From becoming the number one Tech Channel on YouTube building a $100 Million Empire all the way to losing Over 200,000 subscribers in under a week It's safe to say that lonus Tech tips is A definition of what goes up must come Down hi I'm the interet anarchist I Create weekly YouTube documentaries and Today we'll be discussing the events Surrounding L's Tech tips that Completely destroyed his reputation Credibility and Trust within the broader Tech Community but to fully understand The extent of the aftermath we first Need to brief look into what made lus Tech tips so successful to begin with in His 15 years on YouTube lus Gabriel Sebastian who will be referring to as Simply lonus crafted a unique video Formula and reputation that keeps Viewers coming back and separates him From other Tech channels on the platform Although technical by Nature the videos That lonus and his team creates always Have a laid-back Vibe while also being Informative and entertaining the fact People witness them grow from a handful Of employees all the way to managing Over 100 talented individuals only Further added to their credibility Whether they were building six-figure PCS or testing obscure high-end computer Components Their audience always knew They'd be getting an entertaining
Insightful and factual viewing Experience something that the lonus tech Tips team is very proud of how many of You have seen a review of a component From LTT you know like a graphs card or A CPU folks yeah this is where it Happens the difference between us and Some of you like gamer Nexus or rware on Box is we test new components new tests Every time every project that we do has New data that clip you just watched was From a lab tour during an annual lonus Tech expo the full video was published By Smurf gaming on the 29th of July 2023 Whil the tour itself was generally Received positively some took issue with The condescending comments directed at Fellow Tech channels Hardware unboxed And Gamers Nexus it was one thing to Make claims about the accuracy of their Own tests but it's an entirely different Story when when you suggest that other Competing channels are lagging behind by The 3rd of August 2023 hardron box would Release a series of tweets to express His disappointment at the comments made By the lonus tech tips employee LTT Labs Taking shots I've rerun more benchmarks Than lonus has spent money on testing Equipment and staff if you have to tell Everyone how good your testing is in my 20 plus years of experience that Generally means your testing isn't very Good your work speaks for itself guys
That's how you build credibility I Should note that both line and Luke have Been good to us and they're great guys This is just very disappointing for my Lonus tech tip's employee friction over Tim's initial offhanded comment could Have been resolved with a little Introspection and humility but Unfortunately that was the opposite of What lonus did as a statement on the W Podcast would only escalate matters uh Summary for the people who aren't aware Uh someone who was here for a tour prior To LTX uploaded a video of their tour Which included Tim from our Labs team uh Who had been asked several times Throughout throughout the day about how Our testing is different from our peers In the industry like Gamers Nexus and Hardware and boxed he therefore Proactively in this tour which was later In the day made a direct comparison to Them when talking about how we run our Tests every time we do a new video um And the reason for this is you know if There's a new software update or a new Driver that's in play we always Recollect our data for new projects Unfortunately the way that he presented It was not particularly tactful and I Can see how while he was simply stating A fact it could have been interpreted The wrong way Hardware unboxed in Particular responded to this situation
Saying that they were they seemed I Won't say they said they were I read all The tweets but they they said they they Seemed they I will say they seemed Pretty upset however they also Acknowledged that they do not in fact uh Run new data for every project so Strictly speaking uh what Tim said was Not true but we don't want to be talking About about it the way that we did mhm I I don't think we should ever make a Comparison that is you know a good thing We do compared to those other guys if Anything we should be trying to to build Each other up yeah we we respect Gamers Nexus and Hardware in boxed a lot which Were the two particular Outlets that Were referenced by Tim but with that Said you know obviously it's not like we Aren't aware of what they're doing and Uh obviously our goal internally is to Try to take whatever bar has been set by Our peers in the industry and try to do As good or better um as it as it kind of Is for everybody yeah so back to Tim's Wording um I didn't hire him to be a PR Representative which is good because Clearly that's not where his experience Is I hired him to work on mechanical Engineering and other actually other Engineering tasks as well liners would Go on to make various claims about his Commitment and care for the tech Community such as being willing to burn
