A Warning About George Vanous/Freedom

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Chris Bellum

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Hello YTtalk Community,

Allow me to preface what I'm about to say with the following statement. I have known George for many years, I have worked with him very closely in the past and I have spent enough time with him to understand his motives. The following comments are not speculation, but come from experience.

The best way I can describe George is as a psychopath. He is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He is the kind of guy who could setup a cult within weeks and have thousands of followers. George loves people. But he also loves himself. A lot. You'll notice his face plastered all over the Freedom network channels, websites and images. I believe he is a narcissist.

George has a brilliant mind. He is a 16 year old, stuck inside a 40 year olds body. This has lead to a unique approach when building MCNs such as Freedom. He has an excellent way to related to young YouTubers, he makes them feel like they are cared for and valued. 16 year olds however, as you might expect, do not make the best CEOs. George is emotional. Very emotional. He makes decisions on a whim, even if he laters decides to reverse them and tell everyone he was just 'testing them'.

When I worked with George, I admired him greatly. Just like his partners, George makes his colleagues feel cared for. I first started to get frustrated when I saw George making promises and turning around and breaking them within hours. It was bizarre. I figured at first that he was just naive. I wasn't until I witness George personally stabbing me in the back that I realized he had hidden agendas all along.

George is amazing at building trust, which is extremely scary when you realize how much he lies. I don't want to ruin George's personal life, so I am going to refrain from giving details on some of the things that shocked me the most about George, but needless to say, if I was braver, you would be saddened to read it.

I had put this all in the past and moved on since George moved to the Philippines with about 1 weeks notice. I thought it was over, that the damage had been done and repair could now begin. Unfortunately, it has started again and George is employing the same tactics I've seen again and again. Prey on the young and vulnerable and aggregate as many small channels as possible. To date, Freedom, after operating for less than 1 year has over 50,000 channels. That's more than any other MCN, by a long shot.

I find these numbers very hard to comprehend. How could a business, less than one year old bring onboard 50,000 channels, which is multiples more than MCNs that have been around for over half a decade? What value adds are they offering that could be so compelling? The answer to these questions is simple. It's George. How is it that a single 40 year old, who is not skilled at videography, who isn't a YouTube superstar can attract so many people?

If you look at the breakdown of Freedom, the mass majority of channels are run by YouTubers under 18, operating fairly small channels. These YouTubers are impressionable, they fall for tricks a little easier, especially tricks from the manipulation mastermind himself.

I want to leave you with some questions for thought:

- Why is Freedom operated out of the Philippines and incorporated in Hong Kong? Does that sound normal?
- Why is George's face plastered everywhere? What other businesses do that?
- Why did George have to flee to the Philippines in the first place? What did he do that meant he had to leave on such short notice?
- Why are all the channels in Freedom so small? Why are there so many? Why are they all owned by very young YouTubers?
- Why are all George's employees so young? Did you know most of Freedom staff is under 18?
- With a network of 50,000, how are channels supposed to succeed? Get attention?

It's unfortunate that this is all happening again. I plead with you, open your eyes, George is trouble. There are plenty of MCNs with mature value adds and offerings and if you feel like they're not for you, you can always wait and stay independent while you grow. George is not a philanthropist. He is a business man.

Earlier on, I mentioned that I thought George was a psychopath. You may be questioning why I said this. My reasoning is simple. George is unpredictable. You'll believe you can trust him with your most intimate secrets and he'll keep building that trust. But it only takes one little thing and he'll change completely. He'll lie, he'll manipulate and he'll screw you over. He cares about you. But he cares about himself more.

Thanks for reading.
 

NeightUp

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Hello YTtalk Community,

Allow me to preface what I'm about to say with the following statement. I have known George for many years, I have worked with him very closely in the past and I have spent enough time with him to understand his motives. The following comments are not speculation, but come from experience.

The best way I can describe George is as a psychopath. He is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He is the kind of guy who could setup a cult within weeks and have thousands of followers. George loves people. But he also loves himself. A lot. You'll notice his face plastered all over the Freedom network channels, websites and images. I believe he is a narcissist.

George has a brilliant mind. He is a 16 year old, stuck inside a 40 year olds body. This has lead to a unique approach when building MCNs such as Freedom. He has an excellent way to related to young YouTubers, he makes them feel like they are cared for and valued. 16 year olds however, as you might expect, do not make the best CEOs. George is emotional. Very emotional. He makes decisions on a whim, even if he laters decides to reverse them and tell everyone he was just 'testing them'.

