Twitch streamer Madison “Suop” Reeve was the social media manager for popular YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips. Now she reports on the devastating working conditions.
What is the current situation? On August 14, Gamers Nexus, a tech channel focused on computer hardware reviews, published a video making serious allegations against Linus Tech Tips and the channel’s founder, Linus Sebastian.
With over 15 million subscribers, LTT is one of the best-known tech channels. New videos are posted there almost every day, and there are also 5 other channels. According to Gamers Nexus, this high output leads to unclean work and incorrect information ending up in the videos.
You can read all about the allegations here:
What is the current development? Linus Sebastian initially responded to the allegations with a written statement. Shortly thereafter, a video appeared on the LTT channel in which some senior team members apologized for the situation and explained how to proceed.
But in the meantime, more and more accusations are coming up. An ex-employee painted a picture of a toxic workplace in a Twitter thread.
Note: Madison “Suop” Reeve uses the pronouns she/they.
Ex-employee says: high workload, toxic environment
What does the former employee say? Madison “Suop” Reeve, who produces her own content on YouTube and streams it on Twitch, was the social media manager for the Linus Media Group, which is behind the channel, until the end of 2021.
Reeve said she left the job because it was ruining her mental health. In a long and detailed thread she describes her experiences in the team.
You can find the beginning of the thread here:
She reports a high workload: a whole team is now apparently responsible for the work that was expected of her as an individual. She also speaks of extreme micro-management.
A “grind set” prevailed in the team that did not allow any days off. Even sick reports were undesirable. Reeve says she injured herself badly enough to warrant a trip to the ER. It’s the only way she’s seen getting a day off without being squeezed about why.
In addition, she was treated condescendingly. Her work was badmouthed and she was described as “incompetent”. Reeve faced a toxic work environment, but her attempts to fight back only made things worse.
We asked Linus Tech Tips for a statement on the allegations and will add it here once we have received a response.
Linus Tech Tips has not yet publicly addressed the new allegations. However, the 20-minute apology video says the high content output is due to the channel’s early days.
Nowadays you can actually afford to reduce the output because you are no longer “fighting for survival”. In the beginning, however, it was different. This type of “self-exploitation” can be seen in many content creators who want to get their online careers rolling.
However, it seems that this attitude has spread to the whole team at Linus Tech Tips.
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