Bridges with large Brands like Nvidia Over honest reviews coupled with holding Conferences for smaller creators in the Niche we spent over $150,000 to fly Tech creators from Around the world to network with each Other and to engage with the community Like obviously for us they are part of The attraction of the show but at that Cost that is not even close to a break Even proposition for us not even close We don't even ask them to do anything I I I don't know my battle lines are Clearly drawn we are on the side of the Consumer we are working together to hold Manufacturers accountable and friendly Competition between media Outlets that Is good his statement on being pro Consumer sounds incredibly fake when you Take into account Linus's anti-consumer Behavior from back in August of 20122 After he was reluctant to give consumers A warranty on their $250 Tech bags due To financial cost even going so as far To mocking his community when they Raised their concerns my point is that Lifetime warranty or any warranty period Means nothing I could just bold the Company and you would be S so so at the End of the day you either trust me to do The right thing or you don't it doesn't Actually make a difference if we have a Formal warranty policy to add insult to Injury lonus and his team released a
T-shirt with the words trust me bro to Laugh and profit of community outcry It's important to note that a formal Warranty under the same name as the T-shirt was later put in place but that Didn't erase the damage that was already Done and all of this hardw box was Satisfied with leaving a few Stone Tweets about the situation and lonus Only briefly mentioned it on his podcast However the same could not be said for Gamers Nexus but before we see where Should really hit the fan here's a quick Word from our sponsor imagine a world Where the bosses bow to your command in Dungeon Hunter 6 this dream becomes Reality conquer over 100 unique bosses And summon them to fight by your side Ride them or even become them dive into The realm of creativity from stealthy Cat missions to riding mythical Creatures experience stunning Graphics Join epic Guild Wars and trade Treasures Dungeon Hunter 6 is made optimized to Run on mobile devices giving the best User experience it's a chapter in The Long running Dungeon Hunter series that You don't want to miss download Dungeon Hunter 6 for free on Android and iOS Using the link in the description or if You're on PC scan the QR code when you Use my link you'll receive a special Starter pack worth $50 loaded with 10 Summoning Scrolls an SSR Lieutenant
Demonic wolf and an accessory pack plus Register your game account to enter the The Lucky Spin event starting October 15 Stand a chance to win the iPhone 15 Pro Max PS5 and more all details are in the Description let's get back into the Video on the 14th of August 2023 Steve Burke of Gamers Nexus decided it was Time to upload a 4minute long expose Video titled the problem with lonus tech Tips accuracy ethics and responsibility In which he took a deep dive into just How accurate Linus's testing really was And what he found was beyond shocking First clip from an LT lab tour caught Our attention but it itself isn't worth Commenting on we have something wider in Scope we want to comment on and it's Simply that we believe LTT or lmg is Rushing too much to hit arbitrary and Largely self-imposed deadlines that are Causing frequent and sometimes Significant data errors and information Errors uh and this conflicts with the Ramping marketing surrounding accuracy And datadriven objective reviews that They're pushing for from LTT Labs so We've decided to turn off all YouTube Monetization here we will not be placing A sponsored ad in this video uh we were Just going to report on serious concerns That we have with LTT and bring some Awareness to these critical issues we've Been thinking on this for a few months
Now we have a few main points of Discussion for today they span from Ron Data that potten potentially misleads Consumers even if unintentional Accidental that counts too uh and we Have some ethical concerns and corporate Connections that we want to talk about Lonus has almost always been seen as an Authorative voice in the online Tech Community and fans them are inclined to Purchase a product if he recommends it However now that most of those Recommendations were being called into Question that might not be true for much Longer Steve spent the first 5 minutes Of the video discussing lonus media Group's tendency to rush projects Leading to pork quality tests and data Starting a recent interview where in Many of their employees expressed Concerns about tight deadlines let's Publish less videos I wish we could back Off the amount and focus on quality for A bit uh more time for projects would be Good just allow us more time to work on A video we never have time for Retrospection it's always just that's Out what's the next thing would be nice If the pace was lessened a little bit Have time to like debrief or look in the Rearview mirror how things went I don't Love that we have to release so many Videos I don't know what our current Count is weekly but I know it's very
