Linus Tech Tips pauses production as controversy swirls - The Verge
Linus Tech Tips pauses production as controversy swirls - The Verge
The controversy continues to grow.
Last night, at approximately 2AM ET, a former employee, Madison Reeve, posted a thread on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, accusing Linus Media Group of cultivating a toxic work environment and encouraging a work culture that was detrimental to her health as well as sexual harassment directed at her by Linus Media Group employees.
“I chose to quit my role at LTT because it, and the working environment I was facing, were ruining my mental health,” her statement begins. “My work was called ‘dogshit’ I was called ‘incompetent’. When I would reach out to managers and try to get help with these situations, I would be told to ‘put on my big girl pants’ and be ‘more assertive’.”
Reeve went on to accuse the company of barring her from videos after she reported being “grabbed multiple times in the office” and being told to “calm my tits” and “stop being such a bitch.”
Madisons' thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html
(Content warning: self harm)
All good things must come to an end.
And also Linus Tech Tips.
I really don't understand how people have gone this long without realising that Linus and the company lost any morals they had (if any) a long time ago for the sake of profit. In my opinion Linus is just another greedy capitalist who treats his employees like shit and only cares about profit.
I would've expected more people to have at least noticed that the videos are pretty low-quality in terms of actual substance when you look past the professional coat of paint, and it's been that way for a loooong time.
Because most people, like myself, probably just watch a few of the entertaining videos and leave it at that.
How is that hard to understand?Not that i will ever watch any LMG media again.
Half joking half not but we all have attention gobbled up by our own matters and mobile phone games to care about what's happening at LMG.
I do like Mac address and the Linux dude that’s sometimes in quick tips or something. Unless they were involved in whatever is happening here. I’m a bit out of the loop.
Sorry to hear that Madison was forced out by such shitty behavior. If these accusations are true there should be consequences for those involved.
It is crazy that Madison held on to all that for 2 years!
I hope a real independent party looks into all the accusations, while also having the local labor dept. and the like involved in audits. While also looking into other employee complaints.
We shall see what comes of the final investagations, it may take years...
If you read that full thread it sounds like someone who was let go from a place I worked years ago and just rings of serious mental health concerns. Slicing open your leg so you go to the ER to avoid going to work is not a sign that someone is of sound mind. All accusations need to be taken seriously and explored regardless given their severity, but I also seriously hope she can get help.
Doubt you’d be saying this if you had ever personally been subjected to workplace harassment of the same endurance and severity.
You’re mixing up chicken and egg here. Victim blaming is a core component of the fucking nightmare of workplace harassment.
I don't think this take is accurate at all. Her actions in that thread appear (to me) entirely as a result of her environment, and honestly there is no basis for the idea she is not of sound mind. The victim blaming is really offputting.
If they're true, it's more than likely this kind of abuse was happening throughout the organization and continued up until these allegations, so I'm glad she came out with them.
Madison said she got in trouble for using sick days. I don’t know why the dots are so hard to connect for some people.
Taking concern for someone's well being when it is quite clearly not in a good place has very little to do with the accusations being levied. I hope the right people are at least aware of that and are reaching out to her. I said in my reply the accusations need to be explored.
Good for you to delete that trashy comment on kbin here. For the record this user, https://kbin.social/u/EnderWi99in , went straight for victim blaming. Users like this run
kbin.socialat risk of being defederated from the rest of lemmy, your behavior is not tolerated.Ya, I've noticed pretty consistently that kbin.social's userbase is pretty hardcore dog-shit. Far worse than even the general riffraff of lemmy.world.
It's a valid comment. And to immediately attack them for having a reasonable perspective discourages open discussion. It's chilling effect. Its gatekeeping.
Doubt you’d be saying this if you had ever personally been subjected to workplace harassment of the same endurance and severity.
You’re mixing up chicken and egg here. Victim blaming is a core component of the fucking nightmare of workplace harassment.
To be honest, I had a similar experience in a workplace, and I definitely did not have the guts to post it before reading your comment.
It is important to take all accusations seriously, but it is also important to verify.
