So, while I went and talked about the “Gamers Nexus/Billet Labs vs Linus Tech Tips” situation earlier, I only alluded to this recent news about allegations against the company. 

I figured I’d split it into two parts because I find it important to spread awareness of this, and I want people to read this part in particular. This post is a bit on the longer side and because of that, I had to split it into two parts.

On top of that, I wanted to add my own two cents about this topic while also talking about the response made by Linus Tech Tips (abbreviated to LTT from now on), and how this reflects on the tech industry.

Before that, though, there isn’t a lot of proof of what Madison Reeve stated in her thread (that I’ll link to later) which is why I added “allegedly” and “according to her” and stuff like that throughout the post to not slander LMG or LTT. After all, I’m poor and can’t handle legal troubles. 

That said, I believe Madison’s allegations are based on the severity of it. I doubt you’d risk defamation lawsuits with a company this big if you didn’t have proof in the form of company e-mails she alluded to or other receipts. 

Especially if you consider how toxic and vile LTT’s fanbase is, you wouldn’t do this for “clout”, as many fans of LTT are claiming. This is such a stupid thing to say.

And well, on Twitter, LTT has stated that they take the allegations against them “very seriously” and that they’re launching an investigation into this, apparently. 

Haha. Sure, you take it seriously. Especially with an LTT higher-up cracking jokes about the situation a day after Madison quit during an HR meeting addressing harassment and this sort of stuff.

Look forward to that later.

The following section contains mentions of Abuse, Sexism, Toxicity, Assault, Self-Harm, Sexual Harassment, Inappropriate Behaviour, and a Fratboy Culture.

A former employee, Madison Reeve aka Suop, came forth with a lot of allegations against Linus, the Linus Media Group (abbr. to LMG from now on), and Linus Tech Tips. 

Here is the full thread if you wanna give it a read but beware that there are mentions of sexism, sexual harassment, bullying, toxicity, “fratboy culture”, assault and even self-harm. If you want to avoid the bird site, here’s the “unrolled” thread just to make it easier to avoid some of the toxic comments this got.

On December 9th, 2021, Madison quit her job at LTT due to a plethora of reasons. She didn’t speak up about it until now because the LTT fanbase is already harassing her and speaking up about abuse, sexual harassment, toxicity and other issues at LTT would only paint a bigger target on her back. It’s understandable, really.

The recorded HR meeting

Following this, there was an HR meeting on December 10th which someone recorded where Linus speaks to his employees about what happened and then proceeds to say that victims of harassment need to talk one on one with the harasser to resolve these issues.

In that same meeting, James (an important person at LTT) also cracks a joke, completely undermining the whole point of the meeting. The video also features an anonymous reporting process that apparently exists – but with James’ joke, it just kinda comes across very weirdly and as if it’s just lip service to save face or look like they care when in reality, everyone’s mocking the idea and victim(s).

The Allegations

The streamer and content creator Madison “Soup” Reeve shared the alleged reasons as to why they’ve left their role at LTT. They were hired after a few appearances on a previous LTT video – which remains one of LTT’s most-watched videos. 

In their thread, Madison describes how overworked they were and how they were “expected to post three tweets, two Instagram posts, and two TikToks minimum per day”, on top of planning, filming, editing and posting two Floatplane exclusives per week, getting people to actually get their work done. They also had to take care of all the sponsored content on socials and were told to not complain about their job since it “was the fun job”.

Their main reasons for not speaking up about this were, according to Reeve, that they were fearing the backlash and also the possible repercussions that this would have on their career as LTT does have industry connections and could ruin her.

Madison describes how their work was called “dogshit” and how they were constantly belittled by members of upper management. 

After complaining about this behaviour and multiple instances where Madison was inappropriately grabbed in the office, as well as other issues, she was brought into a meeting where she was asked if the writers would have a hard time finding a job and whether she’d have a hard time finding a new job. 

After asking whether they were going to fire them, Madison was laughed at. Apparently, there was a verbal “no drama” agreement as well, something Madison interpreted as a warning that she’s “no longer part of the team”.

Paranoia and Gaslighting at LMG

According to Madison, there is an internal fear at LMG and LTT that people will leave the company and start their own thing if given a platform which is why the higher-ups try to squash any negative things as soon as possible, silencing voices rather than dealing with the source.