High very rarely am I particularly proud Of a video I've worked on the next point That Steve focused on were the numerous Instances of erroneous data FL testing And Misinformation even with its heavily Marketed debut of labs lmg is still Consistently making errors in nearly Every single review that they publish it Is okay to make errors all of us do this In this line of work but the concern we Have is that these types of errors are In nearly every single LTT technical or Review type of video so there are enough Errors that we can't fit them all into a Normal length video they went on to Mention the error in their coverage of The Nvidia RTX 4000 series graphics Cards bad practices during CPU Cooler Testing and poor management of the Errors even after a video is published On top of all that he also brought up Points of Linus giving favorable words Reviews to companies he was invested in Or sponsored by some of the concerns Include how lonus is personally invested $200,000 into laptop maker framework and Yet is also covering their product uh And their competitor's products lmg also Has a cross branded against screwdriver With noctua and that's been sold on Their store while they're also reviewing Nocta product favorably even when it's Shown to be hitting by their own data
100 de C which becomes problematic for Brands like nocta as well because now it Is less clear if the praise is genuine Or if it is biased whether intentional Or unintentional What followed were Ethical concerns of how terribly lus Reviewed a prototype he received from a Small Tech startup Billet Labs during Their video on the Billet Labs copper Coola lonus used a completely different Graphics card from what it was Originally rated for then they proceeded To disparage the coola for not Performing properly despite it all WI a Direct result from their ear mistakes Like it's a cool product but it's a bad Product it looks great yeah it looks Super cool are you just thinking just Purely because of the price it's bad Because it makes absolutely no sense and Nobody should buy it most of the Community is actually really amazing but There's a vocal minority that looks at Something like that and goes lazy out of Touch you know whatever else no I'm just Really experienced at this oh did you You got it crap did you put it in Backwards get a shot of that look at That under the video one of Billet lab's Founders voiced his own concerns about How lonus conducted the review Felix From build it Labs here great video guys But this block was specifically built For a 390 TI not a 490 we've since
Obtained a 490 to test with and using it With a 39 block leaves a gap around 1 mm Over the die so it's never going to call Properly now we don't have any Connection to Billet labs and that count Was offensive even to uh so we can't Imagine how heartbroken they must have Been lonus in order to protect his Company's bottom line was willing to Potentially inflict immeasurable harm to A startup rather than spend by his own Admission a couple hundred bucks in Someone else's time out of the hundred Million company's coffers to top it all Off Steve added extra information on What lonus did with the Prototype after The review was complete instead of Returning the product as promised lonus Sold it at an auction event it's more Than safe to say that the entire video Painted a very dark picture of Linus as A man that rushed projects for profit Showed bias when covering sponsored Products and improperly tested Components when publishing reviews it's Worth mentioning that not all of linus' Videos displayed poor testing however Considering the sheer volume of videos He produces the inconsistencies become Quite concerning while mistakes in his Content were forgivable his reluctance To correct them in post- production or Move the video all together together Indicates a severe lack of diligence and
Responsibility just by making this Expose Gamers Nexus was potentially Putting themselves in a bad spot with Larger channels as well as sponsors Connected to Linus But ultimately the Video had to be done the video would Gain over 5 million views which opened The floodgates of criticism on lus the First wave of which came from the Comment section $100 million company Worrying about an extra $100 for an Employee to ensure the quality and Accuracy should tell you all you need to Know about where lonus and G stand Profit to company over benefit to Customer several years back LT was doing A tech quickie for a product made by a Company I worked for it was bad for a Bunch of reasons he never mentioned any Of the bad sides and made up facts for Glossing over the minor bad qualities I Realized at that instant where his Priorities were the way they did build Labs was just Dirty B should get a Lawyer and super for damages people were Understandably upset since the main Selling point of their reviews is the Data backing up their claims about Products whilst de iable portion of Viewers only see it in the context of Entertainment there are still many who Look into these videos for guidance on Purchasing Tech products especially when The items on display like CPU callers
