.

And it was the same graph
for all the kids.

[Jenn] A few of the moms spent months
and months and months researching

how to stop Tiffany.

The goal was to figure out
what she's doing to our channels

and reverse it.

[Angela] We're sharing information,
trying to figure this out together.

[Jenn] We talked
to many different entities.

And finally, we were directed
to the law firm that we work with.

[music fades]

[man] Tiffany and her boyfriend
slash business partner, Hunter,

they've said in the past
that they have the ability,

and they have in the past done
these kinds of things to other people.

[somber music playing]

[Corinne] I was the first person
it happened to.

And now everybody knows,
if you leave The Squad,

your views will go down,

you'll lose subscribers,
you'll lose followers.

You're going to get blacklisted.

[Sawyer] As soon as I left,

Hunter went in and turned off
the notifications on my channel.

And then we logged him out.

And he just went crazy
trying to log back in,

trying to get the password from us.

[Taylor] There's a whole world
of dark arts

that goes behind these channels.

And it's an entire underbelly
of the social media ecosystem

that you don't see.

You know, behind the scenes,
there's these people buying bot networks,

paying people to mass report accounts,
get them flagged, get them down-ranked.

[Sawyer] Which would be going in
on different accounts

and clicking "report the video."

And we know that's been done
because some of the videos,

you can't even put
a Google ad on to promote

because YouTube thinks it's violent,

when it's, like, a video of me
and my friends

sitting down talking on the couch.

[inaudible]

We found out later on

that the videos were being embedded
in porn sites and gambling sites

and other bad sites

that would negatively affect
the SEO of my YouTube channel.

[Matt] If your name is linked
to one of these porn sites,

it's gonna impact, you know,
hits when it comes to subscribers.

It's gonna show up on a Google search.

And that's going to adversely impact
your name forever.

The Internet is written in ink.
It's not written in pencil.

[Sawyer] My YouTube channel
has never been the same.

I think it's forever tarnished.

Everything I worked for.

Hey, guys. I'm Sawyer.

And I just started my YouTube channel
a couple days ago.

Everything that I cared about
and was motivated to work on,

getting sabotaged by people
that I thought wanted to help me,

by people that I trusted.

[music fades]

[Matt] So we have filed a civil lawsuit
against Tiffany and against Hunter Hill.

And we've not sued Piper individually.
We have no claims against her.

And we're seeking collectively
in the tens of millions of dollars

for all 11 kids in this lawsuit.

[Taylor] In 2022, this lawsuit is filed,

alleging a lot of wrongdoing,
a lot of bad behavior,

and kind of pulling the curtain back

on a lot of really bad things
that were happening behind the scenes.

[tense, pulsing music playing]

[man] When I first started on this case,
I read the original complaint.

And the parents at that time
were mostly concerned about the effects

that they saw on these kids' careers.

And everything that was done
to these kids' YouTube accounts.

- [Sawyer] Okay, ready?
- [Corinne] Yeah.

[Jeremiah] We went in,
and we asked the kids questions.

And we discovered that the stories
that the parents had told us

about what was going on
were just the tip of an iceberg.

What we have is 11 kids
whose stories all line up.

[Claire] Oh.

And what they did
to these children is shocking.

[somber music playing]

- Oh my G... [chuckles]
- [ball clatters]

[Jeremiah] After we filed the complaint,

um, we went through a process
that's called discovery.

And I know, for a lot of you,
we're meeting for the first time today.

In my understandings,
you're still learning more

about what the kids went through
that you didn't know.

It seemed like, originally,
a lot of you came to this case

because of the interference
with the YouTube channels.

And after the case started,
as you met with Matt and... and our firm,

you discovered all these other elements,
um, to the story,

the emotional abuse they went through,
the verbal abuse they went through,

the sexual abuse they went through.

[somber music playing]

[Ashley] When I first heard from Claire
and Reese about what happened to them,

we had our first meeting
as a group with our lawyers.

And the lawyers started asking questions.

Sophie said something.

And then Claire's like, "Me too."

And then, um, Reese was like, "Me too."

And then Hayden was like,
"Well, she did this to me."

And then Sawyer says, "She did this."

And then everybody
just kind of started unloading.

[breathes deeply]

We were not prepared
to hear stories of the sexual stuff.

Now we're in a really dark area.

And it made me feel... even worse
for letting her stay.