Because of this internal paranoia and the pressure of focusing quantity over quality (that employees admitted themselves in videos on the channel), the creators at LTT and the LMG are told, according to Madison, that their success is not a matter of their own efforts but rather due to Linus giving them a platform.

It’s also the reason why Madison was okay with moving from Arizona to Vancouver to take the job as the things she was promised sounded like a dream job. After moving entire countries, though, the reality of the contract was completely different from what was agreed upon previously. When she faced Linus about it, Linus referenced her brother’s recent death and called her priorities into question, which is inappropriate and maddening.

This form of gaslighting people into dependency is ridiculous, btw. When you ask questions, you’re squashed and silenced – and apparently, Linus knows about this. An employee that came forth about inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment was berated in front of Madison to not just set an example for Madison who faced the same issues but also to squash this issue.

Linus is not tackling the toxicity, inappropriate grabbing, and the many different remarks but rather takes the stance of participating actively in sexist behaviour that is manipulated and dangerous. 

Announcing Interview Statuses Online Prior to Parties’ Consent

Today, Madison also added that a statement in her thread caused confusion. As she explains in this shorter thread, the timeline of events goes as follows:

Linus made a public post, telling the fanbase that Madison would be hired.

THEN Madison was offered the job. The announcement post wasn’t something that happened with Madison’s consent or knowledge.

After the post, Madison got offered the job. She was then shown a contract and the salary but her actual contract was very different from that contract she was promised. After having moved to Vancouver and giving up her VISA status, she was practically stranded and couldn’t really refuse, especially because of that public post that Linus made.

This is a tactic that puts employees in a very difficult spot because people will worry about why stuff fell through if it doesn’t work out. It makes it hard to work out employment conditions and the like and discuss important points when now millions of people know that you’re getting a job even before you know it.

This, btw, is nowadays illegal in BC and goes against the law, as in you cannot announce someone is interviewing or has applied for a position in your company without their permission.

According to Madison, this is something that has happened multiple times on the WAN show (the podcast run by Linus).

Madison also stated that it was announced on the WAN show that she applied for positions that she never publicly shared. This is not just illegal but also very weird. Why would you do that?

During the interviewing process, Reeve was asked to not speak about it publicly – but then “that choice was taken away” from her.

Sexual Harassment and Toxicity

Going further into her thread, Madison talks about many instances where she was called a tattle-tale for speaking to someone with evidence of an abuse of power or inappropriate workplace behaviour.

You’re speaking to HR and you get belittled and harassed instead of the person in question being dealt with. That’s apparently what’s going on behind the scenes at LTT.

Similarly, Madison was told to be assertive – but when she was assertive, she’d be called “bossy”. There were instances where people told her to “calm [her] tits” or “stop being such a bitch”. There was misinformation given to her purposely to impact her work, actively sabotaging the company but still, it’s somehow her fault.

Part of her job was also to manage an OnlyFans account that she didn’t want to manage as it wasn’t part of her contract but she was forced to do it regardless, resulting in her having to see many inappropriate images during work hours.

On top of that, coworkers tried scaring her repeatedly which is why she wanted to have a mirror at her desk. This request took months for her whereas coworkers would get the same request finished in days.

There were also times when she’d get asked to “twerk for a coworker”. When Reeve complained about these instances, she was told that sexual tension is high and she should go on a date with these people to ease things off. Some higher-ups and co-workers complain about her “not getting drunk with them” in a tone that basically says “I’m joking but actually not”. 

This is very concerning and frankly disturbing.

Madison had to harm herself to take a day off

The most jarring thing about this whole situation is that because of the level of paranoia and distrust at the company, people aren’t apparently allowed to take time off.

As it stands, Madison was doing the work of a team all on her own. LTT now features a Social Media Management team as opposed to a single person, so they must have known that this is too much.

Still, because of that fact and because of the general working conditions that facilitated an environment where people would get into trouble for taking the sick days that they have a legal right to, Madison found herself in such a need for a break that she had to cut her leg open so badly that she needed surgery, only to be able to get some time off (which she has the right to) without getting into trouble at work.