When I worked with George, I admired him greatly. Just like his partners, George makes his colleagues feel cared for. I first started to get frustrated when I saw George making promises and turning around and breaking them within hours. It was bizarre. I figured at first that he was just naive. I wasn't until I witness George personally stabbing me in the back that I realized he had hidden agendas all along.

George is amazing at building trust, which is extremely scary when you realize how much he lies. I don't want to ruin George's personal life, so I am going to refrain from giving details on some of the things that shocked me the most about George, but needless to say, if I was braver, you would be saddened to read it.

I had put this all in the past and moved on since George moved to the Philippines with about 1 weeks notice. I thought it was over, that the damage had been done and repair could now begin. Unfortunately, it has started again and George is employing the same tactics I've seen again and again. Prey on the young and vulnerable and aggregate as many small channels as possible. To date, Freedom, after operating for less than 1 year has over 50,000 channels. That's more than any other MCN, by a long shot.

I find these numbers very hard to comprehend. How could a business, less than one year old bring onboard 50,000 channels, which is multiples more than MCNs that have been around for over half a decade? What value adds are they offering that could be so compelling? The answer to these questions is simple. It's George. How is it that a single 40 year old, who is not skilled at videography, who isn't a YouTube superstar can attract so many people?

If you look at the breakdown of Freedom, the mass majority of channels are run by YouTubers under 18, operating fairly small channels. These YouTubers are impressionable, they fall for tricks a little easier, especially tricks from the manipulation mastermind himself.

I want to leave you with some questions for thought:

- Why is Freedom operated out of the Philippines and incorporated in Hong Kong? Does that sound normal?
- Why is George's face plastered everywhere? What other businesses do that?
- Why did George have to flee to the Philippines in the first place? What did he do that meant he had to leave on such short notice?
- Why are all the channels in Freedom so small? Why are there so many? Why are they all owned by very young YouTubers?
- Why are all George's employees so young? Did you know most of Freedom staff is under 18?
- With a network of 50,000, how are channels supposed to succeed? Get attention?

It's unfortunate that this is all happening again. I plead with you, open your eyes, George is trouble. There are plenty of MCNs with mature value adds and offerings and if you feel like they're not for you, you can always wait and stay independent while you grow. George is not a philanthropist. He is a business man.

Earlier on, I mentioned that I thought George was a psychopath. You may be questioning why I said this. My reasoning is simple. George is unpredictable. You'll believe you can trust him with your most intimate secrets and he'll keep building that trust. But it only takes one little thing and he'll change completely. He'll lie, he'll manipulate and he'll screw you over. He cares about you. But he cares about himself more.

Thanks for reading.
You know, I am by no means a kid, but I did fall for the lies George is selling and joined Freedom. I always thought he seemed hokey and insincere, but the things he offers in his videos about freedom sounded worth a try, given there is a no lock in contract.
It didn't take me long to realize it was all a scam.
I think within 10 or so days of joining freedom I started speaking out publicly about freedom and george specifically. I could tell he was a liar, and I could tell he was preying on the kids he was signing up and taking advantage of them.
I have posted on his videos regularly that he is a fraud and freedom is a scam. I didn't do enough homework before joining, but fortunately I haven't used anything that can tie me to freedom. I have already started the process to leave, though I heard today that some people have tried to get out, and haven't been able too so far.
I also brought up in public that it was suspicious that he is based in asia, where he is out of reach of most jurisdictions where he does business.
I am glad you have posted this, and I was alerted to it by CreeperBill above me. It gives me all the more confidence to keep posting and calling George out in public on his fraudulent and immoral business practices!
More people need to see this post. I have gotten so much hate from some of the more sycophantic followers George has, though I did talk to one of his staff today, who clearly didn't approve of some of the tactics george is using. He wasn't aware of it until I pointed it out, but once he heard about it, he said he didn't agree with it either.

George is clearly an intelligent and experienced salesman and business man. There have been no doubts in my mind that the things he calls mistakes have not been mistakes, but tests to see what he can get away with. It is no surprise to me to read what you have to say about him, and I thank you for sharing as much as you have. I will keep trying to call George out in public, and generate awareness among Freedom members just what kind of person they are dealing with.
 
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Amr

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Wow, I knew George was doing something bad, but I had no idea it was this bad, and from all the evidence, I can tell that you're telling the truth.
 

