A YouTube stage mom faces abuse allegations from 11 teens in court case
The mother of a teen YouTube star will face claims of emotional, physical and sexual abuse from 11 teen content creators who were featured on her daughter’s channel in a trial that starts Monday.
The court proceedings will offer a rare glimpse into the lucrative and largely unregulated world of child YouTube stardom.
All of the teen plaintiffs allege in the complaint, filed in January 2022, that Tiffany Smith, the mother of YouTube star Piper Rockelle, intentionally inflicted emotional distress while she held a position of “care and control” over them in the production of content for Rockelle’s YouTube channel. The teen creators allege that they endured physical and emotional injuries from “harassment, molestation, and abuse,” according to the complaint.
In addition, some of the plaintiffs say they weren’t compensated for the use of their likenesses to promote Rockelle’s content, and all of them say they weren’t paid for their work and appearances, though they say they weren’t promised payment.
Some of the allegations against Smith have repeatedly piqued interest of concerned outsiders, offering a glimpse into the “Wild West” world of YouTube child stardom.
YouTube itself doesn’t take responsibility for the offscreen conduct of its creators, and there are surprisingly few regulations around the creation of social media content involving children. Instead, the teens are each asking for roughly $2 million in damages, totaling at least $22 million, from Smith and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill, who the complaint identifies as the director and editor of Rockelle’s YouTube channel.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/piper-rockelle-mom-trial-court-abuse-allegations-tiffany-smith-rcna77228
My apologies if this is posted in the wrong forum. There are several court cases going on about this right now.
= new reply since forum marked as read
As the mother they're suing, and to me it seems like a money grab.
Their kids probably should've been compensated, so I might support their suit on those grounds ... although the thinking may have been 'if my kid gets famous on Rockelle's channel, maybe they could parlay it into a successful channel of their own!' type of deal.
If they really believe their kids were being sexually assaulted, why didn't they ever go to police and try to file charges (I assume if they had, it'd be in the article) 
Also, why not a single mention of their ages in the article?
I'd look at the actions of Rockelle's mother a lot differently if these were 13-14 yo's vs 15-19 year olds.
Teenagers have been acting out 'fake crushes' onscreen with other teens for an awfully long time, but I think under 15 it's probably inappropriate.
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