[Corinne] I can't really remember
what conversation led up to this,

but I remember Tiffany asking me, like,

"Corinne, like,
have you ever given a blow job?"

And I was just like, "What's that?"

When I was younger, like,
I didn't know what that was.

I was... confused.

And then she was,
like, giggling and laughing.

And I looked at Hunter,
and Hunter was, like, laughing.

And then she was like,

"Oh, like, you can,
like, do it on Hunter."

Like, "I'll show you, like, with Hunter."

And then they were, like, laughing,
like, really hard.

And then Piper was like,
"Oh, like, Mom, stop. Like... stop."

Like, Piper was saying stop.

I was 11.

It makes me feel sad for my younger self.

I feel like I could have easily been,

like, taken advantage of
in that situation,

which is really scary to me.

Tiffany would target us
when we were most vulnerable

and when we were alone.

And she had this character called Lenny.

[Tiffany] Lenny!

[Piper giggling]

[Sophie] Lenny was a cat that belonged
to Tiffany and Piper that died.

- [mouse clicks]
- Tiffany would have a voice.

And Lenny was basically the vent

for all of her dirty
or sexual, like, thoughts

that she could get away... "get away with."

Lenny is not a character featured
in Piper's videos or anything like that.

Lenny was just something
that was off-camera just to us.

[unsettling music playing]

Tiffany usually woke us up in the morning,

and it was usually something
that she did as Lenny.

There was one time she came up to us,
and at some point she got in the bed.

And then she was on top of...

She would go for me and Piper,

and she was on top of us
on her hands and knees,

like, pinning us down,

saying that she was a mountain goat.

And then she was, like... She would howl.

Uh, she did that spit thing

where you, like, take spit down
and then you, like, suck it back up.

She did that to me.

And I couldn't move. I couldn't, like...
I didn't have any way to defend myself.

So I can't remember how I did it,

but somehow I got my arms out

to where I could cover the blanket
as soon as the spit fell.

So... and then we just got up out of bed,

and then just acted
like it was any other day.

[Angela] As each of the kids
started telling what she did to them

and how it affected them,

the moms, we just all started crying.

The amount of stuff you're hearing,
and you're like, "How could this happen?"

[voice breaks] Like, with Reese,
in particular,

[sniffles] ...was so little. [sobs]

Like a baby. She was nine.

I don't really remember how it started,

but I remember I was bringing
something to her room.

I was like, "Here, Tiffany."
And I put it on her bed.

And then as I was walking out,
she said in Lenny's voice,

Tiffany said in Lenny's voice,
she said, "Wait, Reese, don't go."

And I was like, "I'm getting out of here."

Like, "I wanna leave. I wanna get out."

And she grabbed me.

I don't know by my waist or, like, my legs
or my throat or whatever.

I don't remember, but she grabbed me.

So I ran to her bathroom,
and I locked myself in there.

Um, and I was just sitting there,
and then she said,

Tiffany said in Lenny's voice,
"Reese, I have my pants down."

"Do you wanna come look?"

And I said, "No."

So, um, just in case
she did have her pants down,

I didn't wanna be traumatized,
so I put my hand over my eyes.

I unlocked the door quietly.
I opened it up quietly.

And I was kind of feeling around the room.

And then, whenever I kind of
knew where I was,

I opened up my eyes,
and I started to walk to the door.

And then she grabbed me
and pulled me on her bed.

Um...

And she started... She was holding me down.

And she started to take her hand
and move it on my face,

my chest, like everywhere.

She started to, like,
move her hand around.

And I, um, took her arms off me,
and I broke free, and I unlocked the door,

and I ran out of there,
and I went to the RV.

I just stayed there for the rest
of the day until the next day.

I didn't really go out the next day.

[somber music playing]

[Ashley] By the time Reese was done,

we were all... bawling.

The parents were bawling.

[voice breaks] I got physically ill.
I don't want to throw up.

I feel like I'm gonna throw up
right now talking about it. [sniffles]

Similar things happened
to Claire and Soph.

[Sophie] Tiffany would sexually as*ault

like, me, Claire, and Reese a lot.

There was this one time, uh, I was asleep...

[sniffles] ...and I woke up,

and she was, like, on top of me
when I woke up.

And, like, rubbing her hand all over me,
saying it was Lenny's d*ck.

And then finally, she let go,
and she had left the room.

But I remember being so scared.

And so I started locking my door.

But my door has, like, one of those slits,

so you could stick a penny in it
and you could turn it from the outside.