SauceOne

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Hello YTtalk Community,

Allow me to preface what I'm about to say with the following statement. I have known George for many years, I have worked with him very closely in the past and I have spent enough time with him to understand his motives. The following comments are not speculation, but come from experience.

The best way I can describe George is as a psychopath. He is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He is the kind of guy who could setup a cult within weeks and have thousands of followers. George loves people. But he also loves himself. A lot. You'll notice his face plastered all over the Freedom network channels, websites and images. I believe he is a narcissist.

George has a brilliant mind. He is a 16 year old, stuck inside a 40 year olds body. This has lead to a unique approach when building MCNs such as Freedom. He has an excellent way to related to young YouTubers, he makes them feel like they are cared for and valued. 16 year olds however, as you might expect, do not make the best CEOs. George is emotional. Very emotional. He makes decisions on a whim, even if he laters decides to reverse them and tell everyone he was just 'testing them'.

When I worked with George, I admired him greatly. Just like his partners, George makes his colleagues feel cared for. I first started to get frustrated when I saw George making promises and turning around and breaking them within hours. It was bizarre. I figured at first that he was just naive. I wasn't until I witness George personally stabbing me in the back that I realized he had hidden agendas all along.

George is amazing at building trust, which is extremely scary when you realize how much he lies. I don't want to ruin George's personal life, so I am going to refrain from giving details on some of the things that shocked me the most about George, but needless to say, if I was braver, you would be saddened to read it.

I had put this all in the past and moved on since George moved to the Philippines with about 1 weeks notice. I thought it was over, that the damage had been done and repair could now begin. Unfortunately, it has started again and George is employing the same tactics I've seen again and again. Prey on the young and vulnerable and aggregate as many small channels as possible. To date, Freedom, after operating for less than 1 year has over 50,000 channels. That's more than any other MCN, by a long shot.

I find these numbers very hard to comprehend. How could a business, less than one year old bring onboard 50,000 channels, which is multiples more than MCNs that have been around for over half a decade? What value adds are they offering that could be so compelling? The answer to these questions is simple. It's George. How is it that a single 40 year old, who is not skilled at videography, who isn't a YouTube superstar can attract so many people?

If you look at the breakdown of Freedom, the mass majority of channels are run by YouTubers under 18, operating fairly small channels. These YouTubers are impressionable, they fall for tricks a little easier, especially tricks from the manipulation mastermind himself.

I want to leave you with some questions for thought:

- Why is Freedom operated out of the Philippines and incorporated in Hong Kong? Does that sound normal?
- Why is George's face plastered everywhere? What other businesses do that?
- Why did George have to flee to the Philippines in the first place? What did he do that meant he had to leave on such short notice?
- Why are all the channels in Freedom so small? Why are there so many? Why are they all owned by very young YouTubers?
- Why are all George's employees so young? Did you know most of Freedom staff is under 18?
- With a network of 50,000, how are channels supposed to succeed? Get attention?

It's unfortunate that this is all happening again. I plead with you, open your eyes, George is trouble. There are plenty of MCNs with mature value adds and offerings and if you feel like they're not for you, you can always wait and stay independent while you grow. George is not a philanthropist. He is a business man.

Earlier on, I mentioned that I thought George was a psychopath. You may be questioning why I said this. My reasoning is simple. George is unpredictable. You'll believe you can trust him with your most intimate secrets and he'll keep building that trust. But it only takes one little thing and he'll change completely. He'll lie, he'll manipulate and he'll screw you over. He cares about you. But he cares about himself more.

Thanks for reading.
The questions you raised are definitely interesting, indeed.
I, for one, don't trust George, or the ideas he's trying to sell.
Hopefully more people will open their eyes and see it they way it truly is.
 
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WolfWraith

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It's a shame really, Fredom do really make a tempting offer. But I've always been skeptical about them, give the day they started they had flak but I thought over time they'd get better, seems not. It's a good thing they have 0 lock ins because I'd feel extremely sorry for people who got conned into joining. It's why I try to avoid the new networks, networks that aren't as well known or networks that have similar sub counts to me and message me about joining.
 

Sebas

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Hello YTtalk Community,

Allow me to preface what I'm about to say with the following statement. I have known George for many years, I have worked with him very closely in the past and I have spent enough time with him to understand his motives. The following comments are not speculation, but come from experience.

