Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing

I've seen a lot of Netflix documentaries and this one definitely is a stand out. With these types of docs, I'm used to my time being wasted and treated like i'm barely even watching. Surprisingly almost every bit of this documentary is disturbing and telling. It is a problem I was vaguely aware of but not nearly to this extent or what was really at play. There are many jaw dropping moments and it has a lot of substance to really think about. While at times the interviews are a bit frustrating because of the lack of accountability and blame shifting, I think it leaves a lot of food for thought and effectively reveals the truth.

This documentary offers a sobering look at the dark side of family content creation on YouTube, highlighting how easily people can become consumed by the pursuit of fame and money. It reveals the alarming greed of certain parents, the disturbing ease with which others look the other way, and the profound, lasting damage inflicted on the children involved. The emotional and psychological toll is both eye-opening and heartbreaking. If you're a parent, aunt, uncle, or have any teens in your life, this is an essential watch. It's also clear that the filmmakers intentionally left out some of the most horrific details-likely to protect the children-which makes what they do show all the more chilling and powerful.

I wasn't sure how to rate this, because they did a pretty good job with the production. But there should have been more focus on the other parents. What goes wrong when a tween is out there living a secret life? What about friends, activities, etc? What about paying close attn to phones?

Obviously, Tiffany was the true villain, but that doesn't let these moms off the hook. Also, I noticed they all live in gorgeous homes (if that's where the interviews were conducted).

Laws and regs matter, but nothing will help when parents are asleep at the wheel. THAT should have been more prominent.

"Bad Influence" is a grim 3-part Netflix docuseries about kidfluencers and the awful parents who monetize their childhoods for clicks. It's well-produced, but the whole thing feels exploitative, invasive, and downright icky. I'm grateful we don't have children; I can't imagine raising a kid in an age where everyone has the attention span of a gnat. AND where kids take life advice from someone like Piper Rockelle, who I only know because she did a cursed collab with the witless Katy Perry, who recently rode Bezos' penis rocket into space cosplay with Gayle King (who is now shocked, shocked!, by backlash). This series rightly lays blame on the momagers, the platforms, and the adult enablers, especially the legions of creepy men who follow these minors and collect photos like they're Pokémon cards. I may not be a digital native (I still remember our first VCR), but I do know this: nothing about this influencer economy feels safe, decent, or sane.

I work in influencer marketing, so this was incredibly relevant for me. We have to be careful when we're working with family focused creators because we absolutely want to avoid situations like this where the kids are being manipulated and exploited.

This story goes even further than just financial and emotional exploitation sadly. I hope more stories start coming out about similar situations because I know they're out there, and the more we can do to protect children from this kind of mess the better. It really drops the facade of these kids all having fun and doing it on their own and shows you how manipulated and puppeted they were to make money for the mother. Gross!