So I started locking my door.

And she would take a penny,
and she would still come in.

And it still affects me to this day
that, like...

I don't know if I should say this,
but I sleep with, like, a knife by my bed

'cause, like, I'm so scared
of somebody breaking in

or coming in my room from that.

And there's so much more that went on

that, like, I don't think
I really wanna talk about on camera

'cause it's... too much.

[somber music playing]

[Steevy] That was the first time
hearing what had happened

and the stories that had happened to them.

It's really hard to hear this.

Their innocence is now gone.

It made me feel like I didn't protect her.

[voice breaks] I was traumatized.
Like, poor kids.

- [sniffles]
- [music fades]

Mm... because we were... we're their moms,

and we're supposed to protect them,
and we didn't.

[sniffles]

We couldn't. We didn't know.

[Sophie] My mom didn't know anything
about the sexual things

Tiffany was trying to do
towards me or any of that.

I think I was just embarrassed
at all the stuff,

that I didn't tell my mom.

And I really wish I would have sooner.

None of us did.

Claire didn't tell her mom.
Reese didn't tell her mom.

Like, nobody said anything.

[Claire] I would sometimes think maybe
I should tell my moms what happened.

But whenever Tiffany started doing
the things to me and Reese,

we saw her do it to Piper as well.

Piper thinks it's completely normal.

So we're like, "Okay, you know,
she's doing this to you."

"I guess it's fine
that she does this to us too."

I didn't realize anything was wrong,
and I was just justifying in my head,

"Oh, this is family.
It's fine. It's okay."

I think that's one of her main advantages,
that she was family, she was my aunt.

And it was Lenny. It wasn't Tiffany.
It was Lenny who was doing it.

[Sarah] Tiffany here is the mom
and manager

of one of the largest
child minor accounts on social media

and has been called out quite a few times
for her questionable content.

My name is Sarah Adams.

I go by mom.uncharted on social media.

And I built a platform around
exploring kidfluencers and parents

who, in my opinion,
exploit their children online.

Late 2021 was when I learned
about Piper Rockelle.

And then the lawsuit dropped.

And that's when I started
just paying a little more attention

to what was happening.

[plinking]

[chimes]

Many are aware of the lawsuit
against Tiffany Smith.

It has been filed
by 11 former Squad members,

kids who used to work with Piper,
against Tiffany.

And there are many allegations.

[intriguing music playing]

[man 1] Today's video
is about Piper Rockelle

and the absolutely insane lawsuit.

147 pages of absolute madness.

[man 2] The kids accused Tiffany
of physical, emotional, verbal,

and S abuse,

as well as financial exploitation.

Some of the allegations are insane.

A few months before the lawsuit was filed,
singer Pink tweeted out,

"How many kids like Piper Rockelle
are being exploited by their parents?"

"At what point do the rest of us say,

'This isn't okay for a 13-year-old
to be in a bikini

whilst her mother takes the photo'?"

Piper's mother, Tiffany,
is accused of doing some revolting things.

Encouraging teens to have oral sex,

dress sluttier,
and touching children inappropriately.

All of our innocence
was just swiped from us.

We didn't know a lot of the things
that were going on.

We weren't allowed to be there.

If you put your kids in these squads,

you're to blame too.

I don't care if you knew or didn't know.
You still put your kids in this situation.

I can't.

[Taylor] We start to see cracks emerging
and... and red flags, basically,

with The Squad quite early on.

And I think the parents kind of
ignore those red flags.

They kind of sweep it under the rug.
They minimize it.

And they ultimately become complicit
in their own child's exploitation.

If I were watching this show,
I'd be like, "Idiots."

I already know what I would say.

"Why the hell
would you stay around for that?"

I already know what I would say, 100%.

I would not understand why anyone
kept their kid in that environment.

But it's so complex.

[tense music playing]

There's manipulation
at the level of the kids.

There's manipulation
at the level of the parents.

She was watching us like hawks.

We weren't allowed
to hang out with other people.

We weren't allowed to talk to anyone
who had left The Squad.

By the time you realize
that it's not good,

you're also scared to leave
or scared to say anything.

It's like a... like a cult or something.
Like, you can't get out.

Like, once you're in,

you know all the consequences
of even just crossing her.

Your kid's gonna be tanked.
There's gonna be hate content.

There's going to be all kinds of hell.

[camera clicks]

You don't want to hurt your kid.

And then your child
doesn't wanna tell you stuff.