I have seen baseless accusations getting reported and shared on my previous workplace. It was made to sound like a living hell, and frankly you would have needed to be on a psychotic break to experience it like this. This same employee had pledged on their first day of work to print a chart of conduct and equality that would bind us all. It was very weird to be honest. Unfortunately some people saw the articles and believed every words and felt "betrayed" by my old bosses.
Anyway, here's a disclaimer because everytime I post an anecdote encouraging to be diligent I get replies telling me I am assuming this or that. Let me be clear, I believe Madisson and I would be very surprised if she wasn't abused considering everything. But still, I like to verify, we must always verify. In this case, it means waiting for further development. You can encourage and support the supposed victim while simultaneously not jump to the throat of the accused.
I agree, thank you for putting into words what most people keep silent
I appreciate their narrative, and I'm glad they've detailed everything as experienced. But given the totality of their recollection, and the reactions, and the responses, they're clearly somebody who takes too extremes.
A full investigation must be done, and the report probably won't be fully published but whatever is available should be published.
In these public discourses, where one side legally cannot respond at all, we will get a skewed view of things. So we have to take those secondary indicators into account when interpreting. What was the intent behind the messaging, what was the effect of the messaging, what was the timing of the messaging, what are the incentives of the parties at play.
Bad things happen to good people. Bad things can happen to dramatic people. Bad things can happen to good dramatic people.
Honestly, I don't care if people love or hate LTT. It's just a tech entertainment channel. I would love more people to have the critical thinking tools available to them, to interpret future events, more reasonably, without leaping to conclusions
Yeah, while I sympathize with her, something is really fishy about the situation. This isn't as cut and dry as everyone's making it out to be and there's probably more too this.
Here's a video from an all-hands meeting the day after she quit. (Reddit, sorry.)
The following is a transcript if you'd rather avoid Reddit:
(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 either talking to me me or Yvonne directly about it - and that's okay, that's fine, we understand, that's why we have these options - Yvonne's gonna post it 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 question? 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.
And for those that prefer old reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/15t1mzn/mandatory_meeting_the_after_madisons_departure/?rdt=35142
"on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter"
I'm sick and tired of reading this sentence..
LTT produced some rather entertaining videos over the years, but for a long time it's been just that without any substance. I'll be okay without their videos showing up in my YT recommendations.
I really hope Elon starts complaining about his baby being deadnamed in the media.
The artist formerly known as twitter
I was only vaguely aware of this guy. When he released his ratcheting driver gadget a while back, it popped up on a YT review channel that I do watch. Out of curiosity I looked into it.
This Linus guy immediately struck me as a weasel and a d-bag. I don't have any super powers of observation. People should trust their instincts better. Human instincts are bad compared to animals, but one thing we're all pretty naturally good at is detecting scumbags. Listen to your instincts, folks. His "charm" is as real as CheezWhiz.
I firmly disagree with this post. People should not just “rely on their instincts,” which have proven time and again to be highly inaccurate and subject to bias. This is starting to look like what those “body language experts” do, and those people have lower accuracy than a coin toss in controlled experiments.
The only reliable way to tell if someone is lying is through actual evidence. What we know so far certainly paints LMG in a bad light, but I will continue to wait for more information to come out.
I agree, I always feel like the "I always knew X was a bad person" discourse that always pops up in the wake of this stuff indicates that like. Somehow you had more knowledge than anyone else about this. It's basically just fueling your own ego as a result of a situation like this. You don't know these people, what makes people feel like a gut instinct suffices as sufficiently damning evidence? Like, it's fine to not like someone and abstain from engaging with them accordingly. That's okay. But going "I always knew that he was bad" does no good.
Obviously listen to Madison, trust victims and support them (do note that this doesn't mean not to listen to further developments and adjust your moral judgment accordingly, come what may) but that doesn't mean to indulge yourself and over-justify your ability to judge someone you've never had an interaction with based on vibes alone, that's a pretty unhealthy pattern to fall into in my opinion that has negative effects long term that don't benefit anybody.
You should see the WAN Show, their podcast. His co-host always looks nervous to say anything out of turn, they basically just read the next topic that Linus wants to talk about.
Or the time where Linus almost took Jake's fingers out with a hole saw trying to drill holes in a RUNNING PC. Man's a workplace hazard in more ways than one.
Trust me, you weren't missing much.
Luke is always tossing him looks on the WAN show. I'm not sure how he hasn't taken the hint by now.
