YouTube Mom’s Child Abuse Scandal Reaches $1.85 Million Settlement

Some plaintiffs also said they were not compensated for the use of their likenesses to promote Rockelle’s content, and all claimed they were not paid for their work and appearances, although they say no payment was promised.

In a statement announcing the settlement, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Matt Sarelson, of Dhillon Law Group, praised them for their courage and described what they experienced as “grotesque.”

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times published in December 2022, Smith said she did not consider herself the plaintiffs’ employer at the time the videos featuring Rockelle were filmed. Smith later received a permit to work with minors, she told the publication. Smith countersued last year for $30 million, accusing the plaintiffs’ mothers of conspiring to extort money by making false allegations of sexual abuse. She voluntarily dropped out of the lawsuit before the mothers responded.

The plaintiffs, all of whom are still minors, had originally sought approximately $2 million each in damages, 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’s YouTube channel.

A spokesperson for the plaintiffs’ law firm said Smith denied wrongdoing as part of the settlement terms. An attorney for Smith and Hill declined to comment.

In the December 2022 interview with the LA Times, Hill denied claims of abuse in the lawsuit and told the publication he didn’t understand why they were so angry because “these kids made more money than my mother makes in an entire year.”

Smith also said that once the channels were monetized, creators made “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The eleven young creators were on Rockelle’s channel as part of a cast known as the “Piper Squad.” In videos on Rockelle’s channel, which now has 12 million subscribers, the makers took part in various pranks and challenges. Despite their ages, plaintiffs said in the lawsuit, they were asked to stage romantic “crushes” on each other for substantive purposes.

The young creators’ claims have helped shed light on the lucrative and largely unregulated world of YouTube stardom for kids, which some liken to the Wild West.

Many have publicly called on the industry to introduce regulations to help protect children’s content creators. The Fair Labor Standards Act, a 1938 law addressing “excessive child labor,” has not been updated to include child influencers. The popular YouTube family channel genre – considered a lucrative business due to advertising revenue and brand collaboration opportunities – has been widely criticized in recent years for its reliance on children to generate monetized content.

Earlier this month, California Governor Gavin Newsom, along with singer Demi Lovato, a former child star, signed two bills into law to protect the income of child influencers and content creators. A handful of other states, including the first Illinois, have also introduced legislation hoping to protect creators of children’s content.

Angela Sharbino, a parent of one of the plaintiffs, said they “did not bring this lawsuit to change the industry, but to raise awareness that predators can be found in every field.”

“This was never about the money – it was about holding an individual accountable, telling the truth and taking a step toward healing,” she said in a statement. “All these kids have now left the ‘Squad’ and are closing this chapter of their lives.”