MrBeast, an American social media internet celebrity, posted on X on Monday that he received US$263,000 in advertising revenue from his first video released on the platform last week. The video attracted more than 150 million views in one week. But some X users believe that Musk manipulated the results of the MrBeast advertising revenue experiment, otherwise he would not have been able to obtain such high income.
MrBeast himself said: "It's a bit of an illusion. Advertisers saw the attention my videos were getting and bought ads on my videos (I think), so my revenue per view was probably higher than what you experienced."
Musk has claimed for some time that creators will earn more ad revenue on X than YouTube, but there has been little evidence to support that claim.
In December, multiple reports showed that X's advertising revenue had plummeted after companies such as Apple and Walmart canceled sponsorship deals.
This has led some to believe that Musk may have manipulated MrBeast’s video views and even paid out more ad revenue than expected.
Before MrBeast announced the results, an X user named Evan said that it was "increasingly obvious" that the internet celebrity had "reached some kind of agreement" with Musk.
Evan's post was shared by Evan, head of content moderation at the nonprofit Meedan, who said Musk had a "strong incentive" to exaggerate the revenue MrBeast earned "in a way that is not representative of what Twitter (X) can and will actually pay to others."
Another X user said they thought Musk was "recharging the machine" so MrBeast was paid enough to "stop saying Twitter (X)'s videos are bad."
He said: "I have seen (this video) in the feed at least 4 times so far. See the lack of timestamps and ad tags? There is almost certainly something behind the scenes on Twitter."
Another Anonymous X user said the video appeared about seven times in their feed. They also said they saw posts missing the time and "ad indicator in the upper right." "So when you're a Youtuber and Elon wants you to post here, do you get a third secret post?" they said.
According to reports, label-free ads began appearing on X after Musk acquired the company in October 2022. This led to a complaint from advertising watchdog CheckMyAds that X's advertising disclosures were not transparent.
Chris Kubbernus, founder and CEO of social media marketing agency Kubbco, said it was difficult to say without evidence what happened behind the scenes at X or whether the post was "over-promoted."
"But we see many platforms 'charging' or 'heating' certain content based on the company's goals and ideals. I wouldn't be surprised if X does the same thing here," he said.
Musk appeared to address claims that he manipulated the results in a post on January 20. He responded to a post on the Tesla Club account, which said the "mainstream media" didn't want to acknowledge the success of MrBeast's experiment.
"As far as I know, we have done nothing to expand his audience," Musk wrote.