Anti-ICE Protesters Start Tech-Long Tech and AI Boycott. Here’s How It Works
Just days after a general national strike to protest the Trump administration’s brutal abuses, a new group is now launching a long coordinated economic strike, this time targeting a handful of tech companies.
“Resist and Opt Out” is a month-long economic strike that focuses mostly on technology and AI companies, also known as “where economic and political power is concentrated,” according to NYU Stern marketing professor Scott Galloway, who leads the movement.
“The most powerful act in a capitalist society is not to participate,” Galloway said in a video promoting the boycott. “The Trump administration is not responding to anger; it is responding to economic signals.”
The organization has identified 10 consumer registration-driven and AI companies that they say have the most impact on Trump and the economy. Those companies are Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Paramount+, Uber, Netflix, X, Meta, and OpenAI.
“The American economy is the single biggest bet on AI, with seven tech companies representing more than a third of the S&P 500. That means the best way to ignite positive change, without hurting consumers, is to make an economic strike that tech executives can’t ignore,” Galloway wrote in a blog post.
These big tech companies not only keep the economy running, but they also have unprecedented access to the President. Silicon Valley interests have played a major role in Trump’s approach to trade and regulation. One of his few instances of backtracking on his attacks on anti-ICE protesters was his decision to stop expanding the agency’s capacity in San Francisco, which he said changed his mind after speaking with tech executives such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.
Not only have tech companies influenced Trump’s decisions, but some have also provided support for his immigration policy. Back in October, Apple removed an app that allowed users to track ICE activity because Attorney General Pam Bondi asked them to, and Palantir built a $30 million surveillance platform for the agency.
Tech workers are also aware of this influence, and many have signed a letter asking company executives to speak publicly, end all contracts with ICE, and demand that the White House end the crackdown. After the letter was released, Apple CEO Tim Cook told employees that he brought up the issue in a conversation with Trump.
As part of the new boycott, protesters spend the entire month of February not subscribing to paid services offered by these 10 major technology companies, such as Amazon Prime, Uber One, ChatGPT Plus, Microsoft Office, or YouTube Premium. Organizers are also asking people to refrain from buying Apple hardware products until March and to remove Meta platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook. However, they will continue to use Instagram as a way to spread the message, but ask hackers to avoid clicking on any ads and buying from any links you may encounter on the platform.
The strike will also target nine consumer-facing companies that claim to “enable ICE”: AT&T, Comcast, Charter Communications, Dell, FedEx, UPS, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Spotify, and Marriott.
AT&T, Xfinity provider Comcast, and computer maker Dell’s government contracting arm have all signed contracts with ICE to provide their services to the agency. Internet provider Spectrum Charter’s parent company provides cable TV and Internet services to the Homeland Security Investigations office in Beaumont, Texas. A 404 Media report from August said both Home Depot and Lowe’s had access to share data from AI-enabled license plate readers with law enforcement surveillance systems that could be used by ICE, but Home Depot has denied that. Spotify was under fire late last year for using ICE recruitment ads on its site, carriers FedEx and UPS have delivery contracts with the agency, and reports say a Marriott-owned Sheraton hotel in Louisiana was being used by ICE agents to hold detained families.
Protesters have previously succeeded in getting companies to lose their business relationships with ICE, such as Avelo Airlines, which decided last month to suspend its ICE deportation flights after months of scrutiny. Also on Sunday, French tech giant Capgemini parted ways with its US subsidiary that had been doing business with ICE, following scrutiny from union workers and French government officials.
While both the general strike and “Stand Up and Unsubscribe” aim to hit Trump where it hurts, the month-long strike is a more sustainable and focused approach, targeting only a group of big businesses. Retail analysts told Axios on Friday that general strikes tend to be harder to pick up during the weekdays, which is when they will start to have an impact on sales data.
“It’s easy for me to tell other people to stop working and risk being fired; that kind of walkout will hurt small businesses and probably lead to more job losses,” Galloway said on his blog. “And we don’t encourage local businesses to give up sales and close their doors for a day, a symbolic but ineffective tool.”
Gizmodo sought comment from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Paramount+, Uber, Netflix, X, Meta, AT&T, Comcast, Dell, Charter, FedEx, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Marriott, Spotify, UPS, and OpenAI. We will update when we hear back.
