Ex-Linus Tech Tips Employee Alleges Workplace Harassment & Misconduct at LMG [Updated]
Reviewed by Huzaifa Haroon
UPDATE: In an email statement to The Verge, Linus himself has directly responded to the allegations made against LMG:
I was in a state of shock reading through these allegations, plain and simple. They aren’t consistent with my recollections. They aren’t consistent with our internal processes. They aren’t consistent with our company values.
We pride ourselves on maintaining a safe and inclusive environment. In addition to our existing report systems (both anonymous and otherwise) we’ve proactively reached out internally today to encourage members of our team to report any workplace bullying or harassment they might be experiencing so we can take quick and decisive action.
Our HR team will be conducting a more thorough assessment of the allegations, and when we are ready, we will release a more complete statement. For now I would ask that we allow our team the time they need be as thorough as possible.
Linus Sebastian, CVO of LMG. (via The Verge)
The current CEO of the company, Terren Wong, also highlighted that they’ve hired an external investigator to find out more details about the situation.
[…] 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. Terren Wong, CEO of LMG. (via The Verge)
Mini-Update: An official statement has been posted on Linus Tech Tips’ Twitter account with similar sentiments as the quote above, pledging to get to the bottom of the situation through an investigation.
The original story is as follows:
For the past few days, following Steve’s criticism regarding LMG, Linus Media Group, the company has been surrounded in controversy. From reports of misinformation to the entire Billet Labs fiasco, the LMG situation doesn’t get any better.
An Ex-Employee, Madison who worked in the company for less than one year has made serious allegations against the working environment of the company. There have been multiple instances of verbal abuse, privacy invasion, a few accounts of sexual harassment, and constant bullying. And these are not just buzzwords, because what we’re about to uncover will indeed shock you.
Table of Contents:
A Brief Recap
If you’re already up to date with all the events, skip to the next heading.
For the unaware, let’s go over what happened so far, briefly. Steve from Gamer’s Nexus posted a video recently citing concerns for the quality of content posted by LMG. This includes flawed benchmarks, biased and poor reviews, quality control, and misplacing a Water Block prototype supplied by Billet Labs.
Linus replied back and as such Steve posted another video, dissatisfied by Linus’ response. For a detailed coverage regarding the initial outbreak, check our first article.
Who Exactly is Madison?
Madison is an ex-employee, as far as our information goes, who worked at LMG during the entirety (almost) of 2021. In November of 2019, Linus posted a video which is where the community first started advocating for Madison. The cause was simple, Linus should hire Madison to work with LMG.
Fast forward to 2021, and we have a video from LMG Clips where Linus was in the process of hiring new employees. You guessed it, Madison was a prime candidate got the job as indicated by a tweet from Linus.
Her journey at LMG lasted roughly 340-something days since Madison resigned in December. And despite the phrasing of the text, Madison confirmed through another tweet that her ‘Twitter Resignation’ was not a joke.
After Reddit went wild and demanded an explanation, Linus simply refused to do so. While the post, without context, may not sound intimidating, we’ll come back to it in a bit. (Last Paragraph)
Serious Work Ethic Accusations
Despite her silent breakup from LMG, Madison hid some serious secrets. In light of the ongoing controversy, she decided to speak up and disclosed everything that took place during her time at LMG.
Madison posted a series of tweets highlighting her experience at the company. She was subjected to a stressful working environment, being expected to make 3 Tweets, 2 Instagram Posts, and 2 TikToks at a minimum each day.
The upper management, reportedly, described her work as ‘dogshit‘ and termed her as ‘incompetent‘. When she voiced her concerns, the higher-ups turned a deaf ear and told her, ‘put on your big girl pants‘ and ‘be more assertive‘.
Making matters worse, she would constantly feel a threat looming over her job. In a meeting, there was apparently a threat to fire her simply due to her complaints. This was just one month into the company. Madison was told to be stop being pessimistic and was then asked to sign a verbal ‘no drama contract’.
There are also multiple reports of groping and it does not end there. Madison was excluded from future videos, which answers many of the community’s concerns pertaining to her sudden disappearance. Other misogynistic comments include:
Linus in the Midst of the Chaos
After Madison was hired by Linus, she apparently was unaware of the situation. On the more corporate side of things, despite what she was told during her interviews, Madison was presented with a new contract, one which she was not aware of.
Due to slightly incorrect information, Madison had to make ‘changes to her plans’ if she was to remain an LTT employee. LMG did offer an apology but to further alleviate the situation, Madison went to Linus and said:
The effort to remediate the situation wasn’t sitting right with me.
Madison
Linus told her to change her priorities. For some context, Madison’s brother passed away just 1 week before this incident and Linus was indeed referring to her brother.
Sexual Misconduct
Later on in the thread, Madison cites multiple occasions where she felt traumatized by her co-workers. At one point, Madison was told that here issues were due to ‘sexual tension‘ and she was told to ‘take the co-worker out on a coffee date to ease it out‘.
Furthermore, Madison claims that a co-worker once asked her to quote-unquote ‘twerk’. She was constantly degraded with derogatory terms such as ‘fat, ugly, stupid, retarded‘ and whatnot.
Madison was at her wits’ end. In this very moment of despair and anger, the cherry on the cake was that another employee said with a rather reproachful attitude:
“I think the reason you try to be funny, is because you lack any other skills.” smiled then walked away.
Madison’s Co-Worker
This enraged Madison to the hilt and thus she resigned with a small tweet. One can feel the hatred and dismay in these words, especially after you’ve read her part of the story.
“Lol, I quit”
Madison
The Takeaway
We highly encourage users to read the entire thread here. This has led to widespread chaos across the community, with Reddit being at the forefront. Below you can read Madison’s review of LMG which she posted almost 1 year before this thread.
Remember that resignation confirmation by Linus above? Well, it didn’t age well and Reddit isn’t taking things lightly.
All in all, these accusations will seriously hurt LMG as a company if they do not respond. But much more importantly, these events have already hurt Madison and she deserves at least some semblance of justice after having gone through such an ordeal. We hope to see some clarification from Linus soon.
Reviewed by Huzaifa Haroon