The best way I can describe George is as a psychopath. He is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He is the kind of guy who could setup a cult within weeks and have thousands of followers. George loves people. But he also loves himself. A lot. You'll notice his face plastered all over the Freedom network channels, websites and images. I believe he is a narcissist.

George has a brilliant mind. He is a 16 year old, stuck inside a 40 year olds body. This has lead to a unique approach when building MCNs such as Freedom. He has an excellent way to related to young YouTubers, he makes them feel like they are cared for and valued. 16 year olds however, as you might expect, do not make the best CEOs. George is emotional. Very emotional. He makes decisions on a whim, even if he laters decides to reverse them and tell everyone he was just 'testing them'.

When I worked with George, I admired him greatly. Just like his partners, George makes his colleagues feel cared for. I first started to get frustrated when I saw George making promises and turning around and breaking them within hours. It was bizarre. I figured at first that he was just naive. I wasn't until I witness George personally stabbing me in the back that I realized he had hidden agendas all along.

George is amazing at building trust, which is extremely scary when you realize how much he lies. I don't want to ruin George's personal life, so I am going to refrain from giving details on some of the things that shocked me the most about George, but needless to say, if I was braver, you would be saddened to read it.

I had put this all in the past and moved on since George moved to the Philippines with about 1 weeks notice. I thought it was over, that the damage had been done and repair could now begin. Unfortunately, it has started again and George is employing the same tactics I've seen again and again. Prey on the young and vulnerable and aggregate as many small channels as possible. To date, Freedom, after operating for less than 1 year has over 50,000 channels. That's more than any other MCN, by a long shot.

I find these numbers very hard to comprehend. How could a business, less than one year old bring onboard 50,000 channels, which is multiples more than MCNs that have been around for over half a decade? What value adds are they offering that could be so compelling? The answer to these questions is simple. It's George. How is it that a single 40 year old, who is not skilled at videography, who isn't a YouTube superstar can attract so many people?

If you look at the breakdown of Freedom, the mass majority of channels are run by YouTubers under 18, operating fairly small channels. These YouTubers are impressionable, they fall for tricks a little easier, especially tricks from the manipulation mastermind himself.

I want to leave you with some questions for thought:

- Why is Freedom operated out of the Philippines and incorporated in Hong Kong? Does that sound normal?
- Why is George's face plastered everywhere? What other businesses do that?
- Why did George have to flee to the Philippines in the first place? What did he do that meant he had to leave on such short notice?
- Why are all the channels in Freedom so small? Why are there so many? Why are they all owned by very young YouTubers?
- Why are all George's employees so young? Did you know most of Freedom staff is under 18?
- With a network of 50,000, how are channels supposed to succeed? Get attention?

It's unfortunate that this is all happening again. I plead with you, open your eyes, George is trouble. There are plenty of MCNs with mature value adds and offerings and if you feel like they're not for you, you can always wait and stay independent while you grow. George is not a philanthropist. He is a business man.

Earlier on, I mentioned that I thought George was a psychopath. You may be questioning why I said this. My reasoning is simple. George is unpredictable. You'll believe you can trust him with your most intimate secrets and he'll keep building that trust. But it only takes one little thing and he'll change completely. He'll lie, he'll manipulate and he'll screw you over. He cares about you. But he cares about himself more.

Thanks for reading.
@Chris Bellum, if you're going to call out someone, it would be advisable to provide proof to your words. You claim that you have already witnessed a bad situation with George in the past. Please elaborate, or don't post.

Let's reply to a few of your questions:
- Why is Freedom operated out of the Philippines and incorporated in Hong Kong? Does that sound normal?
George traveled to Asia before founding TGN, where he spent one year focusing on internationalizing local music producers & singers. This is where he developed his love for the continent. He started TGN, and built it then sold it to BBTV after it became a $5 Million annual return company. He signed a non-competition agreement with BBTV when selling his company, which is why he started any.TV (a recommendation-based advertising network). He wanted to stay in the YouTube sphere. This company was started in Asia because I can assume he wanted to change up his life a bit. Was Freedom already a plan back then? Probably.
Any.TV was used by George to prove to Google that he was capable of developing successful YouTube-based companies twice in order to eventually acquire his own MCN.
Why Hong Kong? It's one of the world's most developed countries that still has excellent tax efficiency. It's a no-brainer to incorporate there if you're living right below there, in the Philippines.