Monitors and graphics cards cost Hundreds if not thousands of dollars in The hours following the gamer's Nexus Video line has made a forum post Responding to the concerns and safe to Say it didn't help anyone quoting there Won't be a big W show segment about this Or anything most of what I have to say I've already said and I've done so Privately he continued the post by Addressing Steve from Gamers Nexus by Claiming it didn't go through proper Journalistic practices stating that the Water block wasn't sold but rather Auctioned off and labeled the entire Incident as a public sniping match the Remainder of the post was spent talking About how he and his team have been Trying to fix their internal processes And Justified the testing error of Billet labs to viewers by stating that It would have been impossible to test it Properly liners made sure to ignore many Of the issues that Gamers Nexus brought To light and instead focused on more Less important things a day later Steve Made sure to respond to Linus's Emotional Forum post with extra context About the Billet lab situation Billet Labs with whom we'd already had contact And we asked them the following we said Linus's comment doesn't expressly say it But it seems to imply that this Agreement was made previously bill at
Lab said no absolutely not no no no the Only mention of any money to do with the Prototype was our response to them after They said they'd auctioned it and we Basically said you know that was an Expensive prototype they didn't want us To share the exact dollar amount but Continued to explain their email they Said quote I said do you plan to Reimburse us for this and we heard Nothing we didn't get a response until Your video and Billet thanked us for it We asked Billet when it had received That email from lius and they noted it Arrived about 2 to 3 hours after we Published our video uh which would have Been around the same time that lonus Posted the comments on the forums so he Wrote that email and he posted and then Said they've already come to an Agreement but at the time he posted it Billet hadn't uh responded to the email And just for the record we have the Timeline of events so I vetted them and Lonus Media Group did in fact agree to Send the block back on June 30th and They agreed again later and then they Followed up to tell Billet that they Would have a tracking number soon and Then it was last seen at the auction at LTX so today was the first time that Billet had Direct contact with lonus a Comment from lonus lower in the Forum Reads this quote Billet sent us a quote
I don't know or care how they arrived at The value if they're good I'm good we Asked them about this and Billet Emphasized us that it had not sent lonus Media Group a quote it noted that it had Expressed a possible value of the block And frustration before our video went up Before this conversation began after They learned that it had been auctioned Previously but that this wasn't any kind Of quote or invoice we asked Billet if It had anything further to share and it Said he's emailed us we haven't emailed Back yet at the time of writing we thank The community for the support We Stand By everything we've said publicly Billet Noted that they intend to email lus back Prior to sharing any further details and They also spent a few minutes to express Very sincere gratitude to the community And as they don't have quite as much of A platform I I'm just conveying that to You they were extremely grateful to the Support that they've received from you All Steve had spoken out about the Problems with the way line has handled Testing reviews and production practices By doing so he's made the rest of the Community aware of the lapses that exist In content surrounding one of YouTube's Most influential take channels but Steve Wouldn't be the last to voice his Grievances with lonus Media Group on the 16th of August 2023 a former employee of
Lonus media groups named Madison Released a collection of tweets that Described the company's work environment As toxic and filled with several forms Of abuse what was even more chilling Were the serious criminal allegations That she presented she began by talking About the difficulty of work she was Given on a weekly basis and claimed that Since her departure they had to hire an Entire team to handle her role quoting I Cannot speak on what it's like there now But they have an entire team working on Seemingly what I was expected to Accomplish alone unquote reports of Mistreatment by upper management coupled With lmg's human resources failing to Address these concerns were also Highlighted I was constantly belittled By certain members of upper management My work was called dog and I was Called incompetent when I would reach Out to manager and try to get help with These situations i' would be told to Quote put on my big go pants and be Quote more assertive all the allegations Being presented were serious in their Own rights but one stands out in Particular according to Madison she Experienced unwanted adult advances by Certain male colleagues and even went to Management in hopes that they'll do Something but her struggles were once Again swept aside after I came forward
