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MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

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Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#101

Post by Zigurd »

wmichelin wrote: post #61
pluc wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Algorithmic pushes have made it look like if it's popular, it's credible. This credibility is entirely engineered. Same reason why kids die from TikTok challenges.

The way this is written makes it sound like you think there's an algorithm saying "if bad person: then boost". The credibility is ranking. The ranking is a function of engagement. The engagement is a function of human nature. Things delightful, shocking, or unusual usually strike that chord. Sprinkle capitalism into the mix and people become professionally delightful, shocking, or unusual. I don't think the ranking a…

You're blowing right past the question of whether the result of successful dark patterns is legitimate engagement. It's a computer. It's got nothing better to do than run a better algorithm to avoid that outcome.

Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#102

Post by knicholes »

posda999 wrote: post #96
nanna wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evil is a very strong word.

It’s not that strong. Evil isn’t just genocide. It would be evil of me to go around leaving trays full of beer outside just to drown slugs in them. It would be evil of me to shove razors into candy apples and hand them out at Halloween. Not all evil has to be some grand world-level conspiracy and it can still be evil.

Apples on Halloween are evil enough without the razor blades

Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#103

Post by bmelton »

ActionHank wrote: post #51
Aeolun wrote: post #38

I think MrBeast is a very good way to tell my child that “not everything you see on the internet is true”, cue the “But why would he lie?”, “Because he wants you to keep watching his videos.” Even if 215M in revenue on chocolate bars suggests that they might be perfectly capable of funding all their $5K and $10k givaways.

We've explained this all to our son at length and he's ended up fairly anti-Mr Beast. Problem is that other kids and their parents are convinced he's a swell guy and not marketing directly to them. This has been a great learning experience for our son about how the average person doesn't question what is happening or why.

Somewhere I hope there is a third kind of child who neither likes nor dislikes Mr Beast because of his content but who merely recognizes him for what he is, and opts in to the videos they seem likely to be entertained by while opting out of the videos they seem unlikely to be entertained by

Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#105

Post by AlexandrB »

SilverElfin wrote: post #83
Aeolun wrote: post #38

I think MrBeast is a very good way to tell my child that “not everything you see on the internet is true”, cue the “But why would he lie?”, “Because he wants you to keep watching his videos.” Even if 215M in revenue on chocolate bars suggests that they might be perfectly capable of funding all their $5K and $10k givaways.

I just pass on this video from a former Mr Beast employee that tends to open people’s eyes up. Mr Beast has tried every tactic to bury and suppress this. In particular deleting all mention of it on any social media where his team can delete comments / replies. https://youtu.be/k5xf40KrK3I

That video ended up having a bunch of factual errors though. It's a definite mix of real problems and rumours/gossip that comes across as someone having an axe to grind with their former employer. I don't particularly like Mr. Beast or his schtick (probably too old to find him appealing, honestly) but this isn't a slam dunk. The deleting comments/replies thing is basic large corporation behaviour, which is what Mr. Beast Inc. is a the end of the day.

Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#106

Post by pests »

highwaylights wrote: post #17
pyaamb wrote: post #9

is there a name for the phenomenon where you get so tired of seeing someones face pop up over and over and over that you start to hate the person and despite their good deeds feel no remorse for them when they end up in trouble?

What good deeds? Isn’t this the guy that gives out cars to one random person on YouTube while their friends get nothing then films the reactions for megabucks?

This was his older content. Ever since his squid game video his videos are larger-than-life with elaborate sets, flying to crazy destinations, etc. The simple giving cars away, or giving a house to a pizza delivery guy, or reading the bee moving script is long over.

One point about giving away cars - it’s not always to someone else’s detriment. He once gave someone ~30 used cars and they had to give them all away (to friends, family, randoms) within 24hours to earn a Tesla for himself.

In a weird way he is turning into the squid game villain himself. He stole their look for his henchmen and also takes on the persona. Almost every video he has made since would fit right in that world.

That and a mix of Willy Wonka.

Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#107

Post by AlotOfReading »

dotnet00 wrote: post #47
pyaamb wrote: post #9

is there a name for the phenomenon where you get so tired of seeing someones face pop up over and over and over that you start to hate the person and despite their good deeds feel no remorse for them when they end up in trouble?

I think in MrBeast's case it goes beyond just overexposure to seeming like a sketchy guy because of how hard he tries to project the image of being a good person while simultaneously flaunting his wealth. It's very reminiscent of many crypto-scammers, who flaunted their wealth and talked about wanting to help others become wealthy too, only to eventually rug pull.

He's been involved with enough actual crypto scammers that it's probably more than a superficial similarity.

Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#108

Post by latexr »

dizlexic wrote: post #67
latexr wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you’re a billionaire, giving all your wealth away is not really going to be appreciated much more than doing some highly visible good deeds that give smaller amounts of wealth away. So why do it? You could do it for the intrinsic satisfaction of being a decent human and creating a better world. Could probably end or avoid a few wars, too. You’d certainly go into the annals of history is you eradicated poverty in…

The idea that giving all your money away makes you a decent human and or it would create a better world is just flawed logic.

The goodness isn’t in giving all the money away, but in the positive change you can induce while making even a fraction of it available to a worthy cause. Obviously you wouldn’t create a better world by giving your money away to another billionaire or Polluting Genociders Inc, but if you engage in good faith and steel man the argument you can surely find some examples you’d agree with, such as preventing wars for resources and saving people from painful slow deaths due to starvation. Can we agree those are positive things? That working towards improving the lives of others without expecting a return makes one a better person?

Consider this: A billionaire (not even a multibillionaire, just one on the “lower end”) who gave away $1 a second would be giving away $86400 a day. Sounds like a lot, until you realise it would still take them 32 years to give it all away, and that’s assuming they wouldn’t be making any money in the meantime.

Now consider the number of people living in extreme poverty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_poverty

Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#109

Post by AlexandrB »

herni wrote: post #100
PaulKeeble wrote: post #86

Pretty much every Youtube channel has at one point or another failed to disclose advertising. For a good while they were all doing it and sponsored videos containing sponsored content were entirely undeclared. Its a lot less common now presumably there is some enforcement now but I still see it quite often.

MrBeast is not just a YouTube channel but a huge business/brand and should be held accountable at much higher standards.

I disagree that that standards should be higher - just the penalties. Small YouTubers shouldn't be able to get away with being corporate mouthpieces without declaration just because of their size.

Re: MrBeast Failed to Disclose Ads and Improperly Collected Children's Data

#110

Post by pests »

gosub100 wrote: post #66
pyaamb wrote: post #9

is there a name for the phenomenon where you get so tired of seeing someones face pop up over and over and over that you start to hate the person and despite their good deeds feel no remorse for them when they end up in trouble?

On a related note, I'm terrified of typing his name into search or watching any of his videos because once yt thinks I'm interested in the "topic" I'll never be able to get rid of his face from my recommended videos or news suggestions. I have his channel blocked but I suspect that if you watch a blocked channel voluntarily they will treat it as an unblock.

Just go into watch history and delete the video. Or pause watch history before playing
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