Sawyer didn't want to tell me.

He didn't want me to be upset
about something that happened to him

and do something because he knew
the consequences of upsetting her.

[Jeremiah] The bottom line is this.
The parents didn't know what was going on.

You might be able to fault them for that,

for not knowing what was happening
to their children at the time.

That doesn't excuse the defendants
from what they did to these children.

This case is not about the parents.

[exhales deeply]

After the lawsuit became public,

I had a lot of people
who were coming after me

because they were saying that I was lying,

or they were saying
that I shouldn't have left my family.

There was a... a lot of hate
towards everybody in it.

And I think so many people,

instead of trying to hear it out,

just automatically thought
that we were faking it.

- [keyboard clacking]
- [tense music playing]

[Sawyer] It definitely sucked. It did.

'Cause it was...
it was a lot for me to deal with,

not only with the hate comments,

but just being like,

"I wonder what's gonna happen.
I wonder what people are gonna think."

[keyboard clacking]

[Steevy] Everybody says we're lying.
Social media people say we're lying.

We just want money.

And I mean, honestly, for Corinne,
she doesn't... care about the money.

She's been silenced for so long.

She's just like, "I'm not lying."

"This happened to me, and I want
everybody to know that this can happen."

I feel like I'm ready to... mm, face her,

like, and show her
that we're stronger than she thinks.

And we're warning people

so they don't have to
go through what we did.

[Claire] Yeah.

I feel like we're giving
so many people voices,

especially in this industry,

because the things
that happen behind the scenes

are never, you know, seen by anybody.

[Taylor] These abuse allegations
against Tiffany,

which include battery
and child labor violations,

are not unique
to the Piper Rockelle, Tiffany case.

[tense music continues]

These are common forms of abuse

that are rampant
in the kidfluencer industry.

[reporter] A popular YouTube mom,
known for her strict parenting style,

now under suspicion of child abuse.

Kidfluencing right now
is the Wild Wild West.

I mean, there's no regulations
that keep these influencers safe.

[Jeremiah] It's an unregulated frontier
of the entertainment industry.

And that's why we have this lawsuit,
which is really...

It should be the last line of defense
to have to do a civil lawsuit.

When a child's treated like this,

they shouldn't have to go out
and hire private attorneys

in order to vindicate their rights.

[woman] Mr. Hill,
would you raise your right hand?

You do solemnly swear or affirm
the evidence you're about to give

will be the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.

Yes.

[tense music continues]

[Sophie] Hunter was
a very interesting character

because I always looked at Hunter
as this person who had my back,

who was just a victim of Tiffany,

and who didn't understand
right from wrong.

So I used to sympathize for Hunter.

[man] Has Tiffany ever engaged
in any kind of verbal abuse against you?

No.

[man] Never?

No. I... I mean,
we're in a relationship. We argue.

[Sawyer] Hunter seems like
a good guy on the surface.

He seems like someone that just wants
to help these kids be successful.

But I think he's really just a weak man
that's being controlled by Tiffany.

I think working with Tiffany
is phenomenal.

She's probably the best... boss,
partner, coach, teammate

I've ever worked with, ever.

[Sophie] I feel at 20-something,

you should be able
to stick up for yourself

and stick up for these 12-year-olds
who are supposedly your "best friends."

[Hunter] All right, here we go.
Three, two, one, action.

[Sophie] Hunter was definitely
Tiffany's sidekick.

[Hunter] Tiff, how do you want 'em
to say it?

[Sophie] So I think, like, obviously,
for the sake of YouTube,

he wanted us to get close
and, like, vulnerable,

and he could get these things on camera.

He could use it to his advantage.

So now, like, I have no sympathy for him.

I just think he was a weirdo
who hung out with 12-year-olds.

[man exhaling, clicking tongue]

[man] How's it going, Hunter?
We're just doing our job out here.

We're investigating a story
about the lawsuit.

Um, I understand. Do you understand
that you can't have a minor on camera?

[man] Well, that's public property.
That's public.

No, you need to have a film permit...

- [man] No, you don't.
- ...to film minors. You do.

[traffic whirring]

[man] There's 11 minors that claim
you sexually assaulted them.

[Ashley] I remember
when the lawsuit came out.

We weren't the only ones
that got a lot of heat.

Tiffany got a lot of criticism too.

And I do remember Piper putting out
a video that came to her mom's rescue.

