It hasn’t been the best start to 2024 for Elon Musk. The owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, appealed to YouTube’s biggest star MrBeast to post his videos on the platform, and was promptly rejected.
On Dec. 30, 2023, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, posted on X to announce his latest video release was available on YouTube: “I uploaded, go watch or I’ll drop kick you.”
Donaldson had uploaded a 20-minute long video to YouTube, in which he chronicled spending a week in solitary confinement. These types of videos, in which Donaldson challenges either himself or an individual with an extreme task, have earned him worldwide notoriety. The social media mastermind earned an estimated $82 million in 2023, and with more than 225 million subscribers on his main channel alone, is the platform’s biggest name.
After Donaldson posted the appeal to head to YouTube on X, one fan replied: “Upload on this platform too,” which is when Elon Musk chimed in with: “Yeah.”
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X, has been trying to drum up interest from video viewers since taking over the social media platform in 2022.
Schemes have included launching a media partnership with heiress Paris Hilton—which has since been axed—as well as streaming shows from the likes of former Fox star Tucker Carlson.
Musk, now with the help of CEO Linda Yaccarino, has also attempted to drum up revenue by launching premium subscription services on the site, which—among other things—allow for users to appear as “verified” and send DMs to other accounts.
The moves have been necessary after droves of advertisers left the site over fears their branding would appear beside unregulated content.
Musk, a fierce proponent of free speech, has refused to cow to concern from advertisers about how X will prevent their messages from reportedly appearing beside Nazi propaganda, for example.
But Musk’s attempt to get MrBeast’s content on his site—not even exclusively—was rebuffed by the creator.
Donaldson replied to Musk directly: “My videos cost millions to make and even if they got a billion views on X it wouldn’t fund a fraction of it:/ I’m down though to test stuff once monetization is really cranking!”
The polite rebuttal contrasts with the firm interest Donaldson had previously taken in Twitter. Indeed, Donaldson’s bio still reads “X Super Official CEO,” harking back to the times when speculation was rife about who would take over the day-to-day running of the platform from the ever-busy Musk.
My videos cost millions to make and even if they got a billion views on X it wouldn’t fund a fraction of it:/
— MrBeast (@MrBeast) December 30, 2023
I’m down though to test stuff once monetization is really cranking!
The YouTube star had even joked with Musk about taking on the platform if the world’s richest man died under “mysterious circumstances.” In May last year, Musk said Donaldson could have X in such an event, with the latter then screenshotting the exchange with the caption “No takesies backsies.”
A $20 million fund
Despite his backbench support for X, it’s perhaps no surprise that creators like Donaldson aren’t lining up to make the platform their primary outlet—or split their viewership across multiple sites.
In September, X CEO Yaccarino announced the platform had paid out nearly $20 million to the site’s “creator community,” which has been welcomed by some content creators who previously used the site unpaid.
Create. Connect. Collect all on X. We’re enabling the economic success of new segments like creators. And so far we've paid out almost $20 million to our creator community. Https://t.co/kk137uPkAo
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) September 29, 2023
However, the figure paid out to every creator on the platform is just a fraction of Donaldson’s earnings for 2023 alone—perhaps indicating the payouts have far further to go before rivaling larger platforms.
On top of this, creator checks come with strings attached and have faced delays in the past.
In August, Musk said the program was open to “everyone” as long as they have more than 500 followers and are over 18, but also clarified: “To be eligible for your ad revenue share, you must be an X Premium (Blue) subscriber. The ad money will otherwise be kept by X if you are not an X Premium (Blue) subscriber.”
X Premium’s opt-in subscription packages have three tiers, with blue being the middle option. Blue costs $8 a month or $84 a year.
In addition, having launched the scheme, Musk then told users payouts would be received later than expected. He wrote on X: “Interest in ad rev share by content creators has far exceeded our expectations, so will take a few more days to process.”
2024 may prove to be another year of headaches for the team at X. While Musk has been open about how likely X is to survive, its odds took another knock this week after Fidelity issued another revaluation report which claims X is worth 71.5% less than the $44 billion Musk paid for it.
This includes a near-11% cut for November, the month in which Musk had an extraordinary outburst and told advertisers to “go fuck yourself.”