Inside Piper Rockelle's Youtube scandal from 'momager' Tiffany Smith being sued for exploitation to

ALTHOUGH she is just 15 years old, YouTuber Piper Rockelle has weathered a number of scandals throughout her six-year career on the video site - including a current $22million lawsuit against her mom.

Rockelle's so-called momager will stand trial starting on Monday for claims of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

A total of 11 teen content creators who were all once part of Rockelle's "Piper Squad" say Smith intentionally inflicted emotional distress while she held a position of “care and control" over them, according to the complaint filed in January 2022.

The teens endured physical and emotional injuries from “harassment, molestation, and abuse" during the production of content for Rockelle's YouTube channel, according to the complaint.

The children appeared in hundreds of video clips that were published on Rockelle's YouTube channel between 2017 and June 2021.

Each of the teen content creators is asking for about $2million in damages from Smith and her boyfriend, Hunter Hill, who the complaint identifies as the director and editor of the channel.

THE ACCUSATIONS

Court documents reviewed by The U.S. Sun reveal that Smith has been accused of being a "mean-spirited control freak" as well as engaging in "reprehensible and illegal" conversations with the teens.

For example, Smith is accused of talking about drugs around the children as well as asking if they had ever had sex.

She has also been accused of shouting "wildly offensive" and sexually explicit comments, as well as encouraging the teens to be "sexually aggressive" in the clips.

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Additionally, the mother has been accused of inappropriately touching the teens.

The court documents also allege that Smith urged the content creators to "make sexy kissing faces" for thumbnail photos.

The documents also claim Smith mailed dirty lingerie to an "unknown person."

She and her boyfriend are also accused of trying to drive down viewing numbers and subscribers on the plaintiff's own YouTube platforms.

Specifically, they have been accused of falsely flagging content as inappropriate, which led to videos being restricted.

The plaintiffs say this caused a "precipitous loss" of income.

Additionally, the court documents allege that the teens were "frequently subjected to an emotional, physically, and sometimes sexually abusive environment."

'LOST' CHILDHOOD

Attorney Matthew Sarelson, who is representing the 11 teens, told NBC News that the children "lost their childhood" amid the alleged trauma they faced.

"Several of my clients have removed themselves from the world of social media because they had this bad experience," Sarelson added.

The parents of the plaintiffs have heavily criticized Smith, calling for justice to be served for their children.

"My goal is that Tiffany Smith never works with a child again," Jennifer Bryant, mother to one of the plaintiffs, told NBC.

"I just want peace back with my kids," Ashley Anne-Rock Smith, whose two daughters are Rockelle's cousins, also told the outlet.

"I want all predators who hurt young kids to be brought to justice."

Steevy Areeco, the mother of another plaintiff, added that as the children were younger they didn't fully understand what was happening.

"But now they're older and they're starting to understand the trauma that was caused, the things that were said to them, these fake crushes."

BACKLASH

Amid her rise to social media fame, Rockelle has gone viral dozens of times, garnering millions of followers across platforms.

As of Monday, the teen had approximately 11.2million followers on TikTok alone.

With such a large platform, the lawsuit is not the first time Smith has been heavily criticized.

In August 2021, singer-songwriter Pink blasted Smith for "exploiting" her daughter.

"How many kids like Piper Rockelle are being exploited by their parents?" Pink asked in a Tweet at the time.

"And at what point do the rest of us say … 'this isn’t okay for a 13 yr old to be posing in a bikini whilst her MOTHER takes the photo?!?!'"

While the tweet included a factual error - Piper was 14 at the time - many fans and other netizens agreed with the singer's sentiment.

Rockelle and Smith both pushed back against Pink's criticism, with the teen telling Insider that her mom "doesn't make me do anything."

"In terms of me in swimsuits, it's summer! My friends and I live in the water," Rockelle said in a statement.

"Pictures of teenagers in bikinis having fun are not sexual."

"They're only sexual if you view us that way," she continued.

Smith defended herself, saying: "I'm just a mom like any other who loves her daughter and would do anything for her."

YOUTUBE TAKES ACTION

Amid the controversy surrounding Rockelle's YouTube videos, the social media giant took two major actions against the teen's account.

In September 2021, YouTube removed three thumbnail images from the teen's account.

At the time, the company said the images violated its Child Safety Policy, according to NBC News.

In July 2022, YouTube then moved to indefinitely demonetize Rockelle's account.

"We have indefinitely suspended monetization on Piper Rockelle's channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy by engaging in off-platform behavior that harms the YouTube community and have removed them from the YouTube Partner Program," a YouTube spokesperson told Insider at the time.

The decision came as Smith sued the plaintiffs mothers for $30 million and accused them of conspiring to extort money and fabricating sexual abuse allegations.

Ultimately, the lawsuit was abandoned.

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