If my mom did not help me
and help me make my dreams come true,

I would not be here for you guys.

Like, I thank my mom every day,
and I tell her how grateful I am for her.

[voice breaks] Because she's so strong.

I don't even know if I would be able
to go through what she's gone through

or going through still. [sobs]

[somber music playing]

I first met Piper and Tiffany in 2021.

My friend brought me there

because they were, uh,
having some cats for adoption.

And I, you know, love cats.

From there, I saw them,
like, maybe once a month.

Some months,
it was like three times a month.

I would do TikToks.

I would just kind of, like, lounge there
and, like, talk to them.

When I first met Piper,
she was happy with her friends.

It was, like, a fun environment.

Then, at the end,
it was like she was depressed.

She, I know,
was starting to not eat a lot.

And she was just kind of
wanting to be isolated.

[female reporter] Today,
Piper's mom, Tiffany Smith,

is under fire
by all these former Squad members.

After the lawsuit was filed,

Tiffany would tell Piper
that these were just mean, evil people

wanting her money
and wanting to ruin her reputation,

and that they never really liked her.

And Piper, I think,
definitely seemed to believe that.

And Piper would now share that
with people if asked about the lawsuit.

It's like, whatever Tiffany said,
Piper engraved into her brain,

and that's all she can think of now.

It's like she's programmed that way now.

I mean, honestly, I feel it's my fault.

Because if I didn't hang out
with these people

that did something so terrible to me,

I feel like this wouldn't be happening
to my family.

[Matt] After we filed our lawsuit
in early 2022,

YouTube demonetized Piper's account.

Basically, she could still post
but wouldn't be able to make money for it.

So her revenue from YouTube went
from 500,000, 600,000 a month to zero.

Uh, YouTube has said
it has to do with content guidelines

and violations of terms of service.

We have a... a creator responsibility
guidelines, uh, policy,

where if creators have
off-platform behavior

or there's off-platform news
that could be damaging

to the broader creator ecosystem,

you can be suspended
from our monetization program.

[Taylor] Demonetization is basically
like a big punishment.

YouTube has only done this for really
the most controversial content creators.

[tense music playing]

Here's the problem with these platforms.

It's really not until the media
draws attention to something

that they take action.

After this lawsuit files,
things begin to crumble.

Major brand deals start falling apart.
Brands are pulling out.

People don't wanna work
with any content creator

that's at the center
of a controversial scandal.

[Sarah] Due to the lawsuit,
they have had to diversify.

She has been looking for other avenues.

And when I say "she," Tiffany,
has been looking for other avenues

to monetize her child.

[Taylor] She retreats onto
these other platforms like Snapchat.

Snapchat is a platform very different
than other social media apps

because there's no comment section.

So they can just post, monetize,
and sort of stay under the radar.

I'm also aware that Piper is on
another website called BrandArmy.

And BrandArmy is often
compared to OnlyFans,

but it doesn't do nudity.

On BrandArmy, you can be as young as 13
to actually create content on there.

But in order for people
to subscribe to that content,

they have to be at least 18.

[Sarah] Meaning, BrandArmy is a website

that is allowing adults to subscribe
to exclusive content of minors.

I don't know how a website justifies this.

I don't know how it is legal.

But, like, this is a thing
in the digital world today.

And honestly, it just makes me
feel sick to my stomach.

[tense music continues]

[Katherine] A lot of young influencers
have recognized

that there is actually a market
to sell extra content.

Meta did its own investigation
into this phenomenon

and determined that a lot of the users
who are willing to pay

for this extra child-focused material

were users that had indicated,

through their interactions
on the platforms,

they were likely
sexually interested in children.

[Sarah] Predators can take advantage
of these kids in so many ways.

There have been stories of cyberstalking.

There have been stories
of physical stalking.

And a lot of scary things are happening.

[Karen] I'm not sure
which is more damaging.

The fact that there are anonymous adults
following these children,

or the fact that at some pretty early age,
the kids know that that's the fact.

And then they continue
to act provocatively

because they know
that the provocative actions

will draw in more likes,
more comments, and more monetization.

[Ava] Seeing kids get on these platforms

and being allowed on platforms
that they really shouldn't be

just to exploit them
and see photos of them

that you shouldn't see of a child
is extremely wrong

and something that should not even
be available to them

as they... are not developed enough
to make these decisions.

I gotta get
all of these kiss marks off of me,

so... let's get them off.

