CONCLUSION: I will stop watching them since all of these alligations and “false?” hardware testing makes me not wanna support them. Even if most of them aren’t true, i don’t want to risk it
ive heard some mixed things about ltt so i want to know if theyre actually bad or not
and im not watching them for linux help, i just like the content, but i also dont want to support a bad person
Good for entertainment. Never take anything they say seriously.
Linus ≠ Linux
Linus Torvalds = Linux Linus Sebastian ≠ Linux
I don’t like Linus, the channel’s content is half-assed at best, and there is so much sponsored content and self-promotion that it feels more like a ‘skip-the-ads’ game.
On the flip side I think it’s good that they shit on Microslop regularly and steer their audience towards Linux. With such a huge ‘normie’ audience, they are helping introduce those normies to the existence of alternative operating systems and apps. Their videos can have momenta that make me smork (either because of something titanically stupid or something clownish). Additionally, I’ve seen some videos of them that have alerted to new projects, hardware or even situations in the tech environment (which I then research in other places, of course).
I have nothing to say about private jet, political views or orientations.
there is so much sponsored content and self-promotion that it feels more like a ‘skip-the-ads’ game.
Check out SponsorBlock
Since Dec 2025, it has emitted 339.6 t CO₂ — 71x the average person’s annual carbon footprint.
Commercial would’ve been 7.1 t.
holy 😭
Most of the comments here are very wrong, assuming the worst, or deliberately have their head in the sand about some of the controversies and the reality of those situations.
LTT is casual-ish tech - not as mainstream casual as MKBHD ot UrAvgConsumer, but way more casual than say, Craft Computing.
I consume a ludicrous amount (and wide range) of TechTube and have seen plenty of controversies and have ditched plenty of channels due to scandals. GamersNexus used to be a favorite. Emphasis on past tense. They did a lot of deliberate hit pieces on LTT and it’s rather well documented - Zip Tie Tuning/Tech by Alex has a fantastic video shedding light on the misbehavior of GamersNexus - plenty of other folks also covered their motivations and unfair approach. Linus is a character - and definitely can be emotional - but his dialogue attempts with Steve were commendable - Steve just decided to be a whiny baby instead. Self-stylized “journalist” one might say.
Controversies fanned by GN are what rendered a lot of people anti-LTT, and unable to rectify their views once the attacks impacted. LTT had plenty to criticize (and I do), but the GN attack topics were not them.
I almost ditched LTT and boycotted them after all those attacks. But once the smoke cleared and reality made itself known, I was pleasantly surprised to have not knee-jerk reacted.
LTT like all channels is beholden to nonsense algorithmic marketing that all channels suffer, so I’ve noted more clickbaity behavior in recent videos.
I’m a far-left, pro-union, Linux-loving, Windows-hating, Apple-hating, Big Tech-hating, anti-sexual assault, anti-billionaire, pro-little guy type of person.
I consider LTT to be edutainment with more good impact than bad. They’ll suffer some of the pitfalls of capitalism with some aggressive marketing. They’ll naturally need to compete in the YT space. But the characters running the show seem to have their heads screwed on right and their morals in a good place. They will make mistakes. The WAN show sheds light on it - including at times Linus’ difficulty in handling blame. But he also often comes around - and all things considered I’m not too mad about that as his primary negative trait.
I don’t love the private plane purchase but there’s so much more nuance to that with an intended sell of it than others give allowance to understand.
Also I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight Linus’ pro-trans (and broadly, LGBTQ+) approach - his support/ready defense of Emily when she came out was great to see.
This hits the nail on the head for me as well.
They’re becoming quite vocal about the feasibility of Linux on the desktop as of late too. Linus finally found a Linux machine that doesn’t explode the moment he touches it and appears to have left smitten.
Strongly agreed, yeah - very happy to see the boost to Linux use from their championing of it!
Any links? I’d rather watch GM because of the journalism content in the industry. I haven’t seen any videos with GM in a negative light. Right now, I don’t want to support Linus cuz of jet, lack of him & his wife’s payroll transparency with Linus media group(did not disclose distributions saying it was too complicated. It is not.), the jet, etc.
Sure, ignore the clickbait title here, but this sheds some light:
GamersNexus has been validly hit by many others online for their deliberately-disingenuous attacks on LTT - honestly it just got embarrassing at a point, and really pathetic. I used to love them. I even have one of their very handy anti-static workmats.
Once they deliberately fanned the flames of false controversy enough times (oh the chances I gave them…), I unsubscribed and stopped following them. A shame too, because Steve seems like a pro-consumer rights type of guy. But that’s not good enough on its own to keep me a patron of anyone.
