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Person holding a credit card over Minecraft screenshot
Every kid makes mistakes growing up, and every parent has to deal with the fallout of those screw-ups at some point. They obviously vary in magnitude, and it’s hard to envy the father who discovered his son racked up a six-figure sum on his corporate card while trying to attract more viewers to his YouTube channel.
The internet has made it easier than ever to make a living without getting a “real” job. It’s possible to support yourself while working as a content creator, and it’s not difficult to understand why that’s become an attractive option based on how much money some of the biggest names in the online space are able to rake in.
A study that was published in 2023 asserted that 57% of the members of Gen Z want to be an influencer, and one from 2025 said Gen Alpha prioritized becoming a YouTuber or TikTok creator over being a doctor or a nurse.
Social media platforms have become increasingly strict when it comes to governing kids who want to start pursuing those passions from a young age, but it would appear YouTube didn’t have the guardrails in place to prevent the father of an aspiring creator from landing in a very awkward position at work.
The father of a YouTuber known as “Mighty Mike Plays” took over his channel to let his followers know he charged $118K to a company card
On August 7th, a YouTube channel called “Mighty Mike Plays” posted its first video, which chronicled Dave, the father of Mike, the nine-year-old kid who runs it, attempting to traverse a level of Keyboard Escape.
That was the first of dozens of uploads that also featured clips of popular games including Minecraft and Roblox, but on Tuesday, things took an unexpected turn when one titled “Message from Dad…Mighty Mike Plays Is Over” appeared.
The kid behind the channel opened things up with a brief statement before his dad took over to address “some high-budget campaigns on YouTube,” which added up to over $118,000 and were charged to a corporate card supplied by the “large” marketing company he works for.
Dave recounted how he was made aware of that development, saying:
“Today, I got a call into the office at work. I walk in and we’ve got the corporate manager, we’ve got people from finance. They pull up a laptop, show me some tables on the screen, and basically ask me to explain why there’s $118,000 missing from the company card assigned to me.
I didn’t really have an answer at first, but once we saw where all of the actual transactions were going, I connected the dots.”
Dave went on to say he initially agreed to let his son launch his own YouTube channel after determining it was a more engaging pastime than watching other people’s videos. He said he initially forked over $20 on a “small” ad campaign to help him grow the channel while attempting to pass on some of his marketing knowledge, but the lesson ended up having a bigger impact than he anticipated.
The company card in question was linked to an account his son had access to, and Mike apparently decided to spend much, much more on bigger ad campaigns over the course of three weeks.
Dave said the work meeting understandably triggered a “personal crisis,” adding “there is a real, genuine chance that I end up having to personally pay some of that or all of that back out of my pocket” and that he could be fired as a result.
Mike closed out the video by succinctly summing up the situation he’s now facing, saying, “I’m definitely cooked.”
However, there could be tiny silver lining. The video in question has racked up over 400,000 views and grown a subscriber count that was sitting at close to 3,700 at the end of August to over 40,000.
It’s worth noting Dave didn’t provide any evidence to back up the story, so while there is a chance this is simply a stunt to grow the channel, I can’t really knock the hustle if that’s the case based on how it played out.