How MrBeast Made a Quarter Million Dollars on X in a Week — And Why It Might Not Be Real

MrBeast is no stranger to making viral videos and raking in millions of views on YouTube. But when he decided to experiment with posting his content on X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, he was in for a surprise.

The 25-year-old internet sensation uploaded a 16-minute video on X last week, saying he wanted to see how much money he could make from the platform’s ad revenue sharing program.

He revealed in a tweet that the video earned him a whopping $263,655 in just seven days.

But MrBeast also admitted that this number might be “a bit of a facade.” He explained that advertisers might have targeted his video because of the attention it was getting, and that his revenue per view was probably higher than the average.

This raises some questions about how X’s monetization system works, and whether it is fair and transparent for creators and users alike.

Some users have noticed that some videos on X appear to be treated as ads, even if they are not labeled as such. This could potentially boost their engagement and revenue, but also mislead the audience about the nature and source of the content.

TechCrunch reported in September that X was running unlabeled ads in users’ feeds, which prompted an ads watchdog to file a complaint with the FTC.

Ryan Broderick suggested that videos might be wrongly labeled as ads if a pre-roll ad plays before the video, but this still causes a lot of confusion on the user end.

MrBeast’s experiment shows that X is trying to attract creators with lucrative monetization opportunities, but it also exposes some of the flaws and challenges of the platform.

As X competes with other social media giants like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, it will have to address these issues and ensure that its policies and practices are clear and fair for everyone involved.