Where is Tiffany Smith now? What to know about Piper Rockel’s mom

Tiffany Smith helped her daughter Piper Rockelle achieve an astonishing fame on social media and shook millions of followers and dollars. But a trial in 2022 revealed an alleged darker side to mom – and threatened to overthrow the duo’s thriving Youtube business.

Piper, with his mother’s help, started publishing videos for Youtube 2016 in just 8 years old. The playful videos, which showed that Piper did things like Get a pet tortoise or To make mucus of glueStarted quickly gaining popularity – and as they did, Smith sought other future children’s stars to join Piper’s videos. The group of child content creators became known as “The squad” and their videos became a Youtube sensation, raised billions of opinions (and earned millions of dollars as a result). Technology This success behind the scenes was Smith and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill-But their tactics began to raise the eyebrows among many squad mates and their parents.

Between 2017 and 2021, several members in Piper’s original squad ended because of the alleged toxic environment promoted by Smith. Parents initially expressed concern about adopted crimes against child labor and compensation issues, but the charges would be much more unhappy: 2022 left 11 former members of the squad-all of whom were minors-a lawsuit of $ 22 million against Smith and described her as a “average control freak” who exposed them to emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

The atmosphere was decided outside the court in 2024, with the 11 teenagers who received $ 1.85 million. (All parties specifically rejected all responsibilities.) But a new, three -part documentation from Netflix looks more closely at the claims about what really happened behind the scenes with Piper, Smith and the squad leading to that tip point. With nightly stories about Smith from several previous troop members and their parents, Poor influence: The dark side of kidfluencing Started flowing on Netflix on April 9.

Here’s everything to know about Tiffany Smith and where she is now.

Who is Tiffany Smith?

Smith picked up her only daughter, Piper Rockelle, as a single mother. Mother’s duo lived with Smith’s parents in Canton, Ga., Per Los Angeles Times.

“I was never really one of the girls who made no dad a personality trait,” Piper told Los Angeles Times 2022. “I thought it was cool. I got my mom as my best friend.”

Smith added, “I feel she saved my life. I didn’t love me at all. But when I had her I just felt that I had a purpose in life.”

At a young age, Piper expressed an interest in pageants after seeing TLC’s reality show Toddlers and tiaras. She entered her first race at the age of 3 – and won according to the Netflix documentary. Smith, who ran his own pet maintenance operations, devoted himself entirely to Piper’s Pageant Safety.

“Many people think she lives her life that she didn’t have and pursues it through me,” Piper told Los Angeles Times. “Absolutely not. She makes this so perfect for me.”

However, there are contradictory reports on how – and why – Piper made the transition from the competition world to social media. According to Smith “, Piper” felt “defeated” in the competition world at the age of 7 and was interested in an app called Musical.ly instead. But Smith’s sister, Patience Rock Smith, claims that it was Smith who wanted Piper to pursue social media after seeing her success in the competition world.

Still, Piper started an account at Musical.ly in May 2016. Within a few months she was one of the best creators on the platform and often shows up in the top 10 rankings, per Los Angeles Times. Then, at a musical meet-and greeting in LA in November 2016, a social media manager Piper and Smith contacted and proposed the 9-year start his own Youtube channel.

Who is Hunter Hill?

Hill, who comes from Wyoming, moved to LA at the age of 19 with the hope of becoming an influencer, according to Los Angeles Times. But after meeting Piper and Smith at a conference in LA, he started working with mother and daughter on Piper’s Youtube channel.

Hill initially appeared in Piper’s Youtube videos as her older brother, according to the Netflix documentations. But most of his work was actually done behind the scenes: Hill filmed and edited everything Piper’s Youtube content, and to ensure that each video had the best tags and miniatures for optimal views. Outside the camera, Hill was also involved in Smith Romantic and Trio (Smith, Hill and Piper) began to live together after Smith and Piper moved to LA full time in 2017.

What was Tiffany Smith accused?

Piper rose rapidly to fame on Youtube and collected millions of followers, opinions – and revenue dollars, according to Netflix’s Tudum Blog. As her popularity climbed, Piper and Smith began to invite other Tween Age Youtubers to appear in her videos (and would then make them promote the content on their own channels).

The group, led by Piper, eventually became known as “The Squad” and included Sophie Fergi, Gavin Magnus, Sawyer Sharbino, Hayden Haas, Corinne Joy, Jentzen Ramirez, Claire Rock Smith and Symonne Harrison, Per Tudum. In addition to creating content for the squad, most of before teenagers also had their own Youtube channels that Hill succeeded-and took a cut of 10 percent of all their winnings, according to Los Angeles Times.

As the squad’s success grew, Smith’s driving force also made content. At one point, several members of the squad moved in with Piper and her mother to increase their content. But the working environment was astonishing and demanding: the group claimed that they would film for 12 plus hours a day and produced as many as 15 films-without breaks, meals, schooling or compensation.

