this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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[–] Kovu@lemmy.world 264 points 1 year ago (11 children)

remember when linus spoke out against unionizing :)

[–] sparky1337@ttrpg.network 178 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That and the “We don’t discuss wages.” remark. Screw that mentality. And from what Madison wrote, If promissory estoppel is a thing in Canada, then it sounds like she had a strong case. Especially if there was any paperwork.

There’s tons of shit they could get LMG for. But it seems that they intentionally hired people that don’t know any better, and it’s no real fault of their own since they just are appearing to use predatory hiring processes. It’s ridiculous to think everyone young should know employment law.

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[–] TheWorstMailman@lemm.ee 58 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Linus "spoke out" against unionizing by saying that he couldn't legally do anything to stand in the way of his employees unionizing and wouldn't want to stand in their way if they ever decided to. But he wants to make a workplace where people don't feel the need to and if they did then he would see it as a personal failure.

There's plenty to criticize Linus for right now, but I don't think that his "anti-union" stance is one of them

Edit: in the context of these allegations, then yes, his employees certainly should unionize if the actual criminal crimes in this thread are even partially true. And if that happens then I will be singing Solidarity Forever for the LMG employees, but until that happens and we see how Linus responds to that this is just not a good read on Linus' stance towards unions.

Edit2: it feels weird to have posted what could be seen as a defense of Linus under this particular post. I'm not a Linus Stan, Just a union advocate that wants criticism to be levied where it's actually called for and this doesn't seem like it is

[–] nonearther@lemmy.ml 77 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm not saying he meant anti-union by that line, but that's classic anti-union line saying my employees don't need unions.

Very much in line of "unions means less money for you" statement.

[–] raltoid@lemmy.world 75 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah the whole "I love unions, but we at this company are a family so we don't need that", is peak anti-union talk. Throughout history it's been used by people who are horrible to their employees.

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[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

An genuine employer who isn't against unions and has their employees wellbeing as a top priority should encourage the employees to unionize.

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[–] CrypticFawn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 179 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (53 children)

I always figured LTT was a boy's club, considering how few female employees they have, but I had no idea the environment was that bad. Rather naive of me, tbh.

Ugh, I don't think I can continue watching anything from LTT anymore. 😭 I hope Madison is doing better these days.

Edit: I've zero issues blocking bad actors. =)

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[–] Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml 157 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And this is why Lienus hates unions so much, cause it would have held him and his company accountable for the nasty, abusive shit they do behind the scenes.

[–] TheWorstMailman@lemm.ee 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Am I missing something? When had he expressed his hatred for unions? As a union man, if he had said something like that it would've pricked my ears. As far as I know, he's said that he doesn't want his employees to feel like they need a union, but wouldn't stand in their way if they wanted one, which is about as good as it gets for a North American business owner.

If this stuff is true then they should unionize immediately. Solidarity Forever

Edit: I'm not going to double down. This was a blind spot for me, maybe because my union is already established and fairly strong, but I'll hold this L and learn from it

[–] Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml 97 points 1 year ago (7 children)

in one of the WAN shows he went on a big handwringing tirade about how "unions means I'm a failure as an employer" with undertones of "You wouldnt want to make me a failure by unionizing, right?"

[–] TheWorstMailman@lemm.ee 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

Okay. So I'm not missing something. I guess I heard him say that it "would be a personal failure for him as an employer" as him taking personal responsibility for his employees' treatment. A charitable interpretation, but just a difference of opinion.

I can see how people can interpret what he says as soft anti-union, it's just weird to see you and others say things like this as if he's sober sort of Robber Baron.

Edit: I'm not going to double down. This was a blind spot for me, maybe because my union is already established and fairly strong, but I'll hold this L and learn from it

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[–] Squirrel_Patrol@lemm.ee 115 points 1 year ago (6 children)

My heart breaks for Madison because as a woman in tech myself, many of her experiences sound familiar. HR leaders, in many companies, exist primarily to serve the executive team and play PR for them. I've met very few who truly have employees backs and even they're considered rebels. The best option most of the time is to leave the company because even if they call in a 3rd party, it's lawsuit prevention and not an attempt to fix things. If anyone is in a situation where they're the victim of inappropriate behavior and the company brings in their lawyer to talk to everyone, do not talk to them. They're just gathering information so they can refute claims if litigation is presented. They work for the company, not you.

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[–] girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works 106 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What a shit place to work at. Linus sounds like a real "winner".

[–] Heisme@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The dude has always seemed so smarmy to me so hearing this really isn’t that surprising. I’m happy they’re getting their comeuppance but doubt it will be as much as they deserve.

[–] drcobaltjedi@programming.dev 50 points 1 year ago (4 children)

A few years back I remarked that Linus always came off like a bit of a douchebag. I was at the time heavily downvoted, but holy fuck. This is worse than I expected.

