Podbit · The Joe Rogan Experience

#2527 - MrBeast

Explore episode Jul 16, 2026

Society & Culture

The Cacao Child Labor Crisis — And MrBeast's Fix

#2527 - MrBeast · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Between 1.5 and 1.8 million children work in illegal child labor on West African cacao farms — and the chocolate industry has known about it for decades and done essentially nothing. MrBeast's Feastables brand built an ethical supply chain from scratch, guaranteeing living income reference prices to farmers and auditing for child labor, and in seven months reduced illegal child labor in five villages by 90%.

Where this was said

The Cacao Child Labor Crisis — And How MrBeast Is Fixing It

At 2:42:28 · chapter starts 2:27:00

MrBeast pivots unexpectedly to a subject he says has consumed thousands of hours of his time: the cacao supply chain. He describes discovering after starting Feastables that approximately 46% of labor on West African cacao farms involves illegal child labor — and that when he went to major distributors asking if he could pay a premium to source ethically, no such system existed. Industry executives simply shrugged.^{[1]

— MrBeast

"Between 1.5 and 1.8 million children work in illegal child labor on West African cacao farms — and the chocolate industry has known about i…"

2:42:28} After learning from Tony's Chocolonely and spending years building relationships with Fairtrade-certified, democratically elected cooperatives in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, MrBeast launched a seven-month case study across five villages with a combined population of roughly 10,000 people. The baseline: approximately 550 children in illegal child labor. By guaranteeing a living income reference price to farmers (so they no longer need child workers to survive economically), auditing every farm, and — in villages where there was no school because children had only ever worked — literally building schools, Feastables reduced child labor by 90%, bringing the count down to roughly 50 children. He acknowledges this is just the start and expects Big Chocolate to push back publicly as he makes this issue more visible. Joe Rogan is visibly stunned throughout.

Health & Fitness

MrBeast lost 50 pounds

#2527 - MrBeast · Jul 16, 2026

MrBeast lost 50 pounds between his first Joe Rogan appearance and this episode.

Once you get over the hump, someone going, 'this is stupid, this is unrealistic,' it starts to feel like it goes from something that makes you nervous and keeps you up at night to like, you don't even really care anymore. And then it's like, but there are people who hear it and they quit. And so it's technically a benefit for you.

MrBeast

#2527 - MrBeast

Business

The Creator Economy Is Now Bigger Than Hollywood

#2527 - MrBeast · Jul 16, 2026 Business

MrBeast's main YouTube channel hit 850 million unique viewers and 12 billion views in a single quarter. YouTube itself has over 3 billion monthly active users and is growing. The number one most-watched show on earth isn't on Netflix or HBO — it's a YouTube channel run by a 28-year-old from North Carolina.

Business

MrBeast's 850M unique viewers/quarter

#2527 - MrBeast · Jul 16, 2026

MrBeast's main YouTube channel reached approximately 850 million unique viewers in the last 90 days, generating around 12 billion views.

Business

4.5–4.7M podcasts globally (2026)

#2527 - MrBeast · Jul 16, 2026

There are approximately 4.5 to 4.7 million podcast shows globally as of 2026, up from 69,000 in 2009.

Business

300M people identify as content creators

#2527 - MrBeast · Jul 16, 2026

Approximately 200 to 300 million people globally identify as content creators as of 2026, with 8–12 million considered professional.

There's over 1 million kids that work in illegal child labor on cacao farms. And when I would talk to other people who work at chocolate companies or execs, they're just like, yeah, it just kind of is what it is. That's how it works.

MrBeast

#2527 - MrBeast

Society & Culture

1.5–1.8M children in cacao child labor

#2527 - MrBeast · Jul 16, 2026

Between 1.5 and 1.8 million children work in illegal child labor on West African cacao farms, a fact largely unknown to chocolate consumers.

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