(Web Desk) - The world's richest person, Elon Musk, had to hear a harsh truth from the world's most popular YouTuber, MrBeast: The economics for X can't support Musk's grand vision for the social network formerly known as Twitter.
Musk over the weekend encouraged MrBeast to post one of his new videos on X. MrBeast declined.
"My videos cost millions to make and even if they got a billion views on X it wouldn’t fund a fraction of it," he wrote on X.
The exchange underscores Musk's predicament. Since purchasing X in October 2022, he has vowed to push the platform toward new revenue streams, including ad-sponsored video.
Yet YouTube's ad-revenue share program remains the most lucrative income source for influencers like MrBeast, and even at X's height right before Musk's acquisition, it would've been impossible for it to pay comparable rates.
The situation is more impossible now — with marketers fleeing X amid a boom in misinformation and Musk's confrontational approach to advertisers.
Still, MrBeast dangled some hope in front of Musk: "I’m down though to test stuff once monetization is really cranking!"
The widely followed YouTuber's comments highlight the disconnect between X's financial reality and the billionaire's ambition
Yeah
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2023