YSK: People are switching their profile pictures to Microsoft’s Clippy in protest of the unethical, immoral, anti-consumer practices by various companies. The movement was started by Louis Rossmann (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Dtmpe9qaQ) on August 7th, 2025.
@6:46 “Clippy’s a symbol that what used to be considered one of the worst annoyances in our life would now not only be welcomed, but for all of his flaws, celebrated as an idol. Because for all of these things that occur right now where there is negative malice of intent, […] Clippy just wanted to help. And if you were to turn him on today, unlike most cloud bullshit, he’d still work.”
Louis hopes for this to be a show of solidarity.
@5:44 “When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy’s looking back at them, what I hope occurs is that they intuitively understand that they no longer live in a world where they can get away with fucking over the consumer.”
@5:58 “[…] that [people] are alert and they are aware of what is going on, and they are going to politely but firmly push back against it. Every single one of those 10,000 people will be an obstacle to the anti-consumer practices and the anti-ownership practices, and they will no longer be another cog in the assembly line sending us all into a dystopia.”
Why YSK: I was curious about the number of Clippy avatars, and thought other people might be curious too.
@4:28 “Clippy never tried to normalize sex trafficking. He just wanted to help.”
Clippy
clips
back
This comment section is full of god damn losers who enjoy losing, and want to use any given opportunity to help a little bit to instead sing the praises of their enemies.
Maybe it’s not just the evil maga cunts and the spineless democrats alone who made this mess. Maybe it’s you defeatist whining pussies in this comment section, too.
The correct energy is “fuck yeah, what other ideas and movements can this fit into, support, and help”. Get on board with that, whether you Clippy or not.
“When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy’s looking back at them, what I hope occurs is that they intuitively understand that they no longer live in a world where they can get away with fucking over the consumer.”
No they won’t, they will understand that they need to make sure they’re improving the PR for their shitty practices and have robust RnD in place to make sure their long-term shitty practice plans are evolving
Against an ever-rising tide of pushback and not putting up with it and seeing through their bullshit?
I dunno this sounds like how somebody talks when they’re trying to get the good guys to lose. I’m sure it’s nothing though.
His name is Clipit, god damn it.
Clippy sucked and was annoying NGL. There is so much nostalgia for stuff that we all hated at the time.
That’s the point… it’s literally explained in the text - Clippy sucked and everyone hated it, but guess what? It’s better than anything we have now, all of which can be turned off at a moment’s notice for no reason at all, with absolutely no recourse. And when it does work, it’s usually either lying or its only goal is manipulate you (or both).
Its as bad as what we have now. Its on by default and provides 0 value to the user. The only reason it didnt collect data is because internet had data limits and computers were struggling for resources.
I ain’t using a Microsoft product to head a movement against corporate greed and exploitation.
I ain’t using a Microsoft product
Literally nobody asked you to use any product
Read the rest of the sentence you moron.
People whenever something like this (particularly protests that aren’t violent uprisings) happens: “It’s not a sole and immediate solution, so it’s pointless. Also I’m not going to provide a realistic sole and immediate solution that I’m personally willing to act on or lead. Might as well shut up and go quietly.”
I get that it’s frustrating, but stop trying to slam the door on people trying to build up an environment of resistance, solidarity, and hope. If you can encourage that energy into a more effective direction, then by all means: lead the way. Trying to appear like some savvy intellectual superior and just telling people they’re wasting their time isn’t the way to do that.
Don’t you know that doing anything ever is a complete waste of time unless it immediately solves the problem in a single action? It only took five afternoons online watching ineffectual people whine about people doing literally anything for me to learn that valuable lesson.
Not savvy intellectual superior–Russian plant.
Thank you for writing this good and awesome comment.
This reminds me of old “solidarity” profile picture filters that came out after the Arab Spring and later for France. Solidarity was cool but 2 clicks and a picture that doesn’t amount in any significant action or real participation and is VERY ignorable by people above the line. News media will easily spin it into whatever narrative they want as well
If the Apicalypse of Reddit was any lesson…
They will first think “Yo, that’s trademarked!” and then “Lool, a little strawfire, this’ll quickly burn out”.
You can not expect human empathy or even ability to reflect on self from their kind. They are broken by human standards.
Uhhhh, that’ll show them…?
