GamersNexus Accuses Linus Tech Tips of Plagiarism

In a feud that dates back nearly a year and a half, tech YouTube channels GamersNexus and LinusTechTips are engaged in another heated war of words.

Though the sides have repeatedly argued over issues of accuracy, fairness and transparency, this round brings something new: allegations of plagiarism.

Since these allegations date back over two years, why are we just hearing about them? What are the actual issues raised? Finally, is there any validity to the allegations?

To understand, we first have to look back at the recent history of these two channels and understand the context in which these allegations are made. Then, we need to understand the attribution norms of the industry as a whole.

Finally, we need to examine the two parties and their practices to determine whether what happened is normal or an exception.

Fortunately, we know when this feud began (at least publicly): August 2023.

Background on the Feud

Both Linus Tech Tips (LTT) and GamersNexus (GN) are massive YouTube tech channels. As of this writing, Linus Tech Tips has 16.2 million subscribers on its main channel, and GamersNexus has 2.4 million.

On August 14, 2023, GamersNexus uploaded a video entitled “The Problem with Linus Tech Tips: Accuracy, Ethics and Responsibility.” The video outlined a series of issues with LTT’s videos and its company operations.

Though LTT initially tried to downplay the accusations, less than a week later, it announced it was pausing production on new content to improve its processes. It also worked to address the concerns of other companies.

For the most part, the scandal died down after this hiatus. Though things remained tense, there were no public attacks in one direction or the other.

That changed this month.

On January 15, GamersNexus posted a video announcing that they were filing a lawsuit against PayPal over the alleged Honey scam (previous coverage).

To recap, Honey is a browser extension that claims to get users the best deal possible. However, while searching for coupons, Honey replaces affiliate tracking codes with their own, depriving the actual referrer of credit for the sale.

Honey was promoted by a wide variety of influencers, including Linus Tech Tips. In a previous podcast, Linus Sebastian, the founder of LTT, said they became aware of Honey’s practices years ago and stopped doing business with them.

In their video, GamersNexus called out LTT for not notifying consumers or other creators. GamersNexus founder Steve Burke said it was “disrespectful.” He also accused LTT of a history of unprofessional behavior.

On January 17, as part of a podcast, Sebastian responded to the allegations, saying that they were “disingenuous” and that he was “curious to see receipts” regarding those claims. Four days later, on January 21, GamersNexus posted a lengthy reply on their website.

In it, they posted three accusations: Plagiarism, data errors and unprofessionalism in prior communications.

That, in turn, brings us to today.

Understanding the Allegations

To be clear, I’m setting aside the non-plagiarism allegations that Burke made. Simply put, I am not an expert in those areas and would only be able to examine them from a personal rather than professional standpoint.

That said, the allegations are relatively straightforward. They date back to September 2022. At the time, graphics card maker EVGA had just announced a split with NVIDIA and an exit from the space.

GamersNexus received exclusive access to the announcement and had at least some details that no one else did. However, when covering the WAN Show podcast, LTT repeated those facts in the same order that GN did. This was done without any acknowledgment of GN’s reporting.

Burke wrote Sebastian and others about the issue. Barely 30 minutes later, Sebastian responded, saying he would speak to the team about sourcing and citation moving forward. He also said that, in the meantime, he pinned a comment thanking both Burke and another contributor for their reporting.

Forty minutes later, Burke responded again, thanking Sebastian for “the quick reply and action.” He also said that he understood how mistakes happen and blamed inexperienced writers.

However, this is contradicted in his “Result” section. When discussing the pinned comment, he said that it is “not the same as citation, which is not the same as a citation, without ever acknowledging GamersNexus or the plagiarism or naming the author in full.”

He says that the public was never informed and that GamersNexus was never fully attributed.

Burke also notes that, when the clip from that podcast was reshared on their clips channel, that the attribution did not follow it. The full podcast received over 2 million views and the clips version received over 107,000.

So how serious is this? That’s surprisingly tricky to answer.

Did Linus Tech Tips Plagiarize GamersNexus?

Right off the bat, I agree with some of the points by Burke and GamersNexus. It is very clear that LTT segment was based on their reporting. Though there wasn’t any significant text overlap, it did use the same information in the same order.

To that end, I also agree that LTT had an obligation to attribute its source. That’s an obligation both to Burke and to LTT’s audience. Attribution isn’t just about giving credit, it’s about informing the audience and ensuring that the information is accurate.

So, from a strict language standpoint, yes, Linus Tech Tips did plagiarize GamersNexus.

However, the situation is obviously much more complicated. For one, both sides acknowledge that this was (most likely) a mistake. As such, the issue really isn’t over the initial plagiarism but LTT’s handling of it.

To that end, Sebastian put a pinned comment under the video. The comment doesn’t mention GamersNexus or even use full names. I agree that is inadequate attribution.

While I understand that a pinned comment may be best that LTT could have done here, it should have included clear attribution and links. Simply saying “Massive shout out to Jayztwocents and Steve for their excellent reporting on the EVGA/NVIDIA break-up,” isn’t attribution.

If that were the end of the story, I would likely still be on Burke’s side. However, Burke responded to that by thanking Sebastian for his quick action. At no point did he say that this wasn’t adequate. In fact, nowhere in either his emails or his post does Burke say specifically what WOULD be sufficient attribution.

While I agree that the pinned comment is inadequate, I also can’t fault LTT for leaving it there, considering Burke’s response. To me, and I assume to them, it looked like a closed matter.

Similarly, there’s no indication that Burke contacted LTT about the clip upload. While the attribution should have carried over, this was likely an oversight. Burke had 2 years to raise this issue with LTT and didn’t. It should have been a relatively easy correction.

Bottom Line

In the end, while I agree Linus Tech Tips made some missteps, I find it hard to side with GamersNexus. If I had been a part of that email exchange, I would have assumed it was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. Reraising it two years later comes across as petty.

I also find two things interesting about this story.

First, as of this writing, this is the only allegation of plagiarism against Linus Tech Tips. It’s a company with a 12-year history and over 70 employees. One instance of plagiarism does not paint them as a company with a systemic problem. Virtually every news organization that size or larger has had serious plagiarism controversies.

Second, all the allegations in Burke’s post were before the August 2023 pause.

The August 2023 LTT controversy highlighted several serious (non-plagiarism) issues with the company and its reporting. While I don’t think they handled the controversy paritcularly well, they largely have avoided the spotlight since then.

To my mind, these allegations come across as trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. While I agree LTT could and should improve their citation norms and standards, this is hardly evidence of a systemic problem at the compay.

Where the August allegations pointed to serious issues that needed immediate attention, this seems much more minor. While I have no doubt that this is a point of friction for Burke, it far less serious than what came before.