Abstract:
A father said his 9-year-old son used his company credit card to place YouTube ads, spending $118,000 in three weeks. The advertisements were used to promote the "Minecraft" and "Robulus" game videos released by the children, and the related expenditures were later discovered by the company where the father worked.
Father Dave posted a video on the Mighty Mike Plays channel run by his son Mike, telling what happened. The channel mainly publishes "Minecraft" and "Robulus" gameplay content. Initially, it was just for Mike to share his favorite games.
Dave said that he had saved his company credit card to a Google account associated with his work email address, which was also connected to his calendar, files, and payment methods. After watching his father create a $20 ad campaign, Mike allegedly went into the advertising tools again and created more campaigns on his own.
Dave believes that his son did not realize that the amount should be limited, and the idea was that the more he invested, the higher the playback volume. Afterwards, the company manager, relevant department representatives and financial personnel called Dave to a meeting and showed him the details of advertising expenditures in the past three weeks and asked him to explain the $118,000 charge on the company's credit card.
These transactions involve content such as "Mighty Mike", "Epic Roblox" and "Minecraft" gameplay videos. Dave said that three of the promotional videos have been viewed about 200,000 times, but there is no result yet on whether the company will require him to repay the money or whether he can keep his job.
Dave stated that he did not think his son understood the seriousness of the expenditure, and admitted that he did not set spending limits and parental controls, and that he allowed the payment information to remain available, and was responsible for the matter. The family plans to delete saved payment profiles, set spending limits and enable parental controls; the Mighty Mike Plays channel may also pause updates until effective limits are established. The process described by Dave, the amount of US$118,000, and the company's subsequent processing have not been independently verified.
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