YouTuber Smash JT „Gets Got” By Fake Assassin's Creed: Shadows Leak
YouTuber Smash JT posted a video about a supposed insider sharing news about a further Assassin's Creed: Shadows delay, but it was revealed to be a fake leak.
YouTuber Smash JT has fallen for a purposely fake leak about Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. The video in question was posted about twenty-one hours ago at the time of posting this article, but the supposed “source” has since revealed themselves to be another content creator, McDizzle Gaming. In a post on social media, McDizzle alleges that they sent an email to Smash JT claiming to be a programmer at Ubisoft with information about a further delay for Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.
YouTuber Smash JT “gets got” by a false insider feeding made up leak on Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
The “leak” as it was reported, suggested that Assassin’s Creed: Shadows was about one week from being delayed again, this time until May. But fans of the Ubisoft published series will be glad to know that this is not true. McDizzle claims on social media that they “did this to demonstrate the bad faith reporting in gaming news… Ethics in game journalism is important.” McDizzle went on to say that “Smash could have asked for proof, he could have msg’ed me on a different platform, he could have reached out to other sources…but he didn’t.” A screenshot of the only communication was attached to the post.
Even if this information was correct, Smash JT made a serious journalistic folly by posting this video. A reputable journalist receiving that information would have a lot to consider before posting the story. There are the obvious ethical standards of reaching out to other sources to confirm the story, but did Smash JT even consider how this might impact the “leaker,” the game, or himself? According to the email posted by McDizzle, Smash JT posted this video the same day he received this “leak.” This hardly seems like enough time to consider the repercussions of going ahead and sharing this news story.
If it was true, and the “leaker” was an actual Ubisoft employee, they could face legal repercussions for breaking NDA, let alone losing their career in the games industry. If the “leaker” didn’t come out and claim their falsehoods, this “news” could have resulted in serious backlash on Ubisoft and the “hard-working developers” working on Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, to use a quote from Smash JT’s video. Smash JT titled the video as an “exclusive” meaning that no one else had this information. According to the “leak,” he had at least a week before Ubisoft would make an announcement, so Smash JT had days to sit with this information, reach out to other sources in the industry, consider the morality of sharing this news, and do the bare minimum and confirm the story. But he did not. He posted within hours, ready to cash in on the story and stir up more hate for this game.
Smash JT has since added a pinned comment and updated the title of the original video directing viewers to that pinned comment, even posting a second video simply titled “I got got.” But Smash does not appear to be remorseful in any way, starting the video by saying: “I’m not perfect, nor do I try to claim that I am by any stretch… sometimes there’ll be bad eggs in the community that try their best to knock people down a peg, especially when those people are showing that they’re successful and doing better than they are.” Instead of recognizing the mistakes made, Smash chalks this “troll” up to jealousy. Continuing to call the move “autistic” and “not of this planet.”
Smash says that McDrizzle went “above and beyond” by creating an email and writing a few sentences that seemed believable. According to Smash: “the email comes through, it all lines up with everything that I’ve been hearing and seeing, and this person is just confirming it.” Which is a serious misrepresentation of what happened. Smash has noticed and heard about the problems at Ubisoft, yes. I agree that it would make sense if Ubisoft decided to delay the game again. But hearing news of another delay and it “making sense” is not confirming the story. Anyone can create an email and tell you what you want to hear, that doesn’t make it ok to report it as news.
Towards the end of the “I got got” video, Smash says that this will likely result in more “trolls” sending him emails, which means that he will have to work harder to vet his sources. He says: “that’s really unfortunate because now this breaks the trust that I had with the community, where I need to put on a much harder filter with stuff that comes through…” So not only does Smash not apologize throughout the twelve-minute video, he is also now less trusting of his own community.
Smash finally admits that he will “try to be better” going forward. But never once apologizes for unethical reporting. Even saying that this “doesn’t prove anything.” Smash makes excuses, saying that he was “very busy today” and that he needed to get the video out before Ubisoft announced it next week. But that is not an acceptable excuse. Being busy doesn’t mean you can just push out an unconfirmed news story. If you don’t have time to ensure that you are not being trolled and that you are receiving correct information, then simply don’t put out a video. That’s always an option.
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