A rich influencer told his fans to stop giving him money and to donate to charity instead. What can we learn from him?

Pope Leo’s first papal exhortation “Dilexi Te,” in which the pontiff centered the urgency of caring for the poor, was released on Oct. 9. The pope decried a culture “centered on the accumulation of wealth and social success” as contributing directly to the plight of the poor today and argued for the necessity of dismantling that culture (No. 11). On the same day the exhortation was released, a content creator at the center of internet culture provided an unwitting example of the pope’s desired shift.

“I just don’t want people to donate money to me anymore,” said Charlie White Jr. in an Oct. 9 video titled, “I’m Turning It Off.” “I feel like this is long overdue. It’s something I should’ve done a while ago.”

The popular creator—who goes by Cr1TiKaL and has a large platform on YouTube (17.3 million followers) and Twitch (5.7 million followers), a popular livestreaming site—continued, “I felt uneasy about it for awhile, but I convinced myself that I could deliver something that made it valuable for people who were donating.”

“You are basically paying money for nothing,” he continued.

Most streamers on YouTube or Twitch receive the bulk of their revenue from advertisements. But subscribers can also support streamers in other ways, such as paid subscriptions for ad-free viewing or through gifting “bits” (a virtual currency convertible to dollars) on Twitch or “superchats” on YouTube for nothing more than a highlighted message in a publicly visible livechat. 

Mr. White makes a living streaming and creating videos, often of him playing video games or discussing the various happenings of online culture. His demographic may be niche, but he commands a passionate fan base who view him not just as an entertainer, but as a rare example of authenticity in an essentially performative space. 

In the Oct. 9 video, Mr. White announced that he was disabling all donation pathways on YouTube, and while streamers who previously joined Twitch’s partner program cannot disable viewers’ option to subscribe, he discouraged his community from subscribing in “a call to inaction.”

“Please just consume it for free,” he said.

While subscriptions and donations can be a useful pathway to financially support small creators or charity streams, regular people freely give money to super-wealthy streamers in a bizarre distortion of tithing. Faceless viewers donate under pseudonyms, giving alms for their commodified parasocial entertainment, and social pressure becomes economically exploitative: When you see others donate, you feel the pressure to donate too.

Mr. White himself noted how this practice reinforces the strange relationship between streamer and viewer: “There are some streamers that believe that normal people having the ability to give them money helps them feel included in the community…and it’s integral to the streaming experience to be able to sub and donate.” He disagreed with this view, arguing instead, “what I do is free. You don’t need to donate.”

“If you’re someone who just has all this money and it’s burning a hole in your pocket…donate it to a charitable cause instead. There are so many good charities doing extremely good work that could be benefited [sic] greatly from your contribution,” said Mr. White, who then suggested contributing to humanitarian aid in Gaza as a good option. “I would much rather [your money] go to other organizations or other people in need, instead of finding its way to me for literally nothing.”

In his first exhortation, Pope Leo criticized people who enrich themselves “at the expense of others and by taking advantage of unjust social ideals” (No. 11). He also highlighted members of the “early Christian community” who performed “acts of charity,” following Jesus as an “example to imitate” (No. 29). The pontiff suggested that their witness should be followed, giving “enduring inspiration for generations” (No. 34).

Personal acts of charity may not be enough to dismantle systems of exploitation, but they have a role to play in inspiring further change. In particular, such examples can be especially powerful when performed by someone with high visibility in a streaming economy that embodies the extractive dynamic derided in “Dilexi Te.”

Indeed, many in Mr. White’s comment section said they were inspired by his decision. On the video, one commenter wrote, “An extremely rare sight: a wealthy person who has everything he truly needs and understands that he doesn’t need more. A remarkable sight to behold.”

One could be skeptical of the extent of Mr. White’s generosity, as he himself admitted that the vast majority of the roughly $41.3 million in revenue he has earned on YouTube and Twitch came from advertisements. While he has advertisements set at the lowest possible frequency for a partner on Twitch and similarly low on his YouTube videos, he is still profiting an enormous amount from his content and does not stand to lose much from discouraging or disabling donations. Mr. White further chafed at the idea of encouraging other streamers to do the same. “Let me be clear, I’m not trying to make a rallying cry here,” he said. “This is just my own personal decision.”

Still, Mr. White has a history of using his platform for good. For example, he donated the proceeds from his first four years of making money on YouTube to various charities and posted the receipts on Twitter. 

After he received some pushback from people arguing that they should continue donating to him and other streamers, Mr. White posted a follow-up video on Oct. 15 titled “I’m Not Turning it Back On,” in which he showed the data on exactly how much money he has earned from posting videos and streaming. 

“I think showing how much streaming/YouTube can make…is probably helpful for normal people so they can see how much money is in this space,” he said. “There is no top streamer that needs your financial support to put food on the table.”

Pulling back the curtain and discouraging exploitative donation practices, Mr. White used his online celebrity to demystify the economy of content creation and provide an inspiring example. He expressed gratitude for the immense privilege of his career and wealth it has afforded him: “I have said from day one, I got incredibly lucky. I will never be able to put into words just how lucky I got.”

In an economy of attention and self-promotion, even a small act of humility can promote the Gospel message. Mr. White’s commitment might take a small step in dismantling what Pope Francis called a “structure of sin…that considers normal or reasonable what is merely selfishness and indifference” (“Dilexi Nos,” No. 93).

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