The Dark Side of Kidfluencing movie review: Claire Rock Smith is an eye-opening documentary

Still from the film

Cast: Claire Rock Smith, Sophie Fergi, Corinne Joy, Heather Nichole, Sawyer Sharbino, Johna Ramirez, Patience Rock Smith, Ashley Rock Smith, Amber Cain, Angela Sharbino, Brandon Stewart, Chris McCarty
Creator: Kief Davidson
Directors: Kief Davidson and Jenna Rosher
Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 52 m

This documentary takes us into YouTube star Piper Rockelle's world, tells us about her relationship with her manager-mother, and reveals the untold stories of past collaborators who were part of her content-creating team. Piper Rockelle's financial success can be understood by the fact that at the peak of her career while she was still an underage teen, she was making $500,000 a month from her social media videos, sponsorships and other business deals.

The three-episode documentary series based on The Avatist magazine article "Crushed" features a group of people discussing the controversy over social media influencer Piper Rockelle, her mother/manager Tiffany Smith and Smith's boyfriend Hunter Hill and their involvement in exploiting children while making social media videos. Smith and Hill have been accused of overworking the kids, sexual abuse and other inappropriate actions with children. A high-profile lawsuit was even filed but was eventually settled out of court.

The documentary focuses on the three main players including Hunter Hill who is also the director/cinematographer/editor of the reality TV-styled "hangout" videos that have generated millions of dollars in revenue for this trio.

The documentary draws us into Piper's quest for fame pivoted by an over ambitious mother who couldn't stomach second place. Piper began competing in child beauty pageants at the age of 3 and quickly amassed several trophies from these pageants. The documentary includes archival videos and photos of Piper in these pageants, dressed like an adult when she was just a kid.

The documentary hints at accusations against Smith for being toxic to Rockelle and others, collectively called The Squad. There are accusations that Smith pressured the kids to have fake romances and sexualized them. It is also alleged that the Squad members were not paid to be in Piper's videos because they were told that the exposure of being in the videos was enough of a reward. Since content creation is an unregulated area and social media videos were initially made for fun it becomes a point for discussion once profits are accumulated and fun now gets considered as work that needs paid compensation and labor law protection.

The documentary mentions that children(mostly aged between 11 and 15) worked with Rockelle, Smith, and Hill on these social media videos for more than 12 hours a day, without any supervision from the parents. The documentary also does not shed light on sponsors who funded and profited from the work of these children.

Since Rockelle, Smith and Hill declined to give interviews for the documentary and Smith publicly denied the abuse and exploitation allegations against her, the directors had to take the long route to discuss exploitation and its effects on the child. In addition to interviewing people who have complaints about Smith and Hill, the documentary also interviews journalists, attorneys and Internet experts. That also included former work colleagues and some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.The fact that Smith continues to prosper as the manager of a social media star, is never addressed.

It is also alleged that during and after this quest for fame Piper was not getting a school education. This documentary therefore draws attention to the moral dilemmas that crop up when childhood becomes commercialized. The pressure to capture viewers' attention at the risk of exploitation exposes ethical issues that are highly problematic and can cause mental health problems.

This eye opening documentary series may serve as an effective warning about child exploitation and abuse in social media but doesn't make parents and profit making organisations accountable for mistreatment of kids.