Madison finally comes out with the reasons she left LMG/LTT

The thread is here, for those like me, who have closed and blocked twitter

I don't watch Linus' videos that often, and I don't know the names of the people working for him. But from what is stated on that series of tweets, seems to be straight up harassment / gender discrimination.

Anyway it's good that it's surfacing, but I hope that it doesn't escalate any more as a drama, because it seems like they have a fairly toxic community, and the one that's always being targeted are the ex-employees.

Most people I see (in various forums) focus on the sexism part of this. It's bad, but I think it's worth highlighting the way Madison says they misled her and started controlling her digital side gigs outside of LTT, and just how bad working there was. Here are a few of the things she mentioned, but I recommend reading the full thread:

I had asked and been told during my interviews that I would be allowed to monetize my YouTube channel and be allowed to join Floatplane in exchange for shutting down my Patreon. ONCE I moved [from Arizona to to Vancouver] I was presented with an entirely new contract/handbook that I was not told existed.

Work from Home was a whole issue. If you took 3 minutes to answer a personal email, you could get in trouble. (happened to me) There is a system of micro-managing and a level of distrust because the amount of content they have to push out daily is so insane, no one gets a break.

I remember getting told off for taking my sick days, as in the days you're entitled to. This no days off, "grindset" culminated in the real moment I realized I had to leave.

They also forced me to have them as my representation if I wanted to take any sponsors for my Twitch or YouTube channels. Originally I had been told, just make sure you okay things by us for non-compete issues. Then that changed when I moved to take the job.

I honestly think the only way Linus can redeem himself at this point (for me personally), is if he made the company into some sort of multi-stakeholder worker cooperative where the workers have an actual chunk of democratic say over the direction of the company. This is how it's done across Europe already via works councils, e.g. in Norway 33% of the board (leadership) is represented by workers, while in other European countries it goes all the way up to 50%. It's been made very clear that the current leadership are incompetent and need to actually listen to their workers.

Holy shit, I didn't expect to see all LTT dirty laundry get aired like this. What started as a review quality drama has snowballed into workplace harassment drama.

Edit: finally finished reading the whole stuff. If even 10% of what she said is true, LMG/LTT is truly fucked up big time. I thought Canadians are supposed to be chill.

I hate when people put stories like this out in the form of 15,000 tweets. It's a pain in the ass to read, just link to a paste bin or blog site or literally anything where I can read it in proper formatting and not broken out into a million tiny pieces

The floodgates are really opening now.

Fucking Linus to slimy bitch. You took a bright eyed joyful person and took advantage of them.

Wow, I've been a fan of linus tech tips for more than 10 years now, i can't believe I'm saying this but i hope he gets ousted from the company for this.

No idea what any of this means so I found this:

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/gamers-nexus-vs-linus-tech-tips-billet-labs-review-controversy

Feels better now...

I worked with a small media company like this. They’d constantly throw new tasks and duties at you like candy with no plan, no resources, and unwritten and unsaid expectations you’d somehow make it all work while they sat back and raked in the cash. Burnout was inevitable, and it’d make them furious and vindictive with you when you dare to ask for less work or more pay or people to do the job.

Enough is enough. If treating your employees like spare parts is what’s needed to succeed in a capitalist society, then not only do these companies deserve to die out for their inhumane treatment of workers, but the whole system needs to be upended.

I'm gonna be honest, I saw this coming. Maybe it's because I've had experiences with abusive media companies (though not nearly this severe), but when I saw Madison left with no real explanation, I had a feeling something was up. I still follow one of the women who was on their camera team, and she posted some vague but knowing comments after the news first came out that Madison quit.

Fuck these egotistical tech bros that think they own the world because they got lucky. The worst part is they'll never understand that they did something wrong.

This is wild, when I was younger, I used to be big into Linus Tech Tips which led me to wanting to program and understand technology better. I am saddened that he and his company are like this.

Update: LMG to hire external investigator on this matter.

Linus' fan base allegedly drove a little boy to suicide, and the mother subsequently took her own life as well.

Not sure if linking to reddit is appropriate here but here's the audio from the meeting following Madison's departure: https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/15t1mzn/mandatory_meeting_the_after_madisons_departure/

And here's the transcript:

(speaker 1, Linus) So we called this meeting because it's come to our attention that we need to have a quick chat about the best way to handle HR related feedback and rumors. We won't be giving any names for what I hope are extraordinarily obvious reasons, but what we can do is give you the following guidelines for problem solving and conflict resolution.

Sorry that this is all boring and corporate, but here we are. Number one, always stand up for what's right. We're only a team as long as we're all working together and working for each other. That's the most important one. Number two, always reflect on your own personal experiences and use your common sense. Few things in life are truly black and white. Number three, always wait to hear both sides of a story before passing your own judgment. Be cautious when you know that one side is bound by legal and ethical disclosure guidelines, when the other is not. Carefully consider what it says about the character of someone who would engage in that type of gossip against someone who has no power to defend themselves.

Number four, always encourage openness and transparency. If you have a problem, you need to speak up. We want to fix it. If you receive feedback about somebody else at this company, the first response is, have you spoken with this person? Followed closely by, you need to speak with this person. We don't solve interpersonal issues here, or really anywhere in your life, if you wish to live in a drama free zone, by engaging in water cooler politicking. So, if for any reason that individual is not comfortable approaching the person they're having a conflict with, we have a chain that they're supposed to follow.

So first, you advise them to take the problem to their manager. Followed by me or Yvonne, followed by our third party HR firm. I hope that you all trust that we're here to make this a safe, fun, and productive workplace, and we won't tolerate mistreatment of any of our team members.

If you have any reason to believe otherwise, then I refer you again to point number four, which is to address the issue with the individual directly, or bring it to me or Yvonne, or bring it to our third party HR firm. Since I'm not at liberty to share any details about what occurred, uh, all I can do is ask that you trust me and Yvonne.

Um, some of you know us very well, I've been here a very long time, um, some of you have not been here for as long, but I like to think that whether you've been here for nine years or nine days, you're here for a reason and you believe that we are utmost to run this company with integrity and compassion.

Um, We can't solve problems we don't know about though, so on that note, I'd like to invite anyone who has concerns about a fellow team member or about a manager to submit their feedback either by speaking with their manager, me or Yvonne directly, or if you would prefer to provide your feedback anonymously, we have an option for that as well.

It's the manager and co worker feedback form. Uh, Yvonne, if you're not aware of it, show of hands who is not aware of it. Hey, a lot of people aren't aware of it. Good, so now we all know. There's an anonymous form, if for whatever reason you're not comfortable, (inaudible) you can talk to me or Yvonne directly about it (inaudible) in the general chat.

It's a safe space to provide us ideas for improvement, or if you're consumed by the holiday spirit and you want to say nice things, you can do that too. Does anybody else have any questions?

Not a single questions? Wow, that must have been a really good speech.

(speaker 2, James)You gonna dance on that table, or just stand on it?

(speaker 1, Linus)That's it! So, um, Yvonne, did you have anything you wanted to add?

(speaker 3, Yvonne)(inaudible) Somebody said (inaudible) if you guys want to sanitize your hands, help yourself with free (inaudible)?

(speaker 1, Linus)Yeah, that was actually just totally random timing. It came up the stairs a moment ago. Dennis is on it. Alright. Thank you everyone. Have a wonderful and, uh, productive rest of your day. And weekend.