- cross-posted to:
- til@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- til@lemmy.world
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.”
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Predatory software has become so bad that now we have to use the previous generation’s intrusive hated features to protest the new ones.
Wait what is/was wrong with notepad?
Nothing. If people are protesting invasive bloat with by saying they’d rather have Clippy, I’d rather go back to Notepad.
However, it appears that Windows 11 notepad has fallen prey as well? Maybe then I need a profile pic of a needle and a magnetic plate…
They took a utility and turned it into an app.
(M$ took the lightweight text editor that always worked and added bloat to it making it like a cross between the original and wordpad along with adding co-pilot.)
I’m ngl this looks somewhat useful minus the copilot crap. Having lists and headers and so on are useful for actually taking notes.
I agree, as someone that was forced to use W11 work laptop. It also save states of the tabs open as long as you don’t close the tabs and close the windows itself.
This is probably just MS catching up to plenty other FOSS programs though.
The default is to keep every file open (like notepad++).
Thing is: Most use it as a temporary clipboard buffer. So now you have loads of passwords on some computer or PII.
I think if they kept the features but made it close everything by default it’d be pretty good (asking if you want to save before closing). I basically don’t see a real reason to keep stuff open with apps like this, honestly.
Yes.
Clippy
clips
back
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”?
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
Let’s see where this goes
I just… no thanks. Zero point to doing this as far as im concerned. Wish all participants the best of luck, however!
I concur - I agree with the sentiment, but this seems so… pointless. Remember the Reddit blackouts? Some people migrated to Lemmy but I doubt the number of new members ever increased in the same proportion as it did in those days, some horrible mods were sacked (like u/awkwardtheturtle from r/art) and some subs were closed by their mods, but Reddit just reinstantiated those subs to another admins (r/unexpected on the top of my head at the moment) and… shit’s even worse than ever and they keep earning their profit as usual, if not even more. In the end the “protests” and blackouts did absolutely nothing for them.
but the only reason the reddit blackout did not kill reddit is because a large portion did not care or was ok with what was happening. the same applies here and your sentiment is part of the problem that no change is happening. (well i also want to say that even if everyone would have a clippy as their profile picture, it would not change things directly)
Kinda bad example: the server you are posting on (lemmy.world) literally started during the time of the subreddit blackouts, and other servers’ user count shot up 5x, 10x or more. It’s likely the surge would be muted without it, and even if more than half left Lemmy and returned to Reddit, it was still the first time it could even be considered a competitor. Its a positive and concrete resulf that came of it.
I dunno what changing a profile pic can do, without more of a goal than, “get a CEO to look at clippys and think its funny”. It would have a positive effect if it was even something small like telling people to change the profile and donate $1 to EFF.org
I disagree, without the protests I would still be using Reddit. Just because it doesn’t completely collapse the system doesn’t mean it’s been ineffective
Fair, it got your attention, which I think is worth it.
But as they mentioned, Reddit is doing fine, and making more revenue than ever. The premise of the clippy protest is to scare the CEOs into submission, exactly like the reddit blackouts, but that wasn’t the result of the blackouts and that won’t be the result of YouTube users changing their avatar to clippy.
The only thing that will scare them is users actually migrating away, which again didn’t happen enough with the reddit exodus, it didn’t get a massive blow like digg did. Users are too complacent now.
I’ll still change mine in case it gets one user’s attention enough to start them down the Louis rabbit hole and make them understand the problem of corporations owning all your data, with the hope they will self motivate to leave these platforms entirely, but it ain’t gonna get any CEOs attention when they wake up and see everyone on slack has clippy, they’ll laugh it off.
Bad example, reddit blackouts did work. People left
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
His name is Clipit, god damn it.
Can I teach you a lesson?
I’m gonna wear your skin!
I’m gonna wear your skin!
You haven’t thought of the smell, you bitch
Removed by mod
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).
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I ain’t using a Microsoft product
Literally nobody asked you to use any product
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“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.
Don’t make me post pregnant clippy art.
Please, I need this.
What else are you supposed to spam LinkedIn with?
Pffft, you ain’t got none…
pics or it didn’t happen
If there is something that calls for eyebleach, this is it.
I CHOOSE “IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!”
I CHOOSE “IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!”
well done.
When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy’s
Software engineers will do anything but unionize
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.
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.
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.
Yall have the ability to change your avatars?!
The best time to unionize was yesterday. Second best is right now!
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.
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 sure this will work just as well as changing out avatars to green helped overthrow the iranian theocracy.
“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.
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.
Yea this is some bonkers wishful thinking. This is basically the Jeremey Clarkson “oh no! Anyway…” meme
The CEO sees the clippys, starts crying and gives everyone a raise
Then everyone claps
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 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.
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.
