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.”
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
“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 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.
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.
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.
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!!”
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
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.
ditching big tech reliance.
This is the real protest!
“The”?
I think protest profile pics are great :) But in corpo hell they don’t matter.
I just… no thanks. Zero point to doing this as far as im concerned. Wish all participants the best of luck, however!
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.
If you could explain how you got to that conclusion I would love to know. Not trying to be rude, just interested in where it’s coming from.
Clippy (actual name Clippit), was an avatar for the Office Assistant User Interface introduced in Office 97. It read the contents of your documents and would pop up and give you advice, and was basically an attempt at an intelligent agent, but 30 years ago.
It wasn’t nearly as sophisticated and invasive as the current bullshit, but that’s largely because the tech to be as sophisticated and invasive as the current bullshit didn’t exist in 1997.
Not OP, but I see where he’s coming from. Clippy is still the symbol of a corporation instead of basic human rights like:
- right to own
- right to repair
- right to live a life free of ads in things owned
Something like this would be better. I just grabbed it, I don’t think it’s affiliated with something else:
Rossman advocates all the things you mentioned, even as far going to washington to advocate them. Which is more than most of us have ever done, or will ever do. He acknowledges Clippy was bad, but its a reminder of then to now. What we as consumers dont like and what its become. Its a symbol we all know, that microsoft doesent even use anymore, so i dont think its a problem using it as a reminder and symbol of solidarity.
I don’t disagree with you and I think his intentions are good, it’s just that there are other symbols that he could have used. Especially now that a lot of people don’t even know what clippy is and it’s a corporate symbol.
“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.
Can I teach you a lesson?
I’m gonna wear your skin!
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
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.
📎💬
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.
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?
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.
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…
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.
Clippy
clips
back
I’m sure this will work just as well as changing out avatars to green helped overthrow the iranian theocracy.
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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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