I’m pretty sure LMG did release a shockingly-detailed video about how they make money and where that money goes, and how much to employees (the math can be done to provide the numbers). Do I think the funds for the jet purchase would have been better spent on employees? Sure. I don’t expect to agree with every decision made by content creators - I expect to disagree with many. This isn’t one that cancels them for me.
Thanks for the nuanced take. I got downvoted recently for saying I don’t get the hate for LTT. I like watching it and learning.
Oh are you me?
Hahaha, i"m kind of dumbfounded by the very poor takes in this entire thread and how little research everyone did - and the weird expectation many of them have that they would be privy to the details of a investigation about an HR matter regarding harassment accusations. That info…by the very nature of what it encompasses, was always going to stay out of the public sphere.
Its just tech entertainment with surface level knowledge at most nothing useful but the vids are fun to watch while I eat something
If you need a financing plan for a private jet, no.
I think it was always pretty rare for them to make actually interesting videos. Now (well for years) the labor situation is shit as well.
He hate unions. Doesn’t pay his workers fairly. Drives a porsche. Has a private jet. Knew that honey was scamming him with the last click affiliate links switcheroo and instead of exposing them he quietly ended there sponsorship with them.
Also the 2 - 3 sponsor breaks plus the “at ltt store dot com” self promotion every 5 minutes really makes the videos unbearable to watch even with sponsor block.
Let alone all the non compete shit with his workers as well as the working atmosphere that was reported by some of the workers.
LTT was not the only ones ditching honey at the time, long before the 2024 honey scandal.
The only real news was that honey was/is only showing/setting their own worse coupons, even if another coupon would provide a better deal.
[citation needed]
For unions he has said he is pro union, just that he would count it as a personal failing if his team felt they needed to unionize.
For your last point there are over 100 people working there. You will inevitably meet oddballs who are not happy with anything. Also non compete is (unfortunately) standard legalise these days.
For unions he has said he is pro union
He’s not. He cannot be, it doesn’t matter what he said. If you understand the meaning of “collective bargaining” you cannot believe that an employer can even remotely like unions. Of course he was pretending.
Revanced autoskips all of those sponsor/ad segments.
With all that skipping those videos must be unwatchable.
Technically sponsor block dies this. It’s on more projects than just revanced.
“Quality clickbait” is the best description I have.
It’s an entertaining channel, prone to reviewing flashy stuff, rather than useful tips as the name might suggest. But not completely stupid, those guys have some knowledge and skills to back it up.
I can’t say how it changed over time, I’ve only watched them occasionally over the last 2-3 years.
That about sums then up. They have been on a streak promoting Linux, which is pretty great since they are a bigger channel. Are they perfect? No, but they are helping get new users into Linux.
I remember making the choice to just stop watching any Linux-focused videos from that channel. They always just tended to frustrate me. But, as I understand, the main host has started to really enjoy Linux lately due to the Steam Machine. Have their Linux videos improved at all due to that?
I can’t say that what your take on their Linux videos is wrong, but they had valid concerns and call outs. Their problems are reproducible and are things that would have kept me away from Linux before they were addressed. He genuinely wants Linux to succeed so by bringing attention to problems he had, it helped prioritize friction from switching. Now that he has had much fewer issues with daily driving Linux, he found himself wanting to actively avoid going back to windows. Who knows if that would have been the case if he didnt help spotlight Linux friction points.
They’re basically filling in that market for entry level tech knowledge and enthusiasts that used to be occupied by CNET and Tom’s Hardware when written articles were king.
i guess thats fine, i just dont wanna support bad peeps
“The Problem with Linus Tech Tips: Accuracy, Ethics, & Responsibility” (44:14mins) by Gamers Nexus on August 14, 2023: YouTube or Invidious or Internet Archive
This video is not monetized. This video covers our 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. As the company continues to expand into its LTT Labs direction, the importance of accurate data increases; however, even as ‘only’ entertainment, there are still certain responsibilities to the consumer and the manufacturers to report fairly (and to have defined corrections processes in place). We tried to approach this as objectively as possible and hope that viewers are able to listen to the evidence we present, particularly as it relates to significant and frequent data errors that now present in nearly every technical review video.
TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - The Last 2 Weeks 01:40 - LMG is Rushing Too Much: Establishing the Premise 03:48 - LTT's Own Employees Agree 06:58 - This Isn't "Drama" & Risks 09:05 - Bad Data from Linus Tech Tips 10:12 - GPU Review Errors 15:02 - CPU Cooler Test Errors 19:09 - PSU Review Errors 19:53 - CPU Review Errors 22:39 - Asterisked Errors 26:15 - Ethical Concerns: Irresponsible Actions & Conflicts 28:21 - Ethical Concerns: The Review of Billet Labs 34:49 - Ethical Concerns: 'Not-Review' of Pwnage Mouse 36:53 - UNACCEPTABLE & The Community is Disturbing 39:22 - Unfair to Consumers, Manufacturers, & ReviewersNew video after Linus Tech Tips responds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3byz3txpso (only from 00:48 to 12:57 part)
watch the video of linus buying a private jet and see if that’s the kind of guy you wanna support
linus buying a private jet
Wow, thanks, I didn’t know that.