Probably the biggest problem with this is that you need to read an absolute wall of text or watch a YouTube video to actually understand what’s going on, something that the target audiences are unlikely to do, not to mention other issues like how ignorable it all is.
The target audience are we, the tech literate people who give a damn. It’s then on us to propagate it further to those who are affected, but unaware. Build a critical mass and things will get rolling.
I’ll be frank and say that this is idealist nonsense - these types of movements/boycotts/protests don’t work even with critical mass reached.
Remember when the internet was boycotting Blizzard and their video games after all the sexual abuse and workplace treatment things came out about them, and just the classic ask-for-more-money-while-decreasing-quality-itis? There was a ton of posts about it, hundreds of thousands joined in and it was the talk for a couple of weeks but then people kinda forgot, Blizzard released a new trailer and a lot of the boycotters bought in.
Slightly less related example but still an useful one is one that’s still ongoing - there’s student protests in Serbia against the current government that’s undemocratic or whatever, and many outside people did say how they support the protests and how they’re 100% behind students, “if they want us to strike we’ll strike!” type of shit, yet nothing came from these pledges because it’s infinitely easier to talk than to act.
Changing your pfp to Clippy is pretty much like that - it’s a 0 effort action, it doesn’t require you to change anything as you continue using platforms that you’re supposedly fighting against. What would “things starting to roll” even look like, assuming people don’t lose interest - will it be just a bunch of 0 effort actions that everyone is going to forget/be confused about or even benefit the sites by generating buzz around? If there even are some useful actions that require a bit of inconvenience or effort, most of them are going to not do it due to the lack of investment into this type of activism.
Currently I feel like the plan of this movement is for CEO’s to “see it, feel bad then fix everything”.
Anything that gets people thinking correctly, understanding how evil big tech is being, especially out there in the wild where they might forget, is helping. Directly. Because it is improving the quality of what goes into peoples’ heads.
Every movement that thinks that’s not relevant will fail because of it.
Ok, but we have to start somewhere, don’t we? This is the same type of thing like all the awareness campaigns. The effectiveness can’t be measured that easily and societal change is slow. Most people would love if things changed over night and tomorrow brought a new, better world.
How long did workers fight for basic rights? How long did people fight against monarchies and absolutists in favor of democracies?
Blizzard was the holy grail of gaming up until the rumors started floating around. Then came the evidence and the boycotts. Most of their clients have no interest in gaming news and heard just the hyper around Blizzard games (just like Bethesda). Spread the word as far as you can to reach those people and change will follow.
The student protests you mentioned started fairly recently compared to the opression and brain-washing that have been going on for decades. It takes idealists and public pressure, and not careere politicians to change society. If just a few of those see a growing mass which they can ride to secure their position, they sure will at least bring some positive action.
We can disagree on the methods used, but not on the goal. You are free to fight the same battles the way you see fit. Don’t forget that most of the traffic to Lemmy came from the Reddit boycott - myself included. I stayed and so did many others. Even if it is just a small dent in Reddit’s profits.
A yes the enlightened tech literate people that will.brijg salvation from silicon valley.
GTFO your high horse mate.
There is absolutely ZERO need for such hostility. If you disagree, do so respectively or if you for whatever reason can’t, just downvote and move on.
Truth!!
Fighting the global rise of fascism isn’t for the lazy or whinge-prone. If you can’t be bothered to read a single wall covered in writing (how ironic)… get the fuck out of the way, citizen.
Lazy politics leads to movements like MAGA. We need to educate and motivate our citizens to care enough to want to read an explanation.
You’re right, the target audience will ignore it, until it grows to a point that they can’t ignore it any longer, and they finally decide to ask some flunky what’s going on.
The point when some Sociopathic Oligarch finally learns what it means, and realizes that it has been growing and growing, as he ignored it until it reached a point of critical mass, will be a powerful one for them.
Thanks writing it all out instead of making us watch the video.
For real! I hate to watch video media for things like this. I mean, I’m on Lemmy and not tiktok or YT for a reason…
The transcription with timestamps of the important taking points, chef’s kiss.
Thanks op.
:) happy to help! I appreciate the appreciation
I don’t mean to get off topic but effective synopsis of media is a massive value add. Making ideas cross platform AND cross media types is helpful, not detrimental. Advertisements are your enemy, not viewers.
I’m not doing the profile picture thing, sorry. It’s stupid and forces me to commit to one issue at a time.