[Claire] My heart hurts for Piper,
seeing her on something like that.

And who knows if she even has
a decision in being on it.

The Piper that I knew,

that is absolutely not
what she wants to do.

I'm kind of, like, concerned a little bit.

Seeing the content now,
like Piper in bathing suits.

I feel like I kinda wish
I knew what was going on.

I noticed that Piper was
always worried about money.

And she herself was worried
that they had to pay their mortgage

and they had to pay $20,000
in cat food for their 70 cats.

So it definitely just seemed like
it was Piper's responsibility

to hold that house up.

She started doing
more provocative dances, it seemed like,

wearing provocative clothing
and just acting older,

not really seeming to appear
that she is 15 or 16 at the time.

I know, a lot of the times, they would be
doing, like, a regular photo sh**t,

and then they would have a specific outfit

from a brand they need to do
for... for their BrandArmy page.

And one time she told her,

"Come on, Piper.
You need to get BrandArmy mode on."

And then Piper kind of, like,
bent over and put her butt out

and, like, started touching her body

in a very, like, sexual, disturbing way.

[haunting, poignant music playing]

[Steevy] Where's the line for Tiffany?

The fact that she's got
her child on a platform

where she's walking around

and dancing around
in a bikini for subscribers?

It doesn't stop.

It's still not stopping today.

The fact that Tiffany's still operating,
it boggles my mind.

And it boggles my mind
because shortly after the lawsuit,

we were contacted by the FBI.

[somber, intriguing music playing]

They said,
"We want to talk to your girls."

There have been FBI visits with,
I think, every kid who's in this lawsuit.

They have our entire file.

They have all the stories.

There's police reports
in multiple districts around LA.

But we're not really getting any answers.

The information that I received
from the FBI agent

was they won't try a case

unless they know they have a smoking g*n
and they know that they'll win the case.

So I don't... I don't know.

That's... that's the last I heard
from the FBI agent,

and that's the last I heard
from the detective.

[tense, intriguing music playing]

[Taylor] The government
has absolutely no appetite

to implement any sort of
meaningful regulations on this industry.

They still treat this industry as a joke.

Lawmakers are often 70 to 80 years old.

They don't take
this world seriously at all.

They make fun of it. They mock it.

Mr. Zuckerberg, you have convinced
over two billion people

to give up
all of their personal information

in exchange for getting to see

what their high school friends
had for dinner Saturday night.

That's pretty much
your business model, isn't it?

[Zuckerberg smacks lips] That's not
how I would characterize it.

[Taylor] For them to try
to regulate the industry,

it's like a chimpanzee
trying to solve a Rubik's Cube.

I mean, frankly,
that's probably more likely.

And until we start
taking this industry seriously,

until we start
viewing influencing as labor,

these kids are screwed.

Welcome back to my channel.

Today's video is going to be
another prank video!

[music rises, abates]

- [music fades]
- [keyboard clacking]

My name is Chris McCarty,

and I am the founder
and executive director

of Quit Clicking Kids.

I'm working to protect child influencers,

pushing legislation forward

to make sure that we can
better protect children online.

- [keyboard clacking]
- [intriguing music playing]

I started doing this project
in my senior year of high school.

There were a couple of news stories
that made me think about,

what is really happening
with child influencing?

There's so many different layers.

I think one of the biggest misconceptions
is not seeing it as work,

especially for the kids.

It is very much not a hobby
for many of these influencers.

It is a job.

And in some cases, it's the primary
or even the only source of income

for these families.

That has the potential to place
an undue burden on these children

to create content.

It can become a huge pressure as a kid

to know that you're the one
making the family money.

And I think it can get
very muddy and messy

when there is so much money involved,
there's fame involved.

It can create some really hard dynamics.

[Sarah] I can't imagine how that feels

for a child to be the essential,
like, cash cow of their family.

And as it relates to Piper,

she has been the one
generating income for her family

for all of these years.

And one might argue, Tiffany might argue,
that, well, she was the momager,

and she's entitled to something.

But that doesn't negate the fact

that all of that something
is based on exploiting your daughter.

[girl] Are you nervous to perform?

Me, right now, I'm actually not nervous.
I'm trying to stay...

[Chris] In a lot of states,
there are things called Coogan laws,

which are protections for child actors.

These require parents to put aside
a percentage of the child's earnings

in escrow for them.

So part of the work that I'm trying to do
with Quit Clicking Kids is to make sure

that child influencers have
those same protections as child actors.

