What’s happening with Linus Tech Tips and why has it halted production?

Controversy surrounding Linus Tech Tips – a YouTube channel that reviews popular technology products – has been hitting the headlines over allegations of “rushed” reviews and misogyny in its office.

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As reported by PC Gamer, founder Linus Sebastian was shown mistakenly integrating a prototype of the Billet Labs Monoblock on a GeForce GTX 4090 GPU though it was designed for use with a GTX 3090 in a video published on June 24.

That review was then skewered by competitor channel Gamers Nexus who said that the “accuracy, ethics, and responsibility” of Linus Tech Tips’ reviews should be criticised. The team also alleged that the Monoblock video was an example of “rushing content out the door” in the interest of “quantity over quality”.

Though Sebastian is no longer the CEO of Linus Tech Tips, he responded to Gamers Nexus as he was still spearheading the company at the time of the Billet Labs Monoblock review.

“We are going through some growing pains – we’ve been very public about them in the interest of transparency – and it’s clear we have some work to do on internal processes and communication,” he said, adding that he “didn’t show the Billet in the best light” because he “wanted no one to buy it (because it’s an egregious waste of money no matter what temps it runs at)”.

This still didn’t temper the mood of fans who accused Sebastian of failing to “own his mistakes”. As such, a new apology video with several members of Linus Tech Tips senior leadership was uploaded on August 16, saying that there is “a lot of work to do”.

CEO Terren Tong shared that Sebastian had been admonished for the way that he handled the Billet Labs Monoblock fallout with a “clear and egregious judgment error regarding retesting a product he felt was impractical”.

“I owe you guys better, and I’m sorry,” apologised the founder. “I’m also going to be spending my week [off] just refocusing, guys, on what matters most, which is bringing you guys the best damned content that we can make.”

However, fans have disparaged the promotion of the Linus Tech Tips store and sponsors and the overall irreverent tone of the video. Additionally, ex-Linus Tech Tips social media manager Madison Reeve accused the YouTube channel of cultivating a misogynistic working environment.

To stop the speculation and DM's I am receiving.
I chose to quit my role at LTT because it, and the working environment I was facing, were ruining my mental health.

The number of daily items the Social media role at the time was expected to fill was incredibly high.

— Madison | Suop (@suuuoppp) August 16, 2023

Through a series of posts to X (formerly Twitter), Reeve claimed that her mental health suffered while she was on the team, and that she “would not have recommended anyone I knew to work there, especially with my experiences as a woman in the office”.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Tong said that he was “in a state of shock” reading what Reeve had to share about her experiences. “They aren’t consistent with our company values. They are not consistent with my experience with the team in the six weeks or so that I’ve been here,” he replied.

“Our HR team will be conducting a more thorough assessment of the allegations. Furthermore, we will also be hiring an outside investigator to look into the allegations and will commit to publishing the findings and implementing any corrective actions that may arise because of this,” he continued.

In other gaming news, Creative Assembly‘s colourful shooter Hyenas has announced a closed beta for PC players at the end of this month.

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