About being assaulted someone accused Liners of inappropriate conduct on Twitter he came over to my corner and Started berating her calling her in sane Mentally ill an attention seeker and Just digging into this poor woman who Had felt wronged by him it's worth Noting that as of now these are just Allegations and need further Verification however her previously Anonymous glass door review of lmg Coupled with references to a leaked HR Meeting shows that this wasn't the first Time she was speaking out about Unsuitable working conditions 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 uh we're only a team as Long as we're all working together and Looking for each other that's the most Important 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 Cautious when you know that one side is Bound by legal and ethical disclosure Guidelines when the other is 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 you 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 on the same Day of medicine's Twitter thread going Live lonus and key members of management Released a typical apology to mitigate The community outrage but not before Hiding it behind a pay wall making it Only accessible to the paying float Plane subscribers and eventually moving The video to YouTube after being called Out for it with commenters stating when
Will this video be on YouTube so we can Share with people who don't have float Plane with Lon responding saying I could Publish it at any time but I thought I'd Give the FP folks a bit of Early Access Like the good old days un Al for lonus The contents of the apology did little To nothing in terms of redeeming the Company's reputation the first half of The video consisted of upper management Somewhat acknowledging the glaring Issues and putting measures in place to Move past lus is a human gas molecule You've been telling him for years and I've been telling him for years staying Relevant on YouTube is hard for everyone But we aren't fighting for Survival Anymore and we don't need to run at this Pace in fact in some ways it's our Efforts to keep doing more and keep Doing better that have created our Current situation my background is in Managing a pharmacy where the small Details matter a lot and basically I Agree with the community so I'm putting My foot down effective immediately all YouTube video production is on pause and Our teams are going to be spending this Entire next week focusing on long-term Workflow changes to make our content Better in a lasting way this means for The first time in over 12 years LTT will Be missing not just one daily upload but Many but improving to the degree that we
Want and need is going to take more than A week so I'll be working with Taran and Colon to manage our sponsor commitments And the financial hit of both this Housekeeping week and a reduction in our LT upload schedule at least for now While we get our house in order given Their current predicament lmg had no Other option but to make a very Corporate response that seemed almost Soulless and detached from what was Actually going on there were attempts to Light the mood with fake sponsorship Inserts but as you would expect no one Was laughing at the tail end of the Video lonus would once again speak on The matter and this time he appeared to Be taking responsibility and let's face It he's going to fail again hey it's me I'm Chief Vision officer now but Realistically I'm not going to be able To hide behind my recent demotion here I Was the one at the head of the company For each and every mistake that our Community has rightly brought to our Attention and once again I made things Worse by allowing myself to respond Emotionally it's honestly really hard When people take an internal process Error and then they run that all the way To lonus is a thief and wants to auction Someone else's intellectual property to The highest bidder or accuses me of Trying to brush something under the rug
Just because I do think it's important To get all the details before declaring Me to be a low down liar straight up Piece of we were slow shipping back the GPU that Billet lab sent us there's no Way around it that's our bad but the Delay delay in communication the one That prompted the post that you guys Just saw it was less than two business Days the second that I was made aware of The situation on the 14th I emailed Billet labs and I explained what Happened I even included Colon's attempt At apologizing and offering no questions Asked full compensation for their stated Value of the product which happened on The 10th before we were under any Pressure to do so and without Colton Even bothering to check with me or Ivonne before just saying go for it he Knows that our internal policy is to do The right thing So he tried bless him I guess his job is Safe for another day and I sorry I guess I've actually gotten a little bit Emotional here again so I'm going to Stop there um because whatever is being Said about me and whatever's being said About the team should never have allowed My feelings to distract from any valid Criticism of our work my decision for Example to not bother retesting the Monoblock that was obviously wrong and My lame response on the Forum was a huge
