YouTube mega-channel Linus Tech Tips (LTT) has found itself in hot water over mishandling and inaccuracies present in a review of a prototype PC component and has faced backlash from its community.
On top of that, an ex-employee of the channel has spoken out about employee mistreatment. The channel has responded multiple times, including a long video today where they outline how they will right the ship, but has yet to respond to the ex-employee allegations.
Linus Tech Tips to Billet Labs – Issue of ‘Ethics’
After the massive tech review channel launched a critical review of a prototype Billet Labs’ 3090ti monoblock way back in June, the device was intended to cool the PC’s CPU and GPU. The video featured the face of LTT, Linus Sebastian himself and an assistant utilizing the product. Another tech channel Gamers Nexus, spearheaded a response criticising the review in a 44-minute video of their own, where Steve Burke says the Linus Tech Tips review contained inaccuracies and general ‘lack of effort’.
Burke explained that instead of re-filming the Linus Tech Tips channel’s mistakes on the review, they just threw subtitles over the mistakes to force the video out faster. Gamers Nexus also questioned the channel’s ethics in its conclusion, saying “It’s unfair to consumers who get misled to bad purchases or not understanding the product, it’s unfair to companies when there are major points that are erroneous and aren’t properly addressed or handled and its unfair to other reviewers who actually who are willing to invest the time” to properly vet the devices usage.
Interestingly, the device Linus Sebastian reviewed on his channel was meant to cool 3090ti GPUs, but the Linus Tech Tips channel used it on a 4090, which could be considered a square peg for a round hole. The argument is Linus Sebastian used the Billet Labs prototype Monoblock intended for a 3090ti on the improper device and gave it a negative review, which could harm Billet Labs’ reputation due to the millions that watch Linus Tech Tips.
Lastly, Linus Tech Tips apparently auctioned off the prototype for charity, and the device was intended to be returned to Billet Labs. Billet Labs says they emailed Linus Tech Tips saying the auction of the prototype was “not okay” and they subsequently received no response.
LTT then offered to pay Billet Labs for the device, only 2 hours after the Gamers Nexus video criticized their handling of the prototype. Billet Labs says “We received no reply and no offer of payment until 2 hours after the Gamers Nexus video went live on 14th August, at which point Linus himself emailed us directly. The exact monetary value of the prototype was offered as reimbursement. We have not received, nor have we asked for any other form of compensation” on their official Reddit response.
Linus Sebastian himself then posted a response in defence, claiming “We know that we’re not perfect. We wear our imperfection on our sleeves in the interest of ensuring that we stay accountable to you. But it’s sad and unfortunate when this transparency gets warped into a bad thing.”
Ultimately Linus concluded “I still disagree that the Billet Labs video is an ‘accuracy’ issue. It’s more like I just read the room wrong. We COULD have re-tested it with perfect accuracy, but to do so PROPERLY… would have been impossible.” He then reaffirmed his stance on the prototype saying “It still wouldn’t make sense to buy” after confirming the test was not done with the aforementioned ‘perfect accuracy.’ The whole response can be read below.
Linus Tech Tips – Madison Reeve Harassment Allegations
On top of the ethical bonfire the internet is creating around Linus Tech Tips, former employee of Linus Media Group, Madison ‘Suop’ Reeve, has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to engage her audience about her treatment at Linus Tech Tips, and what her job duties entailed. Reeve was employed by Linus Tech Tips after her appearance on one of their videos was well-received by the audience, and has since quit the company in 2021. TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD, the next passage contains descriptions of harmful workplace practices, self-harm, and egregious harassment. Skip to the next headline if any of these issues are harmful to read, and completely avoid the X thread as well.
She goes on to detail an incredibly steep workload to which she describes in detail, but then says “I cannot speak on what it’s like now, but they have an entire team working on (seemingly) what I was expected to accomplish alone” referring to the Social Media role she filled at LTT. She refused to speak out about her hardships working for LTT considering she feared even further backlash from the community when she was already receiving harassment and death threats.
Madison also alleges that not only had she “been inappropriately grabbed multiple times in the office, amongst other issues,” she had suddenly been barred from appearing in videos. She also alleges Linus Tech Tips made many manipulative movements regarding her employment, including announcing her employment to the massive millions large LTT audience prior to her even being offered the job formally.
Madison continued by saying the company would get testy for taking her allotted time off she was entitled to, saying she had even “purposefully cut my leg open so badly I would have to go to the ER to get it stapled back together” to take off.
Madison continued to make many allegations against Linus Tech Tips and the umbrella company, Linus Media Group, and even cited an old GlassDoor review she had posted anonymously. Madison still said, “There ARE GENUINELY amazing, compassionate, and incredibly intelligent people who work at this company and are driven to just share the cool tech they love.” The X thread Madison posted is still up and available.
Linus Tech Tips Issues Fell Video Response and Stops Video Production For Now
The last piece of the Linus Tech Tips controversy (so far) is a video from the heads of the company (including Linus Sebastian himself) saying they are putting a pause on video production for now. The video can be seen below, and it contains no response to the allegations made by Madison Reeve.
This is the entire controversy surrounding the Linus Tech Tips channel so far, and it is likely this video was produced prior to Madison Reeve’s allegations. There will assuredly be more news to come in the future, and readers who are currently following the story can get fan opinions by heading to the Linus Tech Tips Forum to join the conversation.