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[–] InvaderSkooge@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 year ago (5 children)

He and his/team's content always came off to me as basement dwelling PC gamers trying to be real IT professionals. Garbage content and apparently a garbage company.

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[–] inetknght@lemmy.ml 105 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (10 children)

I never publicly made any statements regarding my time there because I feared even more backlash from a community that was already attacking, defaming, and sending me death threats.

Fuck man, pretty much nobody should have to deal with that.

I was actually called a tattle tale

Been there done that.

"snitches get stiches" is the phrase I've been told many times

I was told I was arguing, when I was trying to discuss my point of view.

This too

I remember getting told off for taking my sick days, as in the days you're entitled to.

I am still, to this day, hesitant to take days off from this kind of shit

I was asked to twerk for a co-worker at one point.

I know some ladies who were asked by the CFO of a previous company to jump in place while to get a company t-shirt that other employees received.

I was told I was chunky, fat, ugly, stupid. I was called "removed" I was called a "removed"

I was called "stupid" to my face in an open office with fifty other staff in the room.

I was also the one tasked with managing the Only Fans account.

Something I said I didn't want to do.

I had to read comments from people talking about how they wanted to fuck me and my co workers.

I saw peoples dicks, and vagina's.

I said no, and was told only a little longer.

You should never be obligated to do things you don't want to do. No job is worth it.

Please don't attack individuals who don't actually have power at this company, most of them are blameless or powerless to actually change anything.

This absolutely. For every one person who speaks up there are usually multiple tens who do not.

Also "why didn't you take legal actions"

Many of them don't know better. Many of them feel like they're trapped: they require the paycheck and so they feel obligated to endure abuses.

... Or, at least, that's been my experience with employers. To be clear: I do not, and have not, worked for LMG. I'm not trying to make it about me, just trying to relate. It's unfortunate easy to relate.

She's got some tough issues and I wish her to have better employment opportunities in the future.

These days I work for a company where "everything is awesome" and I get to work on really cool things every day without too much drama. I wish everyone could do that. I certainly couldn't have without deciding to leave an abusive employer. I encourage everyone to seek better employment if you feel like you can relate to any of the issues she's brought up.

So here's some tips. There's a lot to unpack though.

  • keep a personal record. Keep it at home. If it's on a computer or phone then keep it on a personal one so you still have it if you do quit or are fired. Write down the good times and the bad times.
    • if you're hourly, make sure to include your clock-in and clock-out times
  • if you live in a single-party-recording-consent state, then record your conversations
  • if anything comes up, your personal records can be admissible in court
  • if nothing comes up then at least you can look back at your records and remember how often good things or bad things happen. it will help you to make decisions objectively and judge your emotions for them

Sending unsolicited sexually explicit messages (even just text) or images is a federal crime and can be included in sexual harassment claims. If your employer does not address the problem then your employer may be held accountable. It's important that you keep records of your complaint to your employer and their inaction!

So, learn about harassment and discrimination laws. Everyone has a right to not be harassed (sexually or otherwise) or discriminated against. You can file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Office or your state's equivalent (not all states have an equivalent).

https://www.eeoc.gov/

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[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 91 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (13 children)

What the actual fuck

I mean, in hindsight, I don't know why I assumed differently. If it looks like a bro club...

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[–] Four_lights77@lemm.ee 80 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow. I’m glad she spoke up and I hope she’s doing better now. I hope more people at LTT are empowered to speak out/leave by her courage.

[–] Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Just imagine how bad it is, behind closed doors and with the Cameras off, considering what the employees said in that LTT employee opinion video on camera, that GN repeatedly referenced, that they were over worked and didnt have time to make anything right.

[–] dinckelman@lemmy.world 59 points 1 year ago

Reading that made me sick to my core

[–] magnor@lemmy.magnor.ovh 55 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 53 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Our HR team will be conducting a more thorough assessment of the allegations,

Tip for LMG: don't have the founder's wife be head of HR.

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[–] worsedoughnut@lemdro.id 51 points 1 year ago

This is the leat surprising information anyone could have told me about working for LTT/LMG. Time and time again, tech jobs and game dev jobs in workplaces run by "old internet edgelords" always (always) results in shit like this.

[–] 3l3s3@feddit.de 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Jesus Christ on a motorbike. They have no idea what they had with her, does she still create content?

[–] TheImpressiveX@lemmy.ml 77 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Jesus Christ on a motorbike.

Here you go!

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[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 46 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I believe her.

I have been in the tech industry for almost 30 years. These things she talks about are not new and will keep happening unless more people talk about them. I gave that Linus guy a listen once or twice, was never impressed. His fans are delusional, this thread contains a few of them!

