AlTech

I have zero problem with paid advertisement spots or paid in video ad reads. I do think the channel accepting paid ad reads needs to CLEARLY mark in video what is paid and what is not. I feel the same for all social media. If you are receiving compensation for posting anything you need to disclose that up front or clearly distinguish what parts of the video are paid and which are not or in the case of fully sponsored videos they should be labeled as ads that is clearly distinguished from normal content. 

One thing I haven't seen anyone acknowledge is that Linus is part owner of LMG. The other half of that equation is also the CFO. When you're pointing the finger at Linus about the monetary concerns, that's not the whole of it. The fact that the CFO is also your spouse makes this even trickier to handle.

Done deal. Last post in this thread.

Steve is doing this to make sure we get correct information and set the standards higher. Sure it may affect them but imagine a world where tech reviewers are striving to give the best data for us, the consumers. I wanna live in that world.

LTT has been complacent thinking an asterisk or a pinned comment, ignoring the manual and auctioning a prototype is ok. That Janky/unorganized video where they “wing it” is alright. The thousands of comments here say otherwise.

Once again, this is objectively wrong to the point of being disingenuous. I have to wonder if people are reading what Billet Labs said or if they're just being obtuse and making erroneous assumptions based on the review itself.
 
There's a gigantic difference between saying "it works on 4090" vs. (the actual real words) "it might work on a 4090, we haven't tested it ourselves, but you are welcome to try it."
 
 
 
 

Well, at least Linus still have $500 budget to create a public apology video if he wants to.

Yet people can have biases without even a requirement for interest, conflicted or otherwise. People can have no interest in an outcome, but still have their own bias. Everyone has biases. If they say they're "totally unbiased", they're either lying or blinded to them.
 
The problem with conflict of interest, is that when it can be assumed that someone has one through business dealings, there is an appearance of bias. It doesn't matter if the bias is real or not. Perception becomes reality. The same could be said for GN and their advertising spots.
 
If you wanted to put your money where your mouth is, you wouldn't take money for any products that you have any relationship with. The problem with that, is that you would need to be independently wealthy. Or living off the land and providing for your own survival. Probably wouldn't have time to make YouTube videos though.

I doubt a 50% owner in a company would be presented the requirement to sign that agreement. I don’t think they would either.

Contracts are modified all time.

And this is exactly why many people have doubts about Terren’s actual role as CEO. If it’s just lip service and Linus doesn’t respect his leadership then what is even the point.

THIS 100%. Having Linus take a backseat for this one will avoid bias and stop him from rambling about how he was right the whole time

cya guys in another 200 ish pages ! 🙂 going to bed

@LinusAuctionTips Waited 8 years for this moment. Now that it's here he has made 95% of his comments on this thread. This shit is so funny. 💀

You've clearly never worked in corporate 

I wrote a long post explaining it... I doubt he will read it.

Well, it's hard to do if Linus owns 50% of the company and his wife owns another 50%...

No. Again, not guilt by association... conflict of interest. They are not equivalent.

No, its because those of us who understand ethics and how ethics investigations are conducted know that appearances matter. If an attorney is accused of an ethics violation, even if the conclusion is that nothing wrong occurred, the attorney is still going to get a slap on the wrist for appearing shady.

The appearance of a potential conflict of interest is sufficient to cause doubts about the propriety of the relationship between Linus, Framework, Asus, and LMG.
No, he reported conflicts of interest that LMG has either not considered or ignored.
Is anything I have said wrong?

Yes, because among other things they are legally required to. The fact that some of them don't means they are breaking the law.
Not unless LTT starts going easy on them in reviews for seemingly no reason.
No. Many live off of merch or Patrons who give them money monthly, or rely on YT ad revenue.
Not at all the same thing. If Linus buys shares in a company that LMG reviews products of, then Linus should not be involved in that video at all. Period. The appearance of a conflict of interest is enough to cause doubt about LMG's integrity
Nothing Steve said wasn't backed up by evidence.
 
LMG rushes videos: fact.
LMG makes mistakes in virtually every video: fact.
LMG sold a prototype that they had no right to sell: fact.
LMG wasn't willing to spend a bit of extra time to make their videos accurately : fact.
 
LMG made misrepresentations about the testing capabilities and performance of GN and HUB: fact.
 
LMG made misrepresentations about Billet's prototype's capabilities: fact.
 
Linus made misrepresentations about LMG's communication with Billet: fact.
 
Linus made misrepresentations that LMG had material evidence which would have altered the Steve GN video, when it has been shown Linus had nothing further to add: fact.

LMG has had a good relationship with Asus for years.  (And there's probably some issues they've had that got glossed over going back a decade we're forgetting.) It's probably why they've hired former employees. But, yeah, there's definitely some perception issues that need to be managed.

Just read Billet's statement and somehow it got worse. They sent them a 3090ti to test with, and lost it for 9 weeks. The incompetence is staggering, every corner of LTT from testing to logistics seems to be filled with mistakes and miscommunications.

Not to the satisfaction of GN which is Steve's point. Other reviewers can't trust LMG to be honest in laptop reviews because Linus invested in Framework. This hasn't caused LMG to prevent Linus from evaluating laptops from Framework's competitors on camera for LMG channels.
LMG gave Asus an easy ride on the Asus motherboard fiasco with AMD CPUs and LMG gave Asus the kind of blanket endorsement that never comes free.
They ideally shouldn't but the reality of YTers funding their reviews means they need sources of revenue and they try hard to prevent it from biasing their reviews. It's also why many reviewers have a policy of not reviewing products that they've been sponsored by before or products that they had a hand in making.
It's the appearance of a conflict of interest. HUB and GN have both said, LMG can't be trusted on laptop reviews because of this appearance of a conflict of interest.
I'm not sure how this relates to anything GN has said or I have said.
 
The appearance of a conflict of interest is just as bad as an actual conflict of interest. LMG has major conflicts of interest that they've done nothinnf about and GN took then to task for it when other smaller channels were too afraid to say it to LMG.

This. I am studying to be an attorney and have worked in a very large law firm (in the 100 largest in the United States). Appearances of impropriety matter just as much as whether actual impropriety is occurring.