Before he was just mildly annoying and not something I wanted to watch.
Now he’s confirmed as an asshole, who must not be supported, from my perspective.
First trip was a family vacation to Mexico
It’s a jet for his company though, right?
And his upcoming “family vlog” he is about to launch. And no, it won’t be cringe, lol. shudders
doesn’t make it any less private
LTT is not a serious tech channel. Its a guy doing anything he can to get views with tech themed content.
This is such a tired take. He gets people enthusiastic about exciting or fun things in tech. Not every tech channel or influencer needs to deep dive analytics or details. Even so, they sometimes do exactly that.
Like him/them or not, they have advanced repairablity, spotlighted unethical behavior, and made useful guides for things like ad-blocking and piracy.
I used to watch them, but overtime they’ve become super corporate with none of the authenticity of the older videos; and also basically everyone I used to watch for has left.
Then there was the whole situation with the sexual harrasment stuff that just put the final nail in the coffin for me.
Every time it appears now in my feed its just so clearly clickbait view slop with no personality. They haven’t done anything like the large-scale projects like they used to in a long time.
Also, their attitude towards Linux has always been unncecessarily hostile; with Linus refusing to respect that he has to learn how to use a different operating system and just treating it like Windows which will naturally lead to instability and crashes.
If you were to treat macOS like Windows the same would happen too.
To be fair the last time I saw Linus try linux, he tried to install steam and the package manager removed the entire desktop environment. This was PopOS, and PopOS clarified in the comments that Linus just so happened to be making the video when there was a big bug in their system. So I don’t fault Linus for being a bit put off
It gave him a very visible warning that this will break his system and only to proceed if you know what you’re doing. He pressed yes I know what I’m doing and purged all of the desktop environment packages. You would get the same result on any operating system by disregarding a warning like that.
But that should’ve never happened. He did say very clearly that he isn’t going into the challenge as a tech savvy dude but as a naive enter smashing user. That was completely on pop os for even suggesting the option.
As I recall, it was a transient packaging bug that was fixed within an hour of it occurring, well before the video even aired.
The bug should have never made it to production. Pretty unlucky that one of the biggest tech youtubers caught it on video, but still, not the best look for Linux
If you gave a scrolling wall of terminal text to the average PC user and then asked “yes or no”, they will just say “yes”. The point of Linus’s video was “is Linux ready for mainstream”, so his actions were fair imo. Linux users forget how simple using a PC is (or at least was) on Windows and Mac.
You would get the same result on any operating system by disregarding a warning like that.
When does Windows or MacOS allow you to purge your desktop environment? They would simply not install the software. They wouldn’t give you the option to break your PC in the first place
If you gave a scrolling wall of terminal text to the average PC user and then asked “yes or no”, they will just say “yes”.
As much as Linus tries to claim it whenever he fucks up in Linux, he is NOT the average PC User. Yes he is a Windows power user foremost but a lot of knowledge and concepts translate broadly. For example: if you get a warning you have to read it before pressing yes like a monkey.
I agree what happened to Linus should not have happened, but the fact that Linux distros just let you shoot yourself in the foot like that is part of the freedom Linux offers.
“You wanna remove THAT? Sure go ahaead” in this case they even put in a “You sure you wann do that? This will break things”For example: if you get a warning you have to read it before pressing yes like a monkey.
And with this attitude you are already far out of “average pc user” territory.
Which is my point exactly:
As much as Linus tries to claim it whenever he fucks up in Linux, he is NOT the average PC User.
I mean not all distros need to do that. Immutable distros will not let you break them like that
I’ve been told a thousand times that linux and linux gaming were finally easy before getting in, not in a thousand years would I have thought installing steam would kill my whole linux installation.
Just my two cents. Also I’ve learned that linux people tend to lie through their teeth so I never take them too seriously, the same people that get angry when you criticize linux for difficulty or weirdness will crucify you for installing steam in the exact moment a once in a lifetime bug you couldn’t predict (as a newcomer) kills your os.
I feel like people here never finished his videos, he is still using linux after switching off popos, and has been heavily promoting it on the wan show. He also made a video recently on what linux distro to choose, although i haven’t watched it and a video comparing ram usage on windows and linux.
