For older viewers, perhaps less used to seeing themselves as bluntly as the numbers on someone else's spreadsheet, the philanthropic strategy of marriage so closely related to audience growth can seem, well, disgusting. But Donaldson's young fans have mostly grown up on YouTube; some, like Jeremiah Howard, have watched his videos since they were teenagers. They are very familiar with the platform's business and revenue structure, both because there is so much content on YouTube related to this topic, but also because many of them are struggling as amateur YouTubers themselves. (When I asked Howard what he would do with the $50,000 check Donaldson gave him, he told me he was thinking of using it to start his family's YouTube channel, FLBOYRHINO.) For people in Howard's position, next door to the internet wealth machine and a broad new trade but only able to participate on the fringes, the MrBeast both infuse their roles with purpose and offer channels for redistribution that, as Howard learns, probably would not have happened otherwise. To them, he appears to be ethically uncompromising, but shrewd.
In May, a few months after “1,000 Blind People See for the First Time”, Donaldson released a new video entitled “1,000 Deaf People Hear for the First Time”. If you've seen “1,000 Blind Men,” you can imagine the follow-up — and video thumbnails — without even having watched it. You can also imagine the controversy that accompanied it: the altercation between ardent MrBeast fans and squeamish critics, whose videos are eloquent, shallow, disgusting, and nasty.
I admit that I agree with some of those criticisms, at least insofar as I think it would be nice if someone with Donaldson's platform and resources (and a clear desire to help people) take a closer look at the structural issues with America's healthcare system and the day-to-day injustices of visiting disabled people. But I can also see how this kind of criticism misunderstands what the MrBeast channel is and how it works. Having kicked his flywheel into action, Donaldson from here could only keep him turning. Any deviation could threaten the perpetual motion of its growth engine. (Imagine being 12 years old: Would you like to watch an explainer on private equity primary care practice?)
Watching his videos, I sometimes flinch with the thought that I am glad that Donaldson's talent for YouTube traffic was acquired by a basically good and moral person rather than the restless reactionaries and discontent that seem to attract the site. But Donaldson's study of YouTube success may also have shown him that modesty, morality, and generosity, properly calibrated, can be highly successful characteristics in a YouTuber, whereas hatred and transgression, according to the platform's current rules, can only bring you so far. Donaldson can use YouTube for his own benefit, at least as much as anyone else can, but that also means the limitations of his project are, in effect, the limitations of YouTube itself.
Perhaps this is good for Donaldson, who seems driven not by a narcissistic desire for fame or fortune on the one hand, or by a pure charitable drive on the other, but by the same adolescent urge that shapes his videos: How far is this? go? How big can this thing get? How many zeros?
Max Read is a journalist and screenwriter whose work has been published in New York magazine, The New York Times Magazine and Bookforum. His newsletter and guide for the future is “Read Max”.