Linus Media Group responds to workplace sexual harassment allegations

Linus Media Group (LMG) is one of the biggest platforms online when it comes to tech and hardware, with the primary channel (LinusTechTips) alone amassing an audience of over 15 million subscribers and 7 billion views. The company has found itself in hot water over the past couple days – starting with accusations of inaccurate hardware testing and ultimately leading to allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. The founder has since responded to these statements.

On the 14th of August, the popular PC-centric YouTube channel Gamers Nexus published a video discussing what they called “serious concerns regarding the data accuracy of Linus Media Group, including Linus Tech Tips, ShortCircuit, and TechQuickie, particularly as it relates to rushing content out the door to favor – by staff's own admission – quantity over quality.”

The video garnered a great deal of attention and led to a response in a forum post by Linus – which Gamers Nexus then spoke on further in a follow-up video, calling it “hastily, angrily-written, and at times inaccurate.”

All this controversy then escalated when an ex-employee of LMG took to Twitter to recount their own time at the company, revealing that they had suffered from a toxic workplace environment during their tenure at LMG – with the most serious allegations claiming they experienced sexual harassment by unnamed employees.

Publication The Verge reached out to LMG’s founder ‘Linus Sebastian’ who responded via email, saying “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.”

Sebastian continued, “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.”

Linus concluded by stating: “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.”

Of course, all this merely scratches the surface of the situation, and so for those who wish to understand the full context, Gamers Nexus’ original video can be found HERE; the initial forum post by Linus responding to the video can be found HERE; Gamers Nexus’ follow-up video can be found HERE; the official LinusTechTips response to the response can be found HERE; the allegations made by LMG’s ex-employee can be found HERE; and finally Linus’ most recent statement to The Verge can be found HERE.

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