This isn’t just self-harm. It’s self-mutilation. It’s ridiculous that to be able to take a break, you physically have to harm yourself at LTT. 

How many other people were possibly suffering like this?

Madison also stated that she can’t speak for how the work conditions are at the moment. She left in December of 2021, after all. 

She also wants nobody to attack anyone since many of the creators and employees are actually great… it’s just that the higher-ups aren’t and that this type of behaviour is permitted to exist in the first place because of the “tech bro” fratboy culture facilitated.

Still, this type of work environment having gone on in the first place without anyone ever coming out about it is indicative of how much pressure the LMG has on its employees.

If you take days off, you’re faulted and get into trouble. Working in a home office, you’d get into trouble for not replying within three minutes. At the same time, you’re gaslit as a content creator and all your hard work and effort is attributed to Linus who recently stepped down as CEO of the company but still owns it. 

People are gaslit and threatened when they speak up about things they’re not taken seriously, as one may be able to tell from that HR meeting recording. And due to LTTs and LMG’s massive size as a company and their industry connections, people fear ruining their job chances by speaking out about this type of thing.

Who knows, and this is mere speculation on my part, how many other employees were possibly threatened similarly by higher-ups and people at HR who also own shares with the company? 

Who knows how many other employees actually had to “get drunk” with other people to not lose their jobs or get their dreams crushed? Who knows how many people are under an NDA and how many people received hush money to not speak about this?

Well, okay, the hush money is probably wrong since Linus doesn’t even want to pay more money if he can’t avoid it cause he’s greedy like that – which I talked about in my other post.

The Industry has a Problem

What Activision Blizzard and Riot Games taught us is that this isn’t an isolated incident. This has happened many times and the amount of people harmed at these companies under these conditions is atrocious.

At Riot Games, Brandon Beck talked about Talent Acquisition, for instance, during an AMA and laughed about how “no doesn’t always mean no”, alluding to talent recruitment to rape of all things. 

When Barry Hawkins, the author of that article up there, talked about this at a meeting he was invited to after voicing his concerns in an e-mail, they spent nearly an hour talking about humour and how “if Riot becomes less edgy, they’d become bland like EA” to which Barry had to say that if rape analogies were forbidden, it would still take hours to no longer be edgy.

After she started talking about liability, Brandon hushed the Head of Legal, telling her to not talk about that there, which Barry described as incredibly uncomfortable.

That’s just one instance of inappropriate conduct at Riot Games in a huge article, so give that a read if you have the spoons – or pick one of many other articles out there. I truly hope the situation is better now.

At Activision Blizzard, there were many instances of inappropriate conduct, including breast milk that was bottled being stolen from the fridge. Think about that. And all of the other stuff is equally disgusting and I’ve talked about that in the past, so read the other article on that that I linked to up there or search for my posts on the situation on the blog.

This isn’t an isolated issue is what I’m trying to say. And to run a company you’d have to be smart, I’d think, so how comes that companies don’t try to squash the root of these issues? Why are companies keeping up toxic cultures like that if they know that this very much could cause them to lose a lot when it comes out?

Sexism, Harassment, Abuse of Power, Inappropriate Conduct, Assault, Theft, Sabotage, and Manipulation Tactics are serious allegations that have been featured in Blizzard’s case, LMG’s case and Riot Games’ case. This is serious stuff. It’s so incredibly common and that’s incredibly fucked up.

To sum it all up, be better.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the tech industry or the video game industry, women are being treated horribly. The same goes for other minorities in an industry that is dominated by white cishet males.

Again, this isn’t an isolated incident, so hearing about this again just drives the point further that companies should do better. HR employees shouldn’t have ties to higher-ups in the company. Victims shouldn’t have to take complaints to the abuser but rather to HR. That’s what HR is for.

And employees shouldn’t get threatened, berated, manipulated, harassed, groped, assaulted, belittled, insulted and questioned just because of what sex they were assigned to at work, what colour their skin has, what sexuality they have or what the people that do this upsetting behaviour have fantasies about.

Seriously, be better.

This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.

If you see this article anywhere other than Indiecator.org then this article has been scraped. Please let me know about this via E-Mail.