When I was in third grade, my class finished our lesson early, and we had another twenty minutes left until recess. My teacher didn’t want to let us out early, and my friend started begging her to show us Mr. Beast videos while we waited. The class joined in, trying to wear her down. I was a bit chronically offline at this point in my life, and I didn’t know what anyone was talking about, but I wanted to seem “in the know”, so I went ahead and joined the crowd. Ms. Duncan held out for a couple more minutes before breaking. The video we were watching was Mr. Beast holding a big red button; he had three of his friends with him. He told his friends, every time you press this button there will either be a punishment, or 100,000 dollars, the one of you that press that button that has 100,000 dollars on it, you get to take it home, but if you get a punishment, you don’t get to press the button again until you do that punishment. One of the punishments was wetting their pants on video. My whole class said “Ewww” when the guy did this, and laughed at him. I guess the lesson being told to a bunch of eight-year-olds was, when you have power, you can do anything, even to your friends, and it makes you cool. Probably not the best message to be sending to kids. Mr. Beast uses his platform to take advantage of people in need, he comments on social media about failing systems but does nothing to help change them, he produces videos that glorify himself, and he supports companies that exploit people for monetary gain.

Mr Beast makes a spectacle of his so-called charity, which gets him subscribers which makes him a crazy amount of money from YouTube and other streaming platforms.  “His content, which combines big-money giveaways, flamboyant charitable stunts and a heavy dusting of exclamation points (“Cleaning the ocean!” “I fed 10,000 families for Thanksgiving!” “I built 100 houses and gave them away!”) relies on the idea that civic institutions are broken and that government is unable to take care of its people, requiring magnanimous individuals like Donaldson to step in and provide solutions.” The worst part is that civic institutions are broken, because we don’t require rich people to pay taxes. So one way that people get help in this country is rich people stepping in and providing solutions. Mr. Beast uses this to promote his videos. He doesn’t have to do these giveaways on camera, he doesn’t have to include the faces of the people. He doesn’t even have to do these big things, he could use his money to advocate for programs to help stop poverty and oppression. 

Mr. Beast says on Social Media about how sad it is that rich people have to take the place of the government when it comes to helping people, but does nothing to help change these systems, because they benefit him. The Guardian says, “A few days ago, after uploading his most recent public altruism stunt, Donaldson posted on X to promote it: ‘Just uploaded a video where we helped 2,000 amputees walk again. Many lived in America and it feels so disgusting that in a country with this much wealth, a f**ken [sic] YouTuber is their only option to get a prosthetic leg. We need to fix this.’” Mr. Beast isn’t wrong, we do need to fix this. But the reason that America has such an uneven balance of wealth is because of billionaires like him. Saying we need to fix this is unhelpful, and even more so because he has the power to do more than say we need to fix this. He has the power to do more than give people a leg in exchange for their face on a camera. With 2.6 billion dollars, he could help promote a system where America doesn’t need his conditional generosity to help its citizens. He won’t though, because that’s how he makes his money. Money, that if he spent a hundred-thousand dollars a day, it would take him seventy-one years to spend. 

Mr. Beast uses his platform to create ostentatious videos that show off his generosity, but while it gets him views and money, it doesn’t help solve any systemic problems. He has no interest in actually helping people, even if his help benefits the recipients. However, it perpetuates the idea that a government can’t do anything, and the wealthy are there to help the people the government is blocked from helping. But, as The Guardian points out, “...advocating for single-payer healthcare doesn’t generate the kind of 40 million-view content that MrBeast needs to fuel his burgeoning video empire and grow from demibillionaire to full three-comma status.” (He now is at full three comma status.) The government can help its people, and if Mr. Beast wants to help, endorsing ideas that could fix the systematic problems with this country could help. He could also pay his share of company taxes and back systematic reforms, but he won’t do that, because if he did, he wouldn’t have a brand anymore. Also, he needs people to be stuck in cycles of poverty to play the role of the savior. 

Mr. Beast supports predatory companies that trap people in cycles of oppression in exchange for that company's endorsement. The Guardian writes, “Every episode of the show includes multiple instances of Donaldson turning to the camera and promoting a QR code to download the app and participate in the $4.2m MoneyLion Giveaway.” MoneyLion is a company where people of lower income status can get loans to pay their rent and monthly bills, such as utilities, healthcare, etc. The problem with this service is the extremely high interest rates. When people aren’t able to pay back MoneyLion within the month, they start accruing interest on the loan, and get stuck in a cycle of debt. They still need to borrow from MoneyLion to pay off their monthly loans, but are unable to pay down the principal. By endorsing MoneyLion’s predatory practices (which are so bad the city of Baltimore is currently suing MoneyLion), Mr. Beast shows he is content to encourage fans to get stuck in cycles of poverty. Everything Mr. Beast does—supporting MoneyLion, posting about the Billionaire myth, helping people in ostentatious ways—all make him money. There is no ethics behind his decisions, only a drive to be powerful, influential and filthy rich.

So, why do Mr. Beast’s motives matter when he’s helping people anyway? They matter because he’s not always helping people, he’s just developing his brand. There are dramatic videos of him shooting animals with vaccines from a helicopter, of him standing over a near dead jaguar giving a full-on Ted Talk about how he’s saving this animal and why people should be amazed with it, before he finally steps aside to allow the veterinarians to actually help the poor animal. These are videos that children watch and learn from. By never helping people quietly, Mr. Beast perpetuates the idea that the government can’t help people. He never tries to help solve systematic issues, and he endorses companies that profit from keeping people in poverty. It could not be more clear that his help can be harmful, and he’d do anything for a like and subscribe.