Linus Tech Tips Halting Production

In the wake of a visual online controversy, the popular YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips has announced that it will be temporarily halting video production. The last few days have been quite contentious for the consumer technology YouTube channel that currently boasts over 15.5 million subscribers. The drama began when rival channel Gamers Nexus published a lengthy 44-minute video calling into question the accuracy and ethics of Linus Media Group — the privately held company that owns and operates several channels including Linus Tech Tips.

Of all the allegations, the one that seemed to gain the most traction was a review of an expensive watercooling block prototype back in June. Essentially, the one-of-a-kind prototype from small manufacturer Billet Labs was tested incorrectly on the channel and the team refused to re-test it properly before giving their thoughts. To make matters worse, the prototype was auctioned for a charity event after some reported miscommunication. While channel founder Linus Sebastian recently stepped down as CEO, he admittedly oversaw the company when many of the issues being raised by Gamers Nexus took place.

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In response to the tumultuous past few days for the YouTube channel, Linus Tech Tips released an apology video in which the company stated it would be ceasing production of content for the next week while it looks to incorporate changes to the company’s workflow. Citing the brisk pace to which the channel generally publishes as part of the problem, the company is taking this time to assess future processes. Running a channel (much less several of them) that operates at this level can definitely be demanding and expensive — for a rather extreme example, MrBeast recently revealed how much one of his recent videos costs — but that excuse hasn’t gone over too well with the community.

That is likely why Linus Tech Tips has decided to take a brief hiatus to figure out how it will operate moving forward. The nearly 21-minute apology video features many faces like the media group’s new CEO, the CFO, and even Linus himself. During his segment, Linus apologizes for his written statement (among various other actions) he released in response to the Gamers Nexus video. Unfortunately, this isn’t even the only setback Linus Media Group suffered this year as Linus Tech Tips was temporarily banned from YouTube after the account was hacked.

Controversy among successful YouTube creators tends to happen. Just last month, popular creators SSSniperwolf and Jackfilms found themselves in a controversy over the type of content they produce on their respective channels. That said, this will mark a strange time as Linus Tech Tips has consistently uploaded videos for nearly 15 years. Hopefully the time off will be constructive as the company looks to refocus and create the best possible content for its audience.

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