INAH confirms lawsuit against MrBeast representatives in Mexico

Reyes Martínez Torrijos

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, May 16, 2025, p. 5

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) confirmed that, as Diego Prieto, head of that agency, told La Jornada , he filed an administrative complaint against the production company Full Circle Media, the Mexican representative of the YouTuber known as MrBeast .

The institute's demand, disseminated through the X platform, is compensation for damages and a public retraction for the failure to comply with the terms of the good faith permits issued by the institution and for making illicit use, for private profit, of the archaeological heritage that belongs to all Mexicans .

Claudia Curiel, head of the federal Ministry of Culture, supported the lawsuit and commented that the permit issued to Full Circle Media never authorized the publication of false information or the use of images of heritage sites for advertising trademarks.

Full Circle Media has a discreet online presence; it is known that last year its legal representative was Ricardo Gutiérrez Sánchez. This newspaper called its offices, located in the Roma Norte neighborhood, to inquire about the firm's position, but the person who answered the call said, "Yes, we are Full Circle Media, but we're fine as we are, thank you ," and hung up.

Since 2006, this production company has been dedicated to producing film, television, and theater projects, corporate videos, advertising, animation, photography, and print editing for distribution in traditional media, the Internet, and social networks.

On their website, they list among their clients organizations such as the National Electoral Institute (INE) and the Mexican Social Security Institute, as well as Channel 22 and the federal ministries of the Interior, Tourism, Foreign Affairs, Public Education, and Environment and Natural Resources, in addition to companies such as Hyundai, Mattel, Sico, and Harpic, among others. They also mention the governments of Tabasco, Guanajuato, Querétaro, and the State of Mexico.

Specifically, the company collaborated with the INE (National Institute of Statistics and Census) in organizing the presidential debates in 2018 and 2024. There were glitches in the latter; the institute even analyzed possible sanctions or penalties.

In 2012, the firm organized the inauguration of the Sustainable Development Center (AC), headed by then-President Felipe Calderón; however, the institution, which cost around one million pesos, never opened.

In 2017, Hyundai Full Circle Media launched the Explore Teotihuacan app, which aims to facilitate the understanding of Mexican culture.

In February, MrBeast released a video recorded in Egypt titled "I Spent 100 Hours at the Pyramids!" , which sparked outrage on social media when the entrepreneur stated that he rented the Giza pyramids and had been to areas few people had visited.

Egypt denied

The country's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities denied this story, stating that he was only allowed to film outside of working hours and that he was in historic spaces that were not actually restricted to the public.

The YouTuber 's nearly 22-minute video is similar to the one he recorded in Calakmul and Chichén Itzá, Mexico. In Egypt, the actor toured the interiors of monuments such as the burial chamber of Pharaoh Khafre, the Pyramid of Menkaure, the Sphinx, and the passageways of the Great Pyramid of Giza. There are helicopter shots nearby, and he is seen spending the night near the buildings.

At certain points in the released recording, the entrepreneur advertises his Feastables chocolates and MrBeast Lab Swarms toys. There is slightly less distortion regarding the information surrounding these remains, declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, because they were always supervised by Zahi Hawass, one of the world's most celebrated Egyptologists and former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities.

Some media outlets in that African country criticized the access to the archaeological site and the commercialization promoted in the video.

MrBeast boasted: "Somehow I have unlimited access to all of Egypt's great pyramids. We went to the tombs of ancient pharaohs. Places that are literally illegal to enter because it's so dangerous. I have no idea why Egypt let us do what we did, but I'm grateful ."