State of emergency at tech YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips is one of the largest tech Youtubers in the world with 15.5 million subscribers. The channel, especially its founder Linus Sebastian, is facing accusations of inaccurate test results, questionable ethics and responsibility towards the Community.
If you regularly watch content from Linus Tech Tips (LTT), you will have to do without it for the next week. The CEO of the company, Terren Tong, has stopped video production for the time being. This is in response to various accusations that the company is facing. This is due to statements made by one of the Group's employees.
These are the allegations
In a video, the employee says that LTT re-tests hardware for every article. Channels such as Hardware Unboxed or Gamers Nexus do not do this. That's why LTT's data is more reliable. On 14 August, Gamers Nexus host Steve Burke reacted to this in his own video
In this video, Burke criticises the Linus Media Group (LMG), to which the Linus Tech Tips channel belongs, for data accuracy. In several cases, articles were published that contained incorrect data. The company favours quantity over quality. This is unfair to those who consume LMG's content and also to manufacturers.
In addition, LTT had behaved dubiously towards the start-up Billet Labs. The company is made up of two hobbyists who produce high-end water coolers for graphics cards and processors. LTT received a prototype for an RTX 3090 Ti for testing. However, because the RTX 3090 Ti could not be found, Linus and Co. used an RTX 4090 for testing - for which the cooler is not officially compatible. The test result was correspondingly poor.
Why Linus couldn't find a suitable card for the test? He didn't want to invest money in the card or labour, as the product is too expensive in his eyes anyway - no matter how well it works. Despite the agreement and demand, LTT did not return the prototype after testing, but auctioned it off at its own LTX Expo.
Gamers Nexus also criticised the fact that LMG now has various in-depth connections to manufacturers in the tech scene, but does not disclose this. As a result, its credibility could also be questioned. Certain reports are biased.
The statement from Linus
In a statement on the same day, Linus does not really address the erroneous articles. Instead, he criticised Gamers Nexus in particular for publishing their video. It was not journalistic to publish the video without having shown it to him in advance. He also makes claims about the case with Billet Labs that are demonstrably false - as Gamers Nexus explains in a response to the statement.
Linus only stepped down from the position of CEO of LMG at the end of June. Neo-CEO Terren Tong now has the honour of settling the first shitstorm. He and other people in management positions at the Group commented on the case yesterday. During the production stop, they want to rethink and revise their processes.
The accusations are piling up
The media group does not seem to be calming down for the time being. During the storm, ex-social media employee Madison Reeve spoke out via X - formerly Twitter. In several posts, she describes LMG's corporate culture as toxic. LTT also wants to investigate these allegations.
Update 28 August 2023: Linus Tech Tips founder Linus Sebastian has now commented on the planned changes to the channel in a new video. This comes after a ten-day video break. Put simply, ethics and accuracy are to be improved. For example, videos will no longer necessarily be posted daily as they will be subject to a stricter review process before publication. Furthermore, sponsorships and the like are to be communicated more transparently.
Cover image: Screenshot YouTube / Linus Tech Tips
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