# Sophie Fergi, Part 1 - Kidfluencing, Joining the Squad, and the Dark Side of YouTube

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347/sophie-fergi-part-1-kidfluencing-joining-the-squad-and-the-dark-side-of-youtube
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347/sophie-fergi-part-1-kidfluencing-joining-the-squad-and-the-dark-side-of-youtube.md
Podcast: [Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation](https://stenobird.com/podcast/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347)
Published: 2026-07-22T07:01:00+00:00
Episode link: https://omny.fm/shows/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation/sophie-fergi-part-1-kidfluencing-joining-the-squad-and-the-dark-side-of-youtube
Audio file: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f804eed6-dd2f-4bf9-ba37-b2de011a8b27/b7cb71d3-882b-40f9-9c31-b48d018987aa/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=462fb424-93c4-4e4b-8e00-b2de011a8b44
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/trust-me-cults-extreme-belief-and-manipulation-1320347/episodes/sophie-fergi-part-1-kidfluencing-joining-the-squad-and-the-dark-side-of-youtube
Duration seconds: 2632

## Resource

This week is part one with Sophie Fergi, former child influencer who told her story in the Netflix docuseries Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing. In this episode, she explains how she first met YouTube kidfluencer Piper Rockelle, and how Piper’s mom Tiffany formed the “Squad,” a group of children making content together for their YouTube channels. Sophie will share what it was like to film the videos, which included fake challenges, fake crushes and relationships, and carefully curated drama that blurred the line between reality and performance, and how she began to see red flags with Tiffany, who created characters - based on family animals - which she used to speak inappropriately to the kids. Next week, she’ll talk about moving in with Tiffany and Piper, and how everything began to escalate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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## Transcript

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