A father claims his nine-year-old son spent $118,000 using a company credit card to promote his Minecraft and Roblox videos on YouTube.
Dave shared the story on Mighty Mike Plays, the YouTube channel operated by his son, Mike. According to Dave, the channel began as a way for his son to upload gameplay videos from games he enjoyed.
After Mike became frustrated by low views and subscriber numbers, Dave said he helped him launch a small $20 YouTube advertising campaign, showing him how to choose an audience, set a budget and promote a video.
However, Dave had previously saved his company credit card to the Google account connected to his work services and payment information. He claims Mike later returned to the advertising tools and began launching additional campaigns himself.
According to Dave, the spending continued for around three weeks before his employer noticed it. He was then called into a meeting with his manager, corporate representatives and finance staff, where they reportedly showed him $118,000 in advertising charges linked to his company card.
Dave said the campaigns promoted videos featuring Minecraft and Roblox gameplay, with three of the videos reportedly reaching around 200,000 views.
He said his son did not understand the scale or consequences of the spending and apparently believed that spending more money would simply generate more views.
Dave acknowledged responsibility for leaving the payment information accessible without sufficient spending limits or parental controls.
The family now plans to remove saved payment information, introduce spending caps and enable parental controls. Dave said the channel could also be paused while the situation is resolved.
He said he had not yet been told whether he would have to repay the $118,000 or whether the incident would affect his job.
The father's account, including the amount allegedly spent and his employer's response, has not been independently verified.