Instead, I’ll put a clippy in the replies when relevant.
📎💬
YouTubers doing YouTubers thing.
When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy’s
Software engineers will do anything but unionize
This right here. Unions are a much more potent way to tell management “that anti-consumer idea is bullshit and we won’t do it.”
I’ve been tech conferencing all week and I’ve already seen two talks about unionizing tech workers. Maybe the tide is turning?
You could unionize and invest the minimal effort into being part of an awareness/solidarity campaign.
The best time to unionize was yesterday. Second best is right now!
Unionised software developer here. I think you’re more referring to just Americans.
Well, no
I think a lot of se jobs are not unionizable basically because they do not generate direct profit but only investments.
Honestly…yeah. I’ve been trying to push that boulder but I can’t be the only one.
Very few people are willing to break rank because the system is working for them for now.
Yall have the ability to change your avatars?!
Oh? Something tells me it’s they don’t now, they’ll be part of a union at their next job. It’s coming for all of us, just sooner for some.
I don’t know if the answer is silent protest profile pics. I think a better solution is more people getting into self hosting and ditching big tech reliance.
“The”?
Louis Rossman (the guy pushing this) is also running the consumer rights wiki, has made countless videos on board level repair of Mac devices, and just recently offered a $5000 bounty for jailbreaking a smart thermostat that pushed out an update to lock out owners unless they agree to a $100+ subscription. He’s constantly pushing for self hosting and less big tech reliance, has released a number of guides.
This is just a small side piece in the overall strategy.
I think protest profile pics are great :) But in corpo hell they don’t matter.
Por que no los dos? I don’t think this is being proposed as an answer that will solve the problem on its own. Set a clippy profile picture, self-host, do whatever else you can as well toward the same goal. No need to restrict all our eggs to a single basket.
I think a better solution is more people getting into self hosting
I think changing your profile picture is a bit more accessible than that
How dare you, sir?
The solution is to complain for a couple of weeks about a platform ON that platform, get it out of your system, and let it fizzle out without making ANY kind of changes, because people generally have the attention span of a goldfish and commitment and follow-through of a dieter with a shopping cart full of ice cream.
Never, ever ask people to accept inconvenience to bring down a tech monopoly because “muh followers!!”
ditching big tech reliance.
This is the real protest!
While I agree, self hosting is not an option for the average person.
I believe big tech must be forced to work for the consumer interests somehow.
One way could be introducing decentralised alternatives, that present a solid competition.
“When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy’s looking back at them, what I hope occurs is that they intuitively understand that they no longer live in a world where they can get away with fucking over the consumer.”
Ahh yes. The CEO sees the slactivists’ avatars sand sighs loudly before turning their thoughts back to their yacht and upcoming golf vacation.
Yea this is some bonkers wishful thinking. This is basically the Jeremey Clarkson “oh no! Anyway…” meme
I’ll highjack this comment to add my opinion - I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate for the main post.
I see the profile picture as performative (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). I don’t want to fall into a habit of doing performative things and feeling like it’s enough action. I also recognize Clippy is a flawed choice, as one of Microsoft’s mascots and it’s existence as a proto-AI assistant.
All of that said, I found the solidarity in the comment section of the original video comforting. So today, I will perform (and maybe spread just a little more awareness).
I’m always puzzled when people tear these things down rather than use them to build into something greater. Channel that energy while it’s there and people are fired up! If someone has ideas that they believe will be more effective, now’s a great time to pitch them - and without insulting the people they’re pitching them to.
I don’t see it just as a performance, but rather a way to find like-minded peopel and build a community that will eventually get things rolling in the right direction. Every movement needs some kind of criical mass to achieve something and a call to action -no matter how miniscule and benign - is a good way of setting things into motion.
True! I know “performative” has a pretty negative connotation and can be used dismissively, but I really do believe there can be power behind simple collective actions like these. Particularly as a starting point for something more.
The CEO sees the clippys, starts crying and gives everyone a raise
Then everyone claps
It takes a special kind of wishful thinking to think that any CEO is UNAWARE that their customers hate them.
Not a single one thinks any of these decisions are well-received.
They do it because people keep turning RIGHT AROUND and spending their money and attention anyway.
It’s a special kind of Stockholm Syndrome digital slavery because people can LITERALLY just walk away and choose not to.