[keyboard clacking]

Laws right now in America
are starting to catch up.

[reporter 1] Illinois is the first state
in the country

to ensure children featured
in social media videos with their families

are compensated for their work.

[Chris] California, right now,
does have legislation

similar to what was introduced
in Illinois.

[reporter 2] Today,
the governor signed two laws

ensuring child influencers
aren't taken advantage of

next to former child star
and singer Demi Lovato.

[Chris] It is giving me hope
that a state like California,

who does have a relatively high population
of child influencers,

is starting to make
those first steps towards change.

I hope that that starts the ball rolling,

not only for financial compensation,

but also in terms of set teachers,
regulated work hours,

and checking and making sure

that these families
are following best practices

and protecting their children.

[somber, intriguing music playing]

[man] It's a start.

Does it do anything? Not really.

You still can exploit them, just have to
pay them for it now. Well, thanks.

[overlapping clamoring]

[Karen] I wish there were a way
to regulate the social media world

for children.

I don't know how you could ever do it.

And I would love to be wrong,

but I don't know how you figure out
a way to regulate

or to send a monitor
into somebody's backyard or living room

while the mom and dad
are sh**ting pictures of the kid.

I flat-out don't think it's possible.

[tinkling, blooping]

[Taylor] We've allowed these platforms
to scale completely unchecked for so long,

it feels like
trying to put a genie back in the bottle.

But there are things we can do.
We really just need to educate people.

We need to change culture.
We need to change norms around parenting.

Honestly, like, you want to know
where the responsibility lies?

Parents should not allow children
to be put in a position

where they can be exploited or harmed.

And when it comes to, like,
kids displaying their personal lives

for any audience,

you know, people should be
asking themselves,

"Is it really okay
for my child's vulnerabilities

to be displayed to... random strangers?"

Would I recommend it
to my children or my grandchildren?

Probably not.

But do I think that there's a safe way

we can approach curating a process
that's much safer?

Absolutely.

[overlapping clamoring]

[Taylor] The fundamental problem
is the business model of these platforms

and these capitalist incentives.

[Jeremiah] What Tiffany and Hunter
were generating in revenue

is hundreds of thousands
of dollars a month.

And that's a huge incentive for them
to do the types of things

that they were doing here
with these children.

[Hunter] So, okay, Sawyer,
hands on her hips.

- My hips.
- This feels weird.

[Hunter] Okay, Piper, around... Okay.
And again, you guys are making out, so...

[Jeremiah] I hope
that the public will understand

that they shouldn't just consume
this kind of content

without recognizing the harm
that it's causing to the people

who are being used
in creating the content.

[intriguing music continues]

[Chris] Really what gives these accounts
their fuel and their drive

is the people who subscribe,
the people who follow,

the people who are buying

any of the sponsored products
from these accounts.

So as much as we can,
taking attention away from those accounts,

I think, in a way, disincentivizes parents
to be putting their kids out there

for content in that way.

[overlapping clamoring]

I hope that people stop
consuming this content.

[girls] Whoo!
Make sure you like, subscribe

and turn on those post notifications.

[Claire squeals, giggles]

[Hunter] Whoo!

[Claire] I have a kind of resentment
towards YouTube and social media today.

And I think that my passion for it

has definitely died down.

I took a mental break from YouTube.

It was just really kind of degrading.

And it's hard
to keep trying to be motivated

whenever you're getting bad comments.

[somber music playing]

[music fades]

So we've been presented
with a settlement offer. Um...

I... I brought the settlement,
uh, conversation to Claire.

She was, um, not exactly happy.

But the reason why she wasn't happy
was because she wanted to get on the stand

and tell everyone in the court
and the judge and the jury

what happened to her.

She feels like Tiffany is still
getting away with things.

And I can't help but

kind of agree with that.

We all said,
"We just wanted it out there."

"We just wanted people to know
what happens, what can happen."

You know, we're getting the word out.

And people are gonna know
what happened to all of us.

And that was our goal.

[tense, pensive music playing]

[Ashley] We may be done with the lawsuit,

but what we're not done with
is sharing our experience.

And I hope that we can prevent

other kids going through the situation
that our kids went through.

[music continues]

[Johna] They took every opportunity
away from me

to be involved in my son's life.

But yet... Tiffany still has her daughter.

She's the one accused
of all of these abuses,

but she still has her daughter,
and my son got ripped from me.