Dang, what a menace! People will tolerate all kinds of abuse if they have an otherwise cool job. You see it all the time in sports and entertainment.
It is clear that you formed an initial negative impression of this individual based on your perception of their character. However, it is important to note that relying solely on instincts and subjective judgments may not provide an accurate assessment of someone's true character. To assess a person objectively, it would be preferable to observe their actions and gather sufficient evidence before drawing any conclusions. Engaging in a fair and logical evaluation can lead to a more balanced understanding of an individual's nature.
100% against this. This attitude almost got ProJared canceled.
How dare you defame Cheez Whiz
I'm pretty sure turning LTT into an enterprise was a bad idea.
There was never a need to share the profits with so many people in the hopes to become more than just a millionaire. Greed's doing work, I suppose.
Okay. So I've gotta find a feature recommendation thing. The ability to block certain words.
5 days ago I had no idea who the hell Linus was. Now my front page is filled with a bunch of random communities all talking about him.
This is fucking exhausting. I'm tired of the endless bickering over internet drama. Is this a problem? Yes. Should they be held responsible? Yes. Does every fucking community that is tangentially related need to be talking about it? No.
mean lemmy is, like the early days of reddit and digg before it, full of tech enthusiasts.
Linus was one of if not the most successful tech YouTuber. He went from a YouTuber to a tech media empire. I don't know why you'd be surprised that a site that is basically full of his target audience is interested in it.
And honestly this is some awful stuff.
I mean I'm fucking sick of being reminded Trump is a real person, but I'm not surprised by all the coverage of his arrests.
And to add, he held such away with the tech enthusiast community that, if during the reddit fallout, he had come out and talked shit about lemmy under the guise of some list of reasons and pushed for kbin or even some other service entirely then we would likely see a drastic difference in the number of people that joined here.
He used to be one of the most successful tech help youtubers (had whole series on how to fix computer issues and build PC's) and now he runs a company that reviews, tests, and fucks around with tech.
Lemmy is filled with tech enthusiasts. How many people have you met on here that profess they're a "senior dev" or talk about gibberish involving linux? I'm personally surprised there isn't more talk about Linus.
I mean lemmy is, like the early days of reddit and digg before it, full of tech enthusiasts.
Linus was one of if not the most successful tech YouTuber. He went from a YouTuber to a tech media empire. I don't know why you'd be surprised that a site that is basically full of his target audience is interested in it.
And honestly this is some awful stuff.
I mean I'm fucking sick of being reminded Trump is a real person, but I'm not surprised by all the coverage of his arrests.
"My work was called ‘dogshit’ I was called ‘incompetent’." Is this really news? While hurtful and not cool to tell somebody. Im sure a million a people think similar things about a co-worker everyday. This is classic toxic environment and time to leave. If there's issues like sexual harassment, she needs to get a lawyer. Makes me wonder if there's going to be a " You probably heard some rumors...." On LTT
It's easy to belittle their suffering like this, saying they should have left earlier. But there is always a back story to how people getting bullied end up getting victimized longer than they should. If you gave Madison's story more than a cursory look, you would realize that all the classic elements of abusive entrapment were there.
When she accepted the job at LMG, she had jeopardized her visa status in the US and was more or less starting from scratch in a very expensive city in Canada. You would expect the employer to be considerate and supportive of such employees. But LMG insisted that she cancel her patreon account and on representing her (which she says they didn't do at all). They insisted on taking a cut from her earnings too.
And like many other sexual harassment victims, she wasn't in a position to walk away like you say. LMG apparently gaslighted her and made vague threats. They certainly had the power to ruin her life with their somewhat mindless fanbase - and she was right to fear it. Leaving the company without another job would have probably ended her up in the streets - forget lawyering up. I honestly don't think employees in her situation can afford to hire lawyers.
I don't want to completely believe her words because it's still hearsay. That said, the evidence in the public is pointing more to the possibility that she may be telling the truth. But it doesn't help when people just dismiss her saying that she should have stood up for herself. You simply don't understand the position a victim of a vitriolic workplace finds themselves in.
