{"id":33249,"date":"2024-10-10T03:38:50","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T08:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=33249"},"modified":"2024-10-31T22:20:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T03:20:28","slug":"youtube-moms-child-abuse-scandal-ends-in-1-85-million-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=33249","title":{"rendered":"YouTube mom\u2019s child abuse scandal ends in $1.85 million settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A yearslong case<\/a> involving the mother of a popular YouTube star and 11 teen content creators who accused her of abuse and exploitation came to an end Tuesday after the parties reached a $1.85 million settlement, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiffany Smith was sued in January 2022 by the group of teenagers who were regularly featured on her daughter Piper Rockelle\u2019s popular YouTube channel, which at the time had 8.85 million followers. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The creators alleged that Smith, 43, intentionally inflicted emotional distress while she held a position of \u201ccare and control\u201d over them in the production of content for Rockelle\u2019s YouTube channel. They said they endured physical and emotional injuries from \u201charassment, molestation, and abuse,\u201d according to the complaint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the plaintiffs also said they weren\u2019t compensated for the use of their likenesses to promote Rockelle\u2019s content, and all of them alleged they weren\u2019t paid for their work and appearances, though they say they weren\u2019t promised payment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement announcing the settlement, the plaintiffs\u2019 attorney, Matt Sarelson, of the Dhillon Law Group, commended them for their bravery and described what they went through as \u201cgrotesque.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times<\/a> published in December 2022, Smith said she didn\u2019t consider herself the plaintiffs\u2019 employer at the time the videos were recorded with Rockelle. Smith later acquired a permit to work with minors, she told the newspaper. Smith countersued last year for $30 million, accusing the plaintiffs\u2019 mothers of conspiring to extort money by making false sexual abuse allegations. She voluntarily abandoned the lawsuit before the mothers responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plaintiffs, who are all still minors, had originally requested roughly $2 million in damages apiece, totaling at least $22 million, from Smith and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill, who is also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit and is part of the settlement, according to the Dhillon Law Group. The complaint identified him as the director and editor of Rockelle\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the plaintiffs\u2019 law firm said Smith denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement terms. An attorney for Smith and Hill declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the December 2022 interview with the Times, Hill denied claims of abuse in the lawsuit and told it he didn\u2019t understand why the plaintiffs were so upset because \u201cthese kids were making more money than my mom makes in an entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith also said that once the channels were monetized, the creators were earning \u201chundreds of thousands of dollars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 11 young creators were on Rockelle\u2019s channel as part of a cast known as the \u201cPiper Squad.\u201d In videos on Rockelle\u2019s channel, which now has 12 million subscribers, <\/strong>the creators <\/strong>participated in various pranks and challenges. Despite their ages, the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit, they were asked to stage romantic \u201ccrushes\u201d on one another for content purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young creators\u2019 claims helped shed light on the lucrative and largely unregulated world of child YouTube stardom, which some have likened to the Wild West<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many have publicly called on the industry to put regulations in place to help protect child content creators. The Fair Labor Standards Act, a 1938 law addressing \u201cexcessive child labor,\u201d has not been updated to include child influencers. The popular YouTube family channel genre \u2014 which has been considered a lucrative business because of ad revenue and brand collaboration opportunities \u2014 has been widely criticized in recent years for relying on children to create monetized content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom \u2014 joined by singer Demi Lovato, a former child star \u2014 signed two bills<\/a> this month to protect the earnings of child influencers and content creators. A handful of other states<\/a>, including Illinois, which was the first, have also introduced legislation in hope of protecting child content creators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angela Sharbino, a parent of one of the plaintiffs, said that they \u201cdidn\u2019t pursue this lawsuit to change the industry, but to bring awareness that predators can be found in any field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was never about the money \u2014 it was about holding an individual accountable, telling the truth, and taking a step toward healing,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cAll of these kids have now moved on from the \u2018Squad\u2019 and are closing this chapter of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A yearslong case involving the mother of a popular YouTube star and 11 teen content creators who accused her of abuse and exploitation came to an end Tuesday after the parties reached a $1.85 million settlement, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs. Tiffany Smith was sued in January 2022 by the group of teenagers who were regularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[7352,1066],"class_list":["post-33249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-child-abuse","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33251,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33249\/revisions\/33251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}