How MrBeast Became the Willy Wonka of YouTube

<p>Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has become a sensation on YouTube for ostentatious and sometimes absurd acts of altruism.</p><p>Today, Max Read, a journalist and contributor to The Times, discusses what the rise of one of YouTube’s most popular star tells us about the platform and its users.</p><p>Max Read is a contributor to The New York Times Magazine and writes about technology and internet culture in his newsletter “<a href="https://maxread.substack.com/">Read Max</a>.”</p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>Why do so many people<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/magazine/mrbeast-youtube.html"> think Mr. Donaldson is evil?</a></li><li>MrBeast is out to become<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/technology/mr-beast-youtube.html"> the Elon Musk of online creators</a>.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.</p>