It's auto-posted videos by Linus that are being downvoted, and the "by Linus" seems the more relevant factor than "auto-posted." I'll admit that I'm a little bit out of the loop, I am aware that there's several major controversies surrounding Linus right now. Videos critical of Linus are being upvoted, sometimes dramatically.

This situation has the smell of a bog-standard internet controversy. Linus' reputation might or might not recover when people forget about the whole thing. His media group might or might not end up distancing itself from him before that happens.

If there's any action that I'd recommend taking in response to all of this, it'd be re-evaluate whether you want to say "they're awesome" in the sidebar. Right now you might be unintentionally giving the impression that you (and by extension the moderators and by extension the community) are on Linus' side. I assume that you'd rather support a neutral discussion space (but I could be wrong).