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[–] xusontha@ls.buckodr.ink 45 points 1 year ago (44 children)

I'm going to copy and paste my comment from another post here:

If this is true this is bad. Like, really bad

I say "if" just because I don't really know what the facts are, I just know what some people are claiming

To be clear, I'm not saying it didn't happen, I'm just saying that, at the moment, it's just Madison saying these things did happen and Linus essentially saying they didn't

My question is if she had such a bad experience, why hasn't anyone else said anything, or at least put an anonymous negative review on Glassdoor or something? Did she just have a awful experience that was unusual, or is everyone/a large number of people treated like this? I don't think it's the second or it would've come out already and from more than one source (and the turnover is pretty low for LMG if I'm not mistaken, so that also doesn't make sense), but I don't really know. That's really the crux of the situation, is I just don't know. I'm glad they got an outside investigator though; hopefully that'll clear everything up

[–] inetknght@lemmy.ml 54 points 1 year ago (5 children)

why hasn’t anyone else said anything,

People don't speak up for many reasons. Retaliation is a big thing: if you speak up then your job there is toast whether or not you're still employed there. You still "have" to work with or around the people you're accusing, until and unless you leave. Have you ever had to work with someone who's abused you? It's... not fun.

If you need the money, you're kind've stuck: if you quit then you have to have a savings account to keep you afloat while you look for another job. While you're looking for another job, your accusations here can prevent you from getting another job. Whether or not you leave, you still have to deal with the fallout: investigations take time, especially your time. If you have to take time off of work (eg, to see an attorney or visit a court) then that time might not be paid -- can you afford to take that time off? Worse; you might even have to pay someone for that time (eg, an attorney). Can you afford that? That's especially true if your compensation barely meets your financial obligations such that you're not really able to put away savings. There's a term for that: wage slave. Those costs are partly why there's government agencies designed to help you.

Thoughts about cost is just the tip of the iceberg. Many don't realize that they're being abused. A lot of people don't realize that others might also be victims too. Some people trivialize it. Friends around you tell you that it's "normal" behavior or that it's normal for coworkers to "socialize" and banter, that they didn't mean anything about it. People start to second-guess themselves.

When's the last time your company gave you anti-harassment training? If it's been more than a year (or never) then you might want to speak up about it and ask for it to be provided. Or, reach out to your government agency and ask for some training guidance.

or at least put an anonymous negative review on Glassdoor or something?

Glassdoor is notoriously business-friendly. It's fairly trivial for businesses to have reviews removed.

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[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 46 points 1 year ago (5 children)

This dropped a few hours ago, so let's wait a bit and see. Often times rot gets exposed in waves. One skeleton falls out of the closet and then a bunch of other skeletons follow.

Even if Madison is the only employee that ever experienced this (doubtful) that is already horrific. She isn't claiming that it was a single small incident that might have been a bad joke or a misinterpretation of some comment. It's a bunch of incidents, so not like one thing got blown way out of proportion.

Why has nobody else said anything before? There's tons of reasons why that might be the case. First, maybe people have and it has remained internal/supressed. Maybe other instances were more "mild" and the victims didn't feel the need to quit. Maybe the other victims were too frightened, felt they had too much to lose, were pressured more harshly.

I'm standing with Madison until proven otherwise. There have been plenty of hints of this sort of thing for a while, and like I said, scandals tend to come in waves. Nobody says anything for a long time until something bad enough happens that triggers the cascade of testimonies.

Best case scenario, LTT is a toxic workplace that overworks its employees, places profit and marketability over quality data/reviews, and is more and more in bed with corporate powers vs consumers.

Sad, I grew up with LTT through my tech journey, now bye-bye to yet another company/project that fell to the effects of capitalism and enshitification.

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[–] appel@lemmy.ml 43 points 1 year ago

Jesus, that is beyond awful. I'm really sorry she had to go through so much bullshit and I'm really glad she's speaking up.

[–] Wolfram@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago (6 children)

It seems they may be deleting comments urging them to address Madison's experience on their apology video too.

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[–] Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de 37 points 1 year ago (6 children)

If you are in a similar situation... remember that you don't have to say "yes" to everything at work! It's the professional thing to say "no" when it's appropriate instead of overworking yourself and lowering the quality of your work.

[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 34 points 1 year ago (18 children)

You have a very privileged job if you're just allowed to just tell your employer no when they want more work out of you...

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[–] cordlesslamp@lemmy.today 36 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Yikes.

Never knew she quitted LTT. Back then I was so happy for her for getting her "dream job", she seem so happy.

She is charming and I love every second of her on screen. She was having a huge approval from fans for every videos she was on, even though there's not much of them, only a handful afaik.

I was wondering why she wasn't appear in more videos but then I just thought since her main role was social media, she needs to focus on that.

Now I feel really bad for her after reading the whole thing.

For now, I'll give LTT the benefit of the doubt and waiting for their response.

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