Dad speaks out as employer investigates 9-year-old son's $118,000 YouTube ad spree
One nine-year-old boy's dream to go viral on YouTube has left his dad in a rather uncomfortable situation, as ad spending worth $118,000 has been racked up on his company card, prompting his employer to launch an official investigation.
Anyone that grew up in the age of social media has likely considered the dream of becoming a YouTuber, yet doing so takes both dedication and an unrealistic amount of luck in order to actually make it big.
The video sharing platform does have a few features to help give you a head start, however, with one being the option to share your videos as adverts, pushing them to a far larger audience so long as you're willing to pay.
One father trying to help out his son discovered that this was perhaps a little too effective, as the mistake of leaving his company credit card attached to the YouTube account cost him dearly in both his wallet and his potential employment.
Boy spends $118,000 on YouTube ads
Minecraft and Roblox are two of the most titles in the gaming sphere on YouTube so standing out is incredibly difficult, and that's why 9-year-old Mike understandably did everything he could to get his videos seen.
Advert
Having spotted that his son's views weren't great, Mike's dad Dave agreed to pay a one-time fee of $20 to create a small YouTube ad campaign in order to boost a video.
To their surprise, the video was a smash hit earning a lot of views in the process, and being just nine-years-old a lightbulb went off in Mike's head prompting him to keep spending without telling his dad.
As he watched his dad complete the process of setting up an ad campaign, he was able to use the card stored on the account to expand those services to the rest of his videos, spending a jaw-dropping $118,000 in the process.
Dad speaks out amid employer investigation
While spending this much money would be an issue on its own, it was only made worse by the fact that the card attached to the account was provided by Dave's employer — and he found out about his son's exuberant spending after a workplace investigation was launched.
In a video explaining the situation, as per Dexerto, Dave revealed that he was called into a meeting by his manager where they highlighted a breakdown of advertising spending across the previous three weeks, pointing towards videos with titles including 'Mighty Mike' – his son's channel name – 'Epic Roblox', and Minecraft gameplay.
"He didn't really register that was supposed to be some kind of limit in his head," Dave said referring to his son's behavior, adding that "the logic was simply, I guess. More money, more views."
Activity on the Mighty Mike Plays channel has now been paused indefinitely, with Dave looking to add spending caps and set up parental controls after removing all saved payment details from the account.
He explained that the channel is unlikely to return until 'real guard rails' are put in place, with Mike adding that he's "definitely cooked" when asked by his dad if he had anything to say.
It's unclear whether Dave is going to suffer any serious consequences in his job following the investigation, either through having to repay the money or a loss of employment, but it once again serves as a cautionary tale when it comes to adding your card to your child's account.