[REVISION HISTORY]

YouTube advertising spending incident involving minor

Updated 2 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-20 23:03 UTC → 2026-09-21 18:16 UTC · added ~~removed~~

A nine-year-old boy running the YouTube gaming channel ‘Mighty Mike Plays’ spent approximately ~~$118,000~~ $118,480 on YouTube advertisements to promote Minecraft and Roblox content. The spending occurred over a three-week period after the child gained access to his father’s company credit card, which had been saved to a shared Google account. The father, identified as David Sarkisyan, stated that the situation began when he attempted to help his son increase video views by demonstrating a small $20 advertising campaign. However, the child reportedly misunderstood the budgeting process, operating under the logic that “more money, more views.” Because no spending cap had been configured, the transactions continued to be approved by the card. The unauthorized spending was discovered during a corporate audit, leading to a meeting between Sarkisyan, company management, and financial officials. While the boy’s campaigns successfully generated roughly 200,000 views, the incident has resulted in significant professional and personal fallout. Sarkisyan ~~claims he has lost~~ reported that his ~~job~~ employer terminated his employment following an internal review of the charges. Furthermore, he stated that the company is demanding full reimbursement within 30 days, a requirement so severe that his family has discussed selling their home to meet the repayment demand. ~~The employment termination and specific repayment terms have not been independently confirmed by~~ Sarkisyan has expressed a commitment to resolving the ~~employer.~~ debt personally rather than through crowdfunding.

Versions

Only revisions since CLSTR began indexing content versions appear here. Select a version to see what changed compared to the one before it.