A nine-year-old boy spent approximately $118,000 on advertising campaigns to promote his YouTube gaming videos after gaining access to his father's company credit card through a linked Google account. The child operates a channel called "Mighty Mike Plays," where he uploads gameplay videos of Minecraft and Roblox.
According to the father, Dave, it all began innocently with a small $20 campaign. He had helped his son promote one of his videos after the boy became frustrated with low view counts. But the child then returned to the advertising platform on his own and created additional campaigns over approximately three weeks, not understanding that the charges were being billed to his father's company card.
The spending only came to light when the father was called into a meeting at his workplace, where he was presented with the accumulated advertising charges. According to him, three of the videos promoted through the paid advertising eventually reached around 200,000 views each.
The father explained that his son believed increasing the advertising budget would directly lead to more views. "More money, more views," he described as the child's logic.
After the incident was exposed, the boy announced to his viewers during a livestream: "Looks like I'm cooked." The family, for its part, clarified that it intends to remove saved payment information, add spending limits, and activate parental controls. The father also said the YouTube channel may be frozen while the family examines the situation.
