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A nine-year-old boy reportedly spent around USD 118,000 on ads for his Minecraft and Roblox videos. The kid had a YouTube channel named Mighty Mike Plays, where his father posted a video saying the channel was over and informing viewers about his son's actions.
Notably, the money she spent on the ads came from her father’s company credit card, and he learned about it when he was called to a meeting with management, company employees, and the finance department. There, he was shown the expenses for three weeks totaling about USD 118,000, and the money was spent on advertising campaigns with names like Mighty Mike, Epic Roblox, and promoting Minecraft videos.
His father, Dave, said he had earlier shown his son how to promote a video with a USD 20 campaign. The card was already saved to the Google account connected to the channel. However, that small lesson soon turned into a huge bill. According to Dave, his son later created more ad campaigns without realizing how much they would cost.
The spending continued for around three weeks, and three promoted videos reportedly gained 260,000, 224,000, and 178,000 views, respectively. Dave said he is still unsure whether he will have to pay the money back or what the incident could mean for his job.
A few days before his father’s video came to surface, the child posted his last video titled ‘NeverMyFault made a Short about my Ad?’ This video also received about 70,000 views.
Also Read: Minecraft's New Cushion Feature Ends 17 Years of Sitting Workarounds
Many young creators depend on parents or other adults to handle their online accounts. Keeping an official Google account and a company card linked to a child’s channel can create problems. Separate accounts, spending limits, and tighter payment controls could help avoid similar incidents.
The incident shows how easily online ad spending can get out of hand when a payment card is already linked to an account. A child may understand how to start an ad campaign without fully understanding its cost.
