At the height of YouTuber Piper Rockelle’s success, her online presence was inescapable among those in her tween target audience. Piper’s on-camera friends served as a rotating supporting cast; known as The Squad, many had their own YouTube channels and growing fanbases. Behind the scenes, however, various members of The Squad discovered that their online popularity came at a price. Tiffany Smith, Piper’s mother and the mastermind of her rising stardom, managed her young talent roster in a manner that often put her at odds with their parents, and in some cases, led to their ostracization from the group. For some of the tweens, that was the extent of the damage — but others allege that the trauma they experienced still affects them to this day.

Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing, a three-part docuseries chronicling the reality behind Piper’s success, reveals what it was like...