And unnecessary blunder I owe you guys Better and I'm sorry for my part first I'm going to be working through the Other members of the exec team for any Crisis communication moving forward and Second I'm going to spend my week Working with the other teams to develop A system of processes that will help our Company fulfill my vision of being a World Class Tech media organization I'm Also going to be spending my week just Refocusing guys on what matters most Which is bringing you guys the best damn Content that we can make it's been over 10 years good lord it's been almost 15 Um but I still love Tech I love my team And even though our relationship's a Little rocky right now I love this Community and everything that it stands For none of that has changed and none of It is going to line is apology would Bear a few similarities to Steve's Expose video both videos got over 5 Million views and had a very polarizing Comment section well this certainly Takes us back to lann's own words Quoting always judge a company based on How they respond to criticism unquote as Well as I don't think I've ever seen a Video so full of people apologizing While claiming it's not their fault the Major difference between the two videos Would come in the like to dislike graer As of this recording L says what do we
Do now apology video sits at around 190,000 likes to 197,000 dislikes it was obvious that the Apology was recorded and edited before Madison's Twitter post but the timing of The upload and the fact that they were Deleting comments that referred to Madison didn't help lonus media group's Case however they did release a tweet Stating their plans to handle the matter We are taking Madison's allegations Seriously we are conducting an internal Assessment alongside bringing in a third Party investigator to look into the Allegations these allegations do not Align with our company's ethics or the Values we preach internally we aim to Provide an inclusive work environment Where everyone can feel comfortable and Most importantly safe by now dozens of Creators had already made videos about The lmg controversy and many more were Making new ones to spread awareness About Madison's thread on the 18th of August 20123 deotto would publish a Tweet that read the CEO of lonus tech Tips confirmed to deotto the legitimacy Of a leaked 2021 staff meeting following Madison Reef's departure beneath it was A statement from Taran Tong describing a Shock after being made aware of the Allegations after the 10day break was Over lonus Tech tips resumed uploading With their his the plan video which as
The title implies laid out the company's New road map for handling error Correction video quality control and Team management for starters along with Our reduction in video output to get a Handle on all of our new quality focused Process changes we have officially Killed the haven't missed an upload in 10 plus years mentality and we've made It explicitly clear that if a video is Not ready for prime time we're going to Stop the presses until we've had a Chance to make the proper fixes now that Might sometimes come in the form of an On-screen correction but there's going To be better transparency we've created A clear rubric that defines error Severity and prescribes the appropriate Fix which can range from a pinned Comment to a full re-shoot or even the Outright cancellation of the video You're going to find that linked down Below second we've made significant Changes to project management and load Balancing with a prioritization on in Person meetings to help Define project Scope and ensure that everyone is Aligned while it would take time for the Community to see these changes take hold A good chunk of the community was ready And willing to give them another chance This was reflected in the like to Dislike ratio being more favorable Compared to their last upload if lus
Tech tips is truly willing and ready to Improve themselves then the community Will be right behind but that Improvement hasn't fully materialized Yet there were still unanswered Questions with regards to Madison's case And since management Atlantis media Groups hired a private investigat data The results May not become public on the Other hand lonus media groups may be Inclined to share their findings to Clear their name in the public eye over The course of 1 month lonus Tech tips Has seemingly lost most of the Goodwill They once enjoyed along with 200,000 Subscribers with that being said it's Very likely that they'll be able to Bounce back in terms of YouTube metrics But their reputation will be scarred for A very long time people aren't just Going to look at their videos with the Same Carefree optimism after seeing so Many inconsistencies and errors that Have been exposed sponsored products Will be seen through a more spectacle Lens and many may move away from relying On their recommendations entirely this Also rubs off on other Tech channels as Viewers may approach videos with a more Jaded mindset the misinformation and Linus's content has probably led Thousands of people to make purchasing Decisions that they wouldn't have made Otherwise given proper data even if line
Has made good on all their Promises of Improved internal processes and workflow It'll take years of consistent effort And careful consideration to avoid Repeating the same mistakes that Currently eroded their position online In the technology space