From April 2020, parents of former squad members – who had all quit over the toxic work environment – began to contact various authorities over Smith’s business operations, according to Los Angeles Times. Complaints against Smith were submitted to the FBI, LAPD, the Department of Children and Family Services and the Department of Labor Stands. In September 2021, parents and ex-rant members also met lawyers to discuss their legal alternatives in connection with Smith’s alleged violations of child labor laws and reported sabotage of their personal Youtube accounts. It was at this meeting that much darker accusations, including claims of sexual abuse, first arose against Smith.

In January 2022, 11 Former troop members submitted a case against Smithaccuses her of “emotional, verbal, physical and sometimes sexual abuse.” According to the complaint, Smith was claimed to be ongoing abuse against the complainants, all of whom were minors – including making sexually explicit comments, repeatedly concerns the complainants in an incorrect way and encourage them to be “sexy” and “sexually aggressive” in videos. Smith also sent Piper’s underwear to men.

In addition to the alleged sexual behavior, Smith was accused of not paying the plaintiffs for their contribution to the squad’s Youtube videos – which, at the height of Piper’s popularity, brought up $ 625,000 per month, according to it Los Angeles Times. The atmosphere also claimed that Smith conspired to “deliberately disturb and sabotage” the complainant’s individual Youtube channels, use bots and false reporting to refuel their opinions and “significantly reduce” their own revenue.

As a result, every teenager in the mood searched about $ 2 million in damages from Smith, for a total of more than $ 22 million.

“We all love Youtube and it’s a fantastic place, but when someone uses it as a company and pulls other children, these people should have to maintain a certain standard,” Steevy Areeco, the mother told one of the complainants, to NBC News. “We want it to be protection for the children.”

How did Tiffany Smith and Piper Rockelle respond to the charges and the mood?

Smith originally fired back with his own mood. In July 2022, the mother words counted the complainants for $ 30 million, Insider reported, claimed that the parents were in a conspiracy to slander her and destroy Piper Rockelle Inc., or Pri. But in October of that year, Smith voluntarily lost the mood.

In December 2022, Smith, Hill and Piper responded to the charges against them in an interview with Los Angeles Times. Smith and Hill, who were also appointed in the mood, both harshly denied all claims of errors and accused the plaintiffs of being jealous of Piper popularity and success.

“The whole case is based on lies driven by financial jealousy,” Smith told the outlet. “Economic jealousy of a 15-year-old girl.”

Piper also accused the plaintiffs of having external motives when it came to the mood.

“These people, they don’t love me,” she said about her former squad members. “Because if they loved me, they wouldn’t do this.”

What happened to the atmosphere against Tiffany Smith?

In October 2024 – almost three years after the first mood was submitted – Smith decided with the 11 complainants for $ 1.85 million. Smith denied something wrong as part of the decommissioning terms and the settlement was introduced with all parties who specifically rejected any responsibility.

The settlement enabled the plaintiffs to avoid going to trial and having to “testify about things that (they) have left behind,” Matthew Sarelson, the lawyer’s lawyer, told the plaintiffs, to Los Angeles Times.

Sarelson added, “I am happy and relieved for my clients – 11 children who endured an abusive environment and had the courage to speak publicly.”

Although the settlement amount was much less than $ 22 million in damages that the complainants originally sought, the complainants hoped that their case would “raise awareness of the potential dangers of minors” in the digital influenza – and “serve as a warning to others.”

“This mood was never about money,” said the plaintiff Sophia F’s mother, Heather Trimmel. “It was to make sure she couldn’t do what she did to me against another child.”

Where is Tiffany Smith and her daughter today?

Smith and Piper took an immediate financial hit after the action in 2022 against Momager. As a result of the charges made against Smith, Youtube demon Piper’s Channel – which caused her business to lose $ 300,000 to $ 500,000 in monthly income, according to court records. Before the atmosphere, Piper made up to $ 625,000 per month and between $ 4.2 million and $ 7.5 million per year.

In addition to Youtube demetizing Piper’s account “indefinitely”, the impact also lost on certain brand agreements and partnerships as a result of the charges against his mother.

“I don’t care. Make me look like a monster. I’m used to it,” Smith told Los Angeles Times 2022. “They use me. … but they hurt Piper.”

While the Mother Dotter duo may have experienced an economic case as a result of the mood and its accusations, they did not seem to suffer from Internet familiarity. Piper’s Followers On Youtube has continued to grow and reached more than 12 million subscribers from April 2025. She is also active on Instagramwhere she has 6.1 million followers, and TiktokWhere she currently has her largest subsequent after 14.8 million. But the crew of content creators who used to show up with Piper in her videos has disappeared.

However, Smith seems to be private on Instagram.