- Why is George's face plastered everywhere? What other businesses do that?
George is a proud CEO. He may be slightly narcissistic, but I don't have a problem with it. If I were the founder of such a company, I'd like my name to be displayed along with it.

- Why did George have to flee to the Philippines in the first place? What did he do that meant he had to leave on such short notice?
You're using big words there. He did not 'flee' to the Philippines, he moved there. He sold his company for what I can imagine was a decent amount and he wanted a new start away from Vancouver (BBTV) so he went to a continent he had already been to an appreciated. Why do you feel the need to judge his personal choices?

- Why are all the channels in Freedom so small? Why are there so many? Why are they all owned by very young YouTubers?
Freedom has a good selection of medium and large channels along with the smaller ones, so your statement is false. Granted, he has a large amount of affiliated smaller channels. This is because Freedom's requirements are so low. He's offering the opportunity to many small youtubers to gain access to a good amount of features (especially AudioMicro and Epidemic Sound), support and a great community.
Freedom is a network that can be trusted, and the same can't be said for a lot of networks. You're guaranteed to get your payments on time and they're very transparent about your earnings so there's no chance of them skimming a part of your earnings off (which has happened with other networks). They also respect their 30-day no lock-in policy.

- Why are all George's employees so young? Did you know most of Freedom staff is under 18?
That statement is not true. Freedom does have a few younger staff members in its network but I believe the large majority of employees are at least 18. Senior staff is entirely over 18. Edit: The average staff age is 21 years old.

- With a network of 50,000, how are channels supposed to succeed? Get attention?
For many small channels, the tips uploaded on the Freedom central channel and the tips provided on the forums are excellent. Once you become slightly bigger, it is advisable to join a Freedom VN as many of them offer excellent service to their partners.

Back to your statements,
There are plenty of MCNs with mature value adds and offerings
Freedom offers an excellent feature list in comparison to other networks. I would advise most channels to join Freedom over any other network. If you're a large YouTuber, Freedom might not (yet) be the right network for you due to the fact that it doesn't offer ad sales.

Finally, please remember that this is considered libel and is punishable by law:
He'll lie, he'll manipulate and he'll screw you over.
Over and out.
 
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Shane

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I find these numbers very hard to comprehend. How could a business, less than one year old bring onboard 50,000 channels, which is multiples more than MCNs that have been around for over half a decade?
That's the only thing that isn't really true :p

AwesomenessTV has around 10,000 more channels than Freedom.
AwesomenessTV also grew to 70,000 channels in pretty much the same time period but this was when they were a way for small or tiny channels to be able to get a channel banner when most other networks required their applicants to get 500+ views daily in order to partner them.
 
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NeightUp

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That's funny you mention the law....
Freedom actively advertises several services they simply do not provide...
That is false advertising and also illegal.
Minecraft server, 101 paid designers to do channel art, team speak, 110% revenue...
None of these things actively exist (110% revenue is in "beta" but isn't advertised as beta, it is advertised as something you can actually get).
Yet they don't bother to take down the videos that advertise those services...
 
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Shane

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George traveled to Asia before founding TGN, where he spent one year focusing on internationalizing local music producers & singers. This is where he developed his love for the continent. He started TGN, and built it then sold it to BBTV after it became a $5 Million annual return company. He signed a non-competition agreement with BBTV when selling his company, which is why he started any.TV (a recommendation-based advertising network). He wanted to stay in the YouTube sphere. This company was started in Asia because I can assume he wanted to change up his life a bit. Was Freedom already a plan back then? Probably.
Any.TV was used by George to prove to Google that he was capable of developing successful YouTube-based companies twice in order to eventually acquire his own MCN.
Why Hong Kong? It's one of the world's most developed countries that still has excellent tax efficiency. It's a no-brainer to incorporate there if you're living right below there, in the Philippines.
I agree George is not all bad, but come on :D

We all know they are in the Phillippinnes for the low wages, they average wage is like $1000-$1500 a month there.
And since the 4 developers they showed us were also college students, their wages are likely ~$800 per month :p or ~ $5 an hour maximum


Whereas according to glassdoor; Fullscreen, Maker and BBTV all pay their developers around the US average and what you would need to in the US ~ $60,000-$100,000 per year.

Sources :
http://www.worldsalaries.org/philippines.shtml
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Fullscreen-Salaries-E494618.htm
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Maker-Studios-Salaries-E684142.htm
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/BroadbandTV-Salaries-E727137.htm
 
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