A hugely popular 55-second video showing a baby biting his brother's finger appears to be gone from YouTube after someone bought it at auction.
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An anonymous bidder paid $760,999 for the cute video in question.
The video is still up on YouTube. The auction site created by the Davies-Carr family behind the clip noted that it “will be removed soon.” For now, anyone can still download the video and memorialize it in content . The auction site explicitly states that “the highest bidder will be the sole owner of the Charlie Bit My Finger NFT.” The future copyright holder of the video has not yet been announced.
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In a statement, the parents of the two boys – now 15 and 17 – said that the removal of the video from YouTube “is not the end of a beloved video, but rather a new beginning. We helped YouTube grow and embrace it early. We are now moving on to the next exciting thing.”
Since it was posted on YouTube about 14 years ago, the clip has garnered 880 million views, making it the most viral video of all time.
As for what the family plans to do with the money they receive from its purchase, the father told CBS in an interview that they hope they can use the cash to send older brother Harry to university with "a nice place to stay."
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This isn't the first time a meme has generated revenue in the form of an NFT. Last month, Zoë Roth (aka Disaster Girl) auctioned off her own meme and received $473,000.
However, many others have taken advantage of the fame created online around a video or photo of them to earn large sums of money.
