The mother of a teenage YouTube star is standing trial on charges of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse from a group of teenage content creators.
Tiffany Smith, mother of YouTube star Piper Rockelle, is being sued by 11 teenagers who say Smith held a position of"care and control" over them while they were featured on Rockelle's channel.
The complaint alleges that Smith would assume alter egos called"Lenny the Dead Cat" or"Frank the Pig" and make and shout"obscene and sexually graphic phrases" at the plaintiffs. It also alleges that she asked them questions about"whether they have had sex before, including oral sex, and then encouraging the plaintiffs to try oral sex."
After the plaintiffs left the channel, the complaint alleges Smith and Hill"actively sought to sabotage Plaintiffs by driving down viewers and subscribers on their individual YouTube channels" by using bots, falsely flagging videos as inappropriate, and embedding the plaintiffs' videos into pornographic sites, among other methods.
YouTube does not take responsibility for off-screen conduct from its creators, and there are few regulations around the creation of social media content involving children or young people. The video platform demonetized Rockelle's channel in February 2022 after Insider sent them a request for comment following the filing of the lawsuit. Now, the channel no longer makes money, so Rockelle instead sells merchandise and travels around the United States performing music and meeting fans.
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