MrBeast has an unusual legal 'expectation' for departing employees

Jimmy Donaldson, a.k.a. MrBeast, has an expectation for departing employees that lawyers say goes beyond the norm. Prodip Guha/Getty Images MrBeast has an unusual expectation for departing employees: The world's top YouTuber doesn't want them to post about him — even if they're saying nice things.Employees leaving the company of MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, receive a letter outlining their obligations, including an "expectation" that they refrain from creating, commenting on, or engaging with social posts involving Donaldson, his company Beast Industries, or any of its employees. Business Insider viewed one such letter and confirmed it was the standard version used by the company.The letter also states that the employee should not disclose nonpublic information about the company or make false or disparaging statements about it.Three employment lawyers told Business Insider that the letter had a few uncommon features, pointing particularly to the references to social media."It does seem like an unusual burden to not be able to comment on social media," said V. James DeSimone, a California-based attorney. Plus, the letter doesn't offer any severance or other consideration in exchange, he added.A Beast Industries spokesman said the social media language is intended to protect employees and the company from harassing behavior on social media.Evan Fray-Witzer, of the firm Ciampa Fray-Witzer — who has experience working with creators — said the language in the MrBeast letter was broader than typical nondisparagement clauses he's seen. That's because it covers all comments, not just negative ones, and also extends to every post that references the company."If you were to read this literally, the person couldn't hit the 'like' button on a MrBeast post," Fray-Witzer said. "That's absurd."Donaldson has been chasing YouTube fame since he was a teen, and the colossus he's built is the result of the tight creative control he exerts. He's known to obsess over his videos and his image and to kill projects he doesn't believe meet his standards. Russell Berger of Offit Kurman said the language might be understandable in the context of a social media star's company, but thought the letter was unusually formal, long, and cold in tone."This is more of a putting-you-on-notice way of doing it," he said. "Mostly when people leave a job, they don't get a reminder of what they can and can't do."Legal bark or bite?Fray-Witzer said the company's motivation is understandable: It likely doesn't want former employees undermining its brand or profiting from MrBeast's content.The 28-year-old creator, who has over 523 million YouTube subscribers, has been rapidly scaling up his company, which was valued at around $5 billion last year. The operation has grown to nearly 800 employees as it has expanded into areas like candy and financial services."Where it becomes more questionable and heavy-handed is the extent that it is being used simply to silence former employees from saying anything about MrBeast or the company," Fray-Witzer said of the letter.The lawyers who spoke with Business Insider said the letter isn't a contract and is likely not enforceable.DeSimone said, however, that if the employee previously signed an agreement saying they wouldn't comment about Beast Industries on social media, and then did so, the company could potentially have a basis for legal action.It might be hard to get a judge to enforce the provision, however, and MrBeast would likely "have to prove some sort of damages," Fray-Witzer said.Even if the language isn't enforceable, it could still have a chilling effect."The question for the employee is always, what's worth the juice here?" DeSimone said. Read next Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Lucia Moses covers the media and entertainment business, with a focus on how creators build businesses, how media companies intersect with creators, and how marketers adopt entertainment tools. She's broken stories about MrBeast's ambitions, Google's movie initiative, and Netflix's push into podcasts.She previously reported on media and managed teams at Digiday and Adweek. Creator economy Exclusive Influencers More