Devastated father says his 9-year-old son spent $118,000 on YouTube ads
Summary
The Tom's Hardware piece covers a father who discovers his 9-year-old spent $118,000 on YouTube ad campaigns for his Minecraft channel using a company credit card saved in the father's Google account. The ads were run via YouTube's Promote tool, with a small initial budget that escalated after the child created his own campaigns; the system reportedly approved charges with no per-transaction limit. The family plans to remove saved payment details, implement spending caps and parental controls, and pause the channel while safeguards are put in place.