In a recent interview with the YouTube host Theo Von, Von pressed him for a psychological explanation for his instinct to help people. MrBeast was at a loss: “I should come up with this heart-throbbing story of, like, I just want to help people because I couldn’t when I was young. But the honest truth is I know how to make content go viral, we are really good at making good content, and I just believe a world where I help people is just more fun than a world where I don’t.”

In other words, charity simply makes excellent and optimized YouTube content even more excellent and optimized.