I don't want to completely believe her words because it's still hearsay. That said, the evidence in the public is pointing more to the possibility that she may be telling the truth
I was gonna say I would take what she says with a pinch of salt since she comes across as a drama queen (I literally do not/did not know her outside of the LTT videos), but then an ex-LTT staff member (Colin?) backed her up. It's now not just an ex employee with an axe to grind.
When I read her thread, the first thing that came to mind was that in addition to whatever labor rights claims she could have, there's a clear potential claim of promissory estoppel with regard to her move back to Canada and some of the statements made about how LMG would support her independent efforts.
While hurtful and not cool to tell somebody. Im sure a million a people think similar things about a co-worker everyday.
Thinking it and saying it are two separate things. One is just the day to day frustrations of working with other human beings, the other is contributing to a toxic work environment that just so happens to target a woman in a boy's club of a company within a boy's club of an industry.
I kindly ask you to read things fully. Even disregarding how dismissive you are for victims of a terrible workplace like this, she specifically mentions how this toxicity messed with her visa status. "Just leave bro" is almost never a worthwhile sentiment tbh
Is this really news?
A popular tech YouTube company is outed as an abusive work environment that does nothing about sexual harassment some employees face. There's news reported about far more insignificant shit, I think we can consider this newsworthy.
Read the thread in full, it's much worse than The Verge makes it out to be - that was actually one of my contentions with this article when posting.
This is a naive world view. Working in a toxic environment is such a drain on you already. And then if you are in a field that is hard to break in to, you worry causing any issues will get you blackballed. And you often blame yourself and truly start to believe it is you who is doing bad. And getting a lawyer and suing is usually a fucking stressful nightmare. I have these huge boxes full of paperwork that I've filled out over the past few years and have to keep. I will randomly need some of them. And I'll randomly be notified to do even more shit. And it drags on for years. And my stuff is small fry compared to going up against massive company. Fucking paperwork gives me anxiety at this point.
Then you have to think about the rabid fan base that will be sending her death threats. Doxing her. Etc. All because they decided Linus is too cool he has all the computer shit.
Awesome to hear that they are doing something aside from the PR politician like sorry video.
This would be a great time for the LMG employee to have a vote to unionize!
The problem is that the video where they explain they are going to work to fix errors has.. errors.. >.> Then you get things like that video being monetised until they had enough backlash to make them go "oh okay. We wont monetize it then" or something. It's a big mess and it's clearly showing that LTT has serious problems.
I thought they made a big point about not monetizing the video during the video. With the whole "and now our sponsor..", "Just kidding" stuff. Was it actually set for YouTube monetization?
I was willing to watch along and hope they do better with the initial stuff from GN since it was ultimately junk food entertainment for me, but at this point fuck them and I hope the innocent people there get away and end up okay.
🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:
Click here to see the summary
The company has currently paused all production to improve its review processes, and CEO Terren Tong tells The Verge an outside investigator will be hired to examine the harassment allegations.
“We’ve been seeing an alarming amount of conflicts from Linus Tech Tips as it relates to their corporate connections, their flow of money, and the potential bias as a result of those things,” said Gamers Nexus host Steve Burke.
According to Gamers Nexus, Linus Tech Tips reviewed a copper cooling block from Billet Labs on the wrong GPU, then auctioned it off at a recent fan event without the company’s permission.
The afternoon after Gamers Nexus posted its video, Sebastian began responding to concerned fans in the Linus Tech Tips forums.
Reeve went on to accuse the company of barring her from videos after she reported being “grabbed multiple times in the office” and being told to “calm my tits” and “stop being such a bitch.”
He went on to note that “as part of this process, beyond an internal review we will also be hiring an outside investigator to look into the allegations and will commit to publish the findings and implementing any corrective actions that may arise because of this.”
DO NOT CARE.
This whole thing was new to me. But it is sort of notable that a big company did/tolerated these things. Even if it's some dumb new media YouTube shit.
I knew this day would come
Oooooohhhhhhh snap!
..anyway
This is the worst of it to me. I never expected the kind of standards from LTT that I did from Gamers Nexus, but it was entertaining and they seemed like nice people. Now not so much.
They have a live stream of clips from older videos on their channel right now. Just another damage control measure.
That stream has been going for quite some time and especially before the GN vid
What they've done is reprehensible but this is simply misinformation, that livestream has been up for weeks.