In many ways,
a lawsuit is where justice goes to die.

[Ashley] Tiffany is still very free
to make the content

that she's been making.

She's got new kids coming,
and she's got a new squad now.

[Steevy] She's gonna keep finding people.

There's always
the next person ready to go.

It's still happening. It's still going on.

You'd think a lawsuit
would make her stop. It's not.

[Amber] This is not just these 11 kids.

There's so many others.

So many others.

And if something isn't done,

these won't be the last kids either.

[tense music continues]

[music fades]

[Claire laughs]

[Matt] There's a victim in all of this

who isn't represented at this table

and may not know she's a victim.

- [Ashley] Mm-hmm.
- And that's Piper.

- [Ashley] Absolutely.
- Piper has no voice in this.

- [Ashley] Yeah.
- [Amber] Yeah.

[Matt] She's not here.

She's been very restricted in what
she can do and who she can interact with.

- The first victim here is Piper.
- [Angela] Mm-hmm.

[Steevy] I mean, from pageant days,

and, you know, those early days
when Corinne was filming with her,

uh, she was just a little girl.

- [Tiffany] Corinne! Yeehaw, girl!
- [poignant music playing]

Piper!

Yeehaw, girl!

[Tiffany] All right! Woo-hoo!

[Sarah] I think in her earlier videos,
when she was younger,

there was a little bit of light.

I think it was exciting and fun.

And I look at the videos
over the past year,

and it doesn't look exciting.

It doesn't look fun.

She doesn't look... happy.

And it's worrisome.

I'm trying not to laugh here, okay?
[chuckles awkwardly]

- [Hunter] Keep going. Come on.
- And now--

[Hunter] "We're gonna show you game mode."
That's all you f*cking say.

[Karen] Imagine a world
where every time you do anything,

tens of thousands of people
can comment and criticize you.

You never have the freedom
to try things out and make mistakes.

And what people don't remember

is that that is a real child
with real emotions

who is now being devastated
by the negative public attention.

You have to worry
about that kid's well-being

and about that kid's ability
to figure out who they are in the world.

["Liar" by Tiny Deaths playing]
♪ I don't want to be another ♪

♪ Liar ♪

♪ I don't want to sink ♪

♪ Into the sand... ♪

[Tiffany] Go ahead.
Then maybe blow the camera a kiss.

[smooches]

[smooches]

[poignant music continues]

[Sophie] I genuinely hope

that Piper is able to realize
what she's in and get out.

She doesn't even realize it now.

- [Claire] I know.
- She thinks that's normal. So--

[Claire] And that's so sad.

Her mom is in her ear all the time.

And if she's watching this right now...

- Hey! It's not normal.
- [Sophie] Yeah.

Go... go be somewhere
where it's not connected to a Hunter,

it's not connected to a Tiffany.

'Cause I feel like when we all left,
we wanted Piper to get out.

But I feel like
we all had to do this thing

where it was like
we needed to save ourselves.

Even if we didn't necessarily want to

'cause we felt bad
leaving somebody stranded.

[music continues]

[Claire] It was extremely hard
for me to leave Piper

because I didn't want her
to feel like I was abandoning her.

[chuckles] I'm trying not to cry.

Huh!

Okay.

[music continues]

[voice breaks] It was really hard,

especially having somebody my age
who's in my family

and I can connect with
and be friends with.

It was just really hard to leave her.

And I still feel bad about it. So...

[sobs]

Huh.

[music abates]

I just want her to know
that it's not her fault.

I don't want her
to blame herself for anything.

And I still love her,
and I still care about her very much.

[music builds]

♪ Ooh ♪

- ♪ Another liar... ♪
- [indistinct chatter, giggling]

- [Claire] Oh.
- Go, go, go.

- [Reese] Bring it back.
- It's starting.

- ♪ Another liar... ♪
- [Corinne] Three, two, one.

♪ Please don't leave me alone... ♪

[Corinne] All of us are here for her,
and we would help her.

There's so much better that she deserves.

Piper is a super sweet girl.

And she deserves good friends
and a good environment to be around.

♪ Ooh ♪

- ♪ Another liar... ♪
- [Claire giggles]

- ♪ Don't leave me alone ♪
- ♪ Leave me alone ♪

[music continues]

[Claire blows raspberry, laughs]

[laughter echoes]

- [ping]
- [music fades]

[tense, pulsing music playing]

[music fades]

[poignant piano music playing]

[music fades]