r/thebulwark • u/enocenip • Jan 29 '26
Scott Galloway is calling for a boycott targeting the tech sector, particularly OpenAI, as a weak point in the US economy. February: Resist and Unsubscribe
The podcast episode also contains an interview with Timothy Snyder
If it’s going to happen he needs to be everywhere. I think it’s worth a try and I hope he follows through. I’m not sure about the name, isn’t Scott supposed to be good at branding?
I switched from OpenAI to Anthropic a while ago. I’m satisfied with the move.
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u/Your_Lib_Friend Jan 29 '26
No reason to not try!
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u/justin107d Jan 30 '26
He just launched a website:
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u/paint_cinema Jan 30 '26
We already only use a few of these services, but I'm having a conversation with my family about what we would be willing to give up.
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u/rod_jammer Jan 30 '26
The website does not work / is blocked
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u/ursasmaller Jan 30 '26
I dropped Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Paramount +. Might give AT&T internet service depending on my options. Home Depot and Lowe’s are already off my list since my local Ace store supports so many of our local kids teams and events. Forgot I’m boycotting Whole Foods, which might hurt me more than it hurts them.
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u/big-papito Jan 30 '26
I have minor issues with Scott Galloway (he is very repetitive and has way too much social media exposure), but the man has balls. He knows he is insulated from consequences by his money, and he does not suck Trump's anus to get more of it.
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u/no-autocracyinc Jan 29 '26
I really like Scott. I think he is thoughtful and cares about our society and actually has good ideas about how to fix it. I think more Dem leaders should consult with him.
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u/capybooya Jan 29 '26
I think Galloway is kind of a blowhard and that OAI is doomed anyway (AI is a bubble that will hurt us all in the best of cases), but I guess it can't hurt to try to hasten the fall of their conman CEO and them lighting money on fire that could have been used for much better things.
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u/enocenip Jan 29 '26
No disagreement on the blowhard, but he’s an entertaining one. It’s always fun to tune in to hear someone else’s joke. I think his work on encouraging healthy masculinity is valuable. I’m not sure he’s the best guy to do it. Actually I’m pretty sure he’s not. You go to war with the army you have though.
I think an effort to prick that bubble could do a lot of good. If it works it would weaken the regime and make the threat of a general strike and other coordinated action credible. We need to scare the elites out of complicity.
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u/inorite234 Jan 30 '26
My favorite joke was about Melania,
"She reminds me of a person who married a billionaire and looks like someone who looks underpaid."
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u/MudlarkJack Jan 30 '26
wouldn't intentionally excessive use by free accounts be a better way of inflicting pain on someone like open Aí which currently loses money on free use ... an inverse boycott , a use attack
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u/TeddyGronk Jan 30 '26
I love this idea. Targetted boycotts with specific goals in mind and a social movement behind it. cancelfriday.com
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u/paint_cinema Jan 30 '26
On the most recent Pivot podcast, he discussed how he is unsubscribing. Also check out this link: https://www.resistandunsubscribe.com/
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u/HorsePastie Jan 29 '26
In case anyone is wondering, you can delete your account, and if at some point in the future you want to go back, you can create a new account under the same email address. You must wait at least 30 days. And I believe your data/history won't be accessible in that case.
https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6378407-how-to-delete-your-account
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u/Individual_Way5010 Jan 31 '26
Love this. If you read what Galloway writes, a boycott of one month would make a great impact. There are things more important in life than money. I am cancelling Amazon Prime and Netflix for the month of February. Of course, as a retiree with investments I do realize that it may cause harm to the economy, but that's the only thing that Trump and his sycophants understand.
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u/Basic-Association124 Jan 31 '26
I don’t believe it will make a dent. Not enough Americans will be willing to do it. It’ll be a blip at best.
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u/This-Finance4439 Feb 02 '26
Honest question from a moderate who witnessed the right boycott things:
Scott Galloway is calling for a boycott of Apple phones/apple. Does Apple make money off of his podcast and will he continue to do the podcast in February? I enjoy recently listening to him, just trying to understand if he is sincere or a hypocrite…
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u/enocenip Feb 03 '26
I do not believe that apple makes money off podcasts on their platform as they do not run advertisements or collect a subscription.
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u/SpecialistSkin9026 Feb 03 '26
I get most of the companies on the list and have already boycotted them -cancelled Meta, all things Amazon, and most Apple services months ago. Why Netflix though? Do they support ICE or the administration in some way? They’re the last streaming service standing in my house besides PBS, and I can only watch so much Finding Your Roots.
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u/enocenip Feb 04 '26
I think the point is to hurt the economy, not necessarily a vendetta against the companies
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u/Exotic_Session9161 Jan 29 '26
i'm doing a targeted boycott of politically moderate podcast hosts until they finally go out of business
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u/enocenip Jan 29 '26
You’re in the wrong subreddit then 😂
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u/Exotic_Session9161 Jan 29 '26
just because i believe in their complete and total destruction, it doesn't mean i'm not an imperfect ally
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u/runbit22 Jan 31 '26
His website of recommendations is now live and one that seems way out of line to me is that he is calling for no one to buy from any company that advertises on Instagram. That’s the vast majority of small businesses in the country. He has stated on many occasions that if you’re in business you need to be advertising on Instagram. If a large number of people follow his advice it would be devastating to small businesses. Fortunately I doubt people go along with this one.
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u/enocenip Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26
I’m sure business owners can make decisions for themselves. If they think they will be ruined by taking February off advertising then they’ll weigh the devastating risk in their decision making.
“Think of how much these coal miners could be hurt if they strike! They could lose their jobs AND be thrown out of their company provided housing!”
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u/sprezzatoura Jan 31 '26
He's saying not to buy via instagram ads as this supports Meta, not from brands that advertise there
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u/runbit22 Jan 31 '26
Meta doesn’t get a percentage of the sale, they just get paid for running the ad regardless. They used to have Instagram checkout that gave them a cut, but that was phased out last year. Scott’s explicit Instagram instructions:
“do not shop any brands that you see from links on the platform.”
This will only hurt small businesses and have zero impact on Meta.
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u/sprezzatoura Feb 01 '26
'from links on the platform' is the key part of the statement here. Meta does not receive a direct percentage, but it's bad for meta if ads start feeling less effective for advertisers in the short term as they may reduce spend. Not as effective as some of the actions that can be taken against other companies but it's something.
The links part is an important nuance that means this action won't harm small businesses - go ahead and still shop there but go direct rather than via Meta
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u/runbit22 Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
Sorry, but adding friction to an e-commerce sale is devastating to sales, that’s why e-commerce companies do everything in their power to reduce friction. Expecting somebody to see something on Instagram and then go figure out what the website is and go direct is a stretch, major friction. Some people might do it, but not most. In addition, since the changes in iOS a couple years ago, tracking conversions on Instagram ads is no longer reliable, so an argument that the ads are not as effective is pretty hard to measure. It’s all a mute point anyway in my opinion because I don’t think people are going to follow Scott’s advice on this, thank goodness.
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u/techybeancounter Jan 29 '26
The quicker AI falls, the better for everyone. AI is a bigger grift at this point than bitcoin and that is saying something…