"Elon Musk's Attempt to Attract MrBeast to Platform X: Analyzing the Impact on YouTube Views"

Elon Musk's social platform, X, appears to be amplifying the reach of popular YouTuber MrBeast's content, seemingly part of Musk's attempts to bring the digital celebrity onto the platform. X appears to be promoting MrBeast's first direct video upload as a distinctive form of advertisement, without explicitly labeling it as such.  The well-known YouTuber, MrBeast, who amasses considerable attention on YouTube, recently chose to share his latest video on Musk's platform X for the first time. MrBeast stated that his curiosity about potential ad revenue led him to try this out as an experiment. Users on X have reported multiple instances of MrBeast's video being inserted into their feeds as an unmarked advertisement. One observer noted the video's frequent appearances in their feed and pointed out its unusual absence of both post time and ad identifiers, characteristic markers of conventional user posts and advertisements respectively. This trend, which began after Musk took ownership of X in October 2022, has led to a surge in unmarked ads on the platform, an issue formerly covered by the media. X has been providing its users with unidentified advertisements since September of the previous year. These ads, devoid of labels marking them as "ads" or "promotions," have caused confusion among users. Despite this ambiguity, users can easily identify these unmarked ads as they lack a publication timestamp. Unlabelled advertisements can be distinguished from organic posts as they offer an option to express disinterest in a particular ad under the dropdown ellipsis icon menu. Online advertising watchdog, Check My Ads, previously filed a complaint to FTC, criticizing X for lack of transparency. A situational review by an X representative claims that the presence of a pre-roll video ad prior to MrBeast's video is considered the needed disclosure, thus explaining the absence of "ad" or "promotion" labels on MrBeast's post itself. Yet, this poses a discrepancy. If MrBeast's post is consistently showing up to users through non-organic means, it essentially serves as an independent advertisement and must be identified as such. Evidently, X seems to be inflating MrBeast's impressions through unlabeled ads. This might prompt debate about whether it's a case of intentional lack of transparency or a mere oversight. Musk's vision for X, which was initially Twitter, relies heavily on video content. It was recently announced that X secured exclusive video deals with prominent figures like Don Lemon, Jim Rome, and Tulsi Gabbard. Musk has shown keen intentions in encouraging content creators and influencers to upload their material directly onto X, recently urging MrBeast to do so. Earlier, MrBeast voiced his reluctance to post on X, citing the expense of his video production and the need for adequate compensation, which only YouTube could offer. However, his more recent upload to X was suggestive of a shift in outlook. If Musk successfully lures MrBeast through generous payment based on his video performance, it could bring a significant content creator to X, furthering Musk’s multimedia vision for the platform. Since posting his video to X, MrBeast has conveyed surprise over his post’s 100 million views (currently at 128 million). However, impressions on X do not equate to video views like on YouTube, but instead refer to impressions on a particular post. Consequently, the absolute number of views remains indeterminable due to X's removal of public video view count in May 2023. In his most recent post, MrBeast created a poll asking his followers to guess the potential payout he would receive from X’s ad revenue share program, toying with ranges from $10 to $1 million.