Nvidia Accused of Telling Influencers What to Compare to AMD

Admittedly, the release of the AMD 5700 (and XT) graphics cards didn’t give Nvidia too many problems in terms of the high-end stakes. They did, however, (at the very least) create some solid competition for the mid-tier market. In a report via TechPowerUp, however, it seems that Nvidia may have gone to extraordinary lengths to try and play this comparison down.

An anonymous ‘whistleblower’ has claimed that Nvidia has (and is), very specifically, directing social media influencers as to which of their cards should be compared to AMD’s latest releases. Even more so, they allegedly are demanding reviewers to downplay the AMD 5700/XT or face being ‘cut off’.

Nvidia Accused of Dictating Social Media Influencers Over AMD 5700 Comparisons

As you may be aware, various social media influencer channels are provided with graphics cards (from both AMD and Nvidia). This is done directly and solely for the purposes of promotion. There is, of course, nothing wrong with that. You want an advertisement, you have to pay for it. One such person, however, has seemingly decided to make some very disturbing allegations. Namely that Nvidia gave them very specific directions as to what comparisons to make and those they wanted to avoid.

“When I started getting ready for RX 5700 reviews, NV PR (names removed) really wanted YouTubers to rehash RX 580/590 to distract from the RX 5700 advancements. NVIDIA pushed comparing AMD with AMD and keeping their cards out of the mix for benchmarks. This was the first time I got a very firm message from NVIDIA that if I gave a very favorable RX 5700 review that NVIDIA would have to evaluate how “good of a partner” my channel is for future review hardware. I am pretty sure you can find other examples of this happening to other channels that have talked about this stuff too.”

What Do We Think?

We’re not going to deny that this is probably far more prevalent amongst YouTube influencers than you might think. We know for a fact that many manufacturers (and we’re not specifically saying Nvidia) offer very tempting incentives. Specifically to paint their products in the most positive light. Even, on occasion, to ‘buy’ a better review than it might genuinely justify. We’re not specifically speaking of the technology industry either, it’s a wider issue than that.

The fact, however, that Nvidia may not only be looking to pay for promotion but also be directing it specifically to avoid AMD comparisons and impartiality is a disturbing allegation. We await to see what Nvidia has to say about this, of course, as it is purely an allegation at this time.

If you want to learn more from the ‘whistleblower’, you can check out the full post below. What do you think? Do you think this is a fairly common practice for social media influencers? – Let us know in the comments!