this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2025
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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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[–] Redjard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

Let's see where this goes

[–] uranibaba@lemmy.world 308 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Thanks writing it all out instead of making us watch the video.

[–] LilDumpy@lemmy.world 98 points 3 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 33 points 3 days ago

:) happy to help! I appreciate the appreciation

[–] hash@slrpnk.net 17 points 3 days ago

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.

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"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

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[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 234 points 3 days ago (6 children)

When a company CEO logs into their Slack and sees 10,000 Clippy's

Software engineers will do anything but unionize

[–] boatswain@infosec.pub 105 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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?

[–] whelk@retrolemmy.com 6 points 2 days ago

You could unionize and invest the minimal effort into being part of an awareness/solidarity campaign.

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 3 days ago

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.

[–] Arkthos@pawb.social 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Unionised software developer here. I think you're more referring to just Americans.

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[–] whelk@retrolemmy.com 42 points 2 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world 23 points 2 days ago

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.

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[–] commiunism@lemmy.dbzer0.com 77 points 3 days ago (4 children)

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.

[–] some_random_nick@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (5 children)

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.

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[–] nomnomdeplume@lemmy.world 110 points 3 days ago (4 children)

"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.

[–] MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world 41 points 3 days ago

Yea this is some bonkers wishful thinking. This is basically the Jeremey Clarkson "oh no! Anyway..." meme

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 3 days ago

The CEO sees the clippys, starts crying and gives everyone a raise

Then everyone claps

[–] Nikophos@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

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).

[–] whelk@retrolemmy.com 5 points 2 days ago

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.

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[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 77 points 3 days ago (8 children)

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.

[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 29 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

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!!"

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[–] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

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.

[–] happydoors@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

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

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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.

[–] RickyRigatoni@retrolemmy.com 53 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Don't make me post pregnant clippy art.

[–] turdburglar@sh.itjust.works 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

pics or it didn’t happen

[–] Nikls94@lemmy.world 44 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] xylol@leminal.space 24 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago

I CHOOSE "IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!"

I CHOOSE "IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!"

If there is something that calls for eyebleach, this is it.

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[–] InfiniteHench@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Clippy

clips

back

[–] Mika@sopuli.xyz 22 points 3 days ago

YouTubers doing YouTubers thing.

[–] GrilledCheese@lemmy.blahaj.zone 50 points 3 days ago (6 children)

I just… no thanks. Zero point to doing this as far as im concerned. Wish all participants the best of luck, however!

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[–] qevlarr@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

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.

📎💬

[–] Redjard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

forces me to commit to one issue at a time

Skill issue

Paperclips in your comments are a bit more annoying in comparison, also you'll just forget them.

The newest rossmann video explains the idea more, but in short the goal is to get a feel for how large the movement is, not creating some slogan.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 40 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (8 children)

Were these people too young in the early 2000s to recognize Clippy for what it was? It was never benign—ChatGPT is exactly what Microsoft always wanted to make, but Clippy was as close as it could get at the time. They are part and parcel of the same thing.

This is like protesting Trump with pictures of George W. Bush.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Clippy sucked and was annoying NGL. There is so much nostalgia for stuff that we all hated at the time.

[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

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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[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 22 points 3 days ago (2 children)
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