On August 14th, Gamers Nexus (their website) posted a video detailing issues with Linus Tech Tips and Linus Media Group. In the LMG issues, allegations and concerns a lot has been brought to light. The short story of the video was that LTT is rushing to meet a schedule that is pretty unrealistic for their employees, the harm that these types of errors cause to the dollars that viewers of the channel spend based on recommendations and things to avoid buying such as GPU reviews, CPU coolers and more. Also brought to light was a serious ethical issue with Billet Labs who provided LTT with a prototype that they tested incorrectly and then auctioned off “erroneously” at LTX. You can check out Steve’s video below:
My initial thoughts in watching the video from Steve at Gamers Nexus was that some of the issues would definitely be attributed to rushing and human error which is understandable to a degree, but when it is constantly happening and changes aren’t being made then it is a look at top down of managing the process. The Billet Labs situation however, was egregious for numerous reasons. First, they provided you with a graphics card and their monoblock and you did not test it with the provided hardware you take it up a notch to a 4090, then when this is brought up on the Wan show the comment is that it would have cost too much money to retest correctly basically for a product you did not like so did not want to waste the money and time to correct it. Second, you did not return the prototype to the company and auctioned it off for charity at your event. In trying to rectify the issue, you reached out to winners of auctions to try and see who won it and misled this by asking for who won what for “tax purposes” yikes man…. Following Steve’s and Gamers Nexus initial video came a response from Linus which was not well thought out and a very emotional response. Prompting Steve to post a new section in Hardware News with the reply, you can check that below:
I am an emotional person as well so I understand where Linus is coming from but at the same time you need to take a step back and logically reply and not go scorched earth. This morning the management team at LMG released a video discussing where they go from here. Check that here:
There are issues with this video that I see as an outsider looking in. First and foremost there should be an apology to Steve for going at him for his journalistic integrity and a statement they are taking what he said to heart and appreciate him raising these topics so they can look at their processes. Second, who let the guy plugs LTT Store in the video? Come on man, that just came across with poor taste and was not good at all. I appreciate the fact that they are taking a week off of producing videos to try and get the ship moving in the right direction. Let’s all be honest, serious change is not going to occur within the week but it will be a good start to review and start changing practices. Linus Tech Tips based on all that has been said and shown has fallen into the model of 24 hours news coverage. It doesn’t matter if it is right or wrong but it has to be first and constant. Getting back to what Steve mentioned about dollars, it is very true. There are a lot of people who watch the Linus Tech Tips channels to see what they should buy or spend money on to upgrade their PC or setup or any other number of things that are “reviewed” and there needs to be accountability for those reviews and honesty in them. One other thing that came across poorly was that their apology video was monetized. They have since turned off monetization on the video and posted a comment as an update and it was pinned stating they heard the feedback from the community and internally and turned it off.
I really hope that this is not just an apology for the sake of an apology and that they really truly take an introspective look at themselves and see where they have went wrong and correct course not only for themselves but for the community they have built as there is a lot of trust at stake with their 15.5 million plus subscribers to their channel. Which leads me to the second thing that has yet to be addressed at the time of this article:
Former LMG employee Madison Reeve released a scathing look at her time with LMG via her Twitter account, you can check the whole thread by clicking here. Lets take a look at this. I appreciate the fact that she left and did not stay at a job that was ruining her mental health. I always say that there is not enough focus in the world these days on mental health and a lot of people are struggling out there. The thread is disturbing and shows that she was harassed, grabbed inappropriately, told to “calm her tits,” “stop being such a bitch,” asked about her sexual history and how she liked to fuck and that she should take her co-worker she was having issues with out to coffee to smooth over sexual tension. This took place as well as body shamming her by calling her chunky, fat, ugly and stupid. This is totally unacceptable and there needs to be serious changes in the LMG practices based on these allegations. One thing she mentioned in the article that was extremely troubling was the sick day policy and being told off and that she cut her own leg to require stitches as to not be harassed about her time off. I just do not know what to say to this.
So not to steal their video title but, What do we do now? Should their be a boycott of LMG due to the issues and allegations? I think the logical thing for the community to do is to 1. give them a chance to right their wrongs and address all of the LMG issues, allegations and processes appropriately. Secondly, give them the chance to prove to the community that they are doing the right thing and allow them to win back their followers. What do you think about the whole LMG situation and the issues shown as well as additional allegations and troubles with the company? Let us know your solutions or thoughts in the comments below or hit us up on our Twitter account by clicking here. Stay tuned to Culture Splat for more content coming your way!