I was talking about his venture into PopOS that was 4 years ago. It does seem like he has warmed up to Linux much more in the past few months, that’s pretty cool
They redid that challenge and it went much differently. In fact, Linus may now be a Linux convert.
Honestly, awesome to hear. I need to check out that video
Hes been using for about 3 months, if I remember correctly
And they’ve been pumping out weekly linux videos, I think, so that helps draw attention too
I would agree with you 6mo ago, but ever since their last Linux challenge, it feels like LTT is full linux-pilled now. Before, they seemed to exclusively compare capabilities vs mainstream OSes, and only focus on where Linux fell short, because realistically, that’s all mainstream gamers care about. But after the last Linux challenge, they all chose to stay with Linux on their personal machines, because they all felt like it was worth any compromises to not have to deal with windows.
As Linus put it, if something doesn’t work in windows it’s because of bugs or lack of money. If something doesn’t work in Linux, it’s because no one in the community has been annoyed enough by it to fix it.
As Luke put it, every time he’s had to fix an issue on Linux, he’s actually enjoyed it because it felt like he was learning about his machine.
Linus recently did a call with Ludwig about the feasibility of non-tech YouTubers using Linux. Ludwig said “I just think it’s better to have more options, so everyone can use the option they want”, which is historically the line Linus goes with, except that he countered with “consider that windows actively uses their status to limit people’s options, does that change your mind?”
Overall, I think the channel still has to be realistic about the general public’s adoption of Linux. They review the latest tech, and if the latest tech is built exclusively for windows, then they have to review it there. But they do seem to be much more critical of window’s enshittification, and openly advocate for people to try Linux in spite of a rocky transition. It’s been refreshing to finally see the self-professed tech nerds actually cross that threshold into owning their hardware. And whether you like it or not, LTT and Pewdiepie are driving orders of magnitude more people to Linux than we are.
Edit: oh and Linus openly declared that It’s the year of the Linux Desktop, telling viewers it is ready for mainstream adoption.
He actually 180d on that. He has become what he once used to hate. Linix users that won’t shut up about linux.
Hmm I always thought Linus did this to try to stress test Linux and other things they review, because you know a tech youtuber would more than likely have no trouble making something happen if they wanted to even if they had to get someone else to do it or it took awhile…the idea is they want to help improve it by trying to make things difficult and if it fails to be difficult then they have succeeded. Same thing with their recent ai pc build video, he’s putting in unfiltered prompting to try to get answers and it half worked, which is pretty good thst this was able to work imo.
harrasment…?
This was also my final nail, especially when they “we investigated ourselves and determined ourselves did nothing wrong” happened.
Guilty until proven otherwise? I think in civilized society its the other way around, right?
I was expected to post three tweets, two Instagram posts, and two TikToks per day. I was also expected to plan, film, edit, and post two Floatplane exclusives per week. This included wrangling people to be in them when they were also all struggling to get their work done.
[edited for formatting]
This sounds like a normal workload for a full-time social media manager. The article doesn’t provide any details about the sexual harassment allegation.
That’s the usual outcome, even for investigations where there was something bad that happened.
They hire an outside law firm who specializes in this. They do investigations of something that happened years previously, was badly handled so nothing was written down, memories fade, and people leave the job.
The investigators are also biased since they are being paid by management.
The typical result, regardless of the truth, is not finding anything.
damn
yeah ill stop watching em
I didn’t see anyone here mention the spat Linus had with Gamers Nexus. That was stupid and ugly and set me against watching any more of his channel. I was never a regular anyways. Jeff Gearling is far better.
I have terrible news
God fucking dammit. I swear if you just wait long enough every youtuber is eventually revealed to be a racist misogynist homophobic transphobic pedo
Ug, okay well I’ll just pull that channel out of my rotation. Thanks for the heads up.
I’m sorry my friend. Turns out all tech youtubers kinda suck for some reason.
Yeah I’ve mostly avoided GN ever since that incident. There was a time when they just objectively reviewed hardware and reported their findings. The LTT debacle was an uncalled-for hit piece in an attempt to drum up drama for views.
It was eye opening to hear Alex’s take in that whole situation. How they did so much damage over qualms they could have addressed to LTT directly. LTT, like any company, has a lot of issues, but that was just so uncalled for.
Even if GN approach was a bit aggressive, I find it difficult to have empathy for the multi million dollar company that refuses to pay their employees fairly while using them to build out the boss’s third mansion
A former staffer made claims of sexual harassment. It is unclear how substantiated those were, but i guess there was something going on. Since then they made a very heavily publicised effort to do better, but it’s obviously hard to tell from the outside if that resulted in real changes.
It used to be yes. No, not anymore really.
