Economic boycotts are a well-known means of protest. The problem is that the biggest burden often falls on the smallest businesses.
So did Friday’s national general strike, aimed at pressuring the Trump administration to roll back its aggressive anti-immigrant policies.
For many small business owners, the shutdown created a dilemma. Supporting this cause often means losing that day’s income and jeopardizing our ability to keep our staff employed. Owners expressed solidarity on social media and apologized for staying open.
But Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at New York University who is known for criticizing Big Tech, says there may be another way.
Instead of a complete shutdown, Galloway is urging Americans to focus on big tech companies by unsubscribing or opting out of services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Amazon’s Prime Video, and Microsoft Office.
A targeted boycott that begins Sunday and lasts through February could move markets, he said, and in turn affect CEOs who have President Donald Trump’s ear.
“We’re proposing something quieter and less cinematic than protests broadcast all day on cable TV, but far more disturbing to the Trump administration. A one-day economic downturn is infuriating. A month-long downturn is frightening,” he wrote in a blog post announcing the boycott.
CEOs of major tech companies are trying to curry favor with the president in his second term. First, many of them donated to his inauguration.
AI executives such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also accepted invitations to a dinner with President Trump at the White House in September, and the leaders took turns praising the president. Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy attended the White House premiere of a documentary about first lady Melania Trump during the height of anti-ICE protests in January in Minneapolis.
Supporting the AI industry in competition with China is a key pillar of President Trump’s economic policy.
“These are leaders who listen,” Galloway wrote. “A small decline in a company’s growth can have a big impact on Perfect Pricing’s valuation. Small changes in consumer behavior starting February 1st will have huge ripple effects that could reach all the way to the White House.”
Scott Galloway urged Americans to “unsubscribe” and “opt out” in February. Anna Weber/Getty Images, Vox Media
anti-ICE movement
Regular protests against the tactics of ICE and Border Patrol agents have rocked the country for months. Thousands of people also marched through Minneapolis on Saturday. Tensions rose dramatically after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Preti at the hands of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January.
In both cases, protesters recorded videos and posted them on social media for the world to see, leaving little room for the Trump administration to manipulate events in its favor.
Within days of Mr. Preti’s death, the Department of Homeland Security demoted the Border Patrol’s main commander and promised further transfers. Trump also said in a post on Truth Social that he had spoken with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and that the two sides had since agreed to terms that would reduce the number of federal immigration agents working in the state.
And late last week, Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) spoke with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and said ICE would reduce the “surge” of operations in the state, similar to Minnesota.
But at the same time, the acting ICE director last week expanded the agency’s authority to conduct warrantless searches, according to an internal memo obtained by The New York Times.
In Galloway’s view, the protests, while important, are not enough to bring about long-term, substantive immigration reform.
“Real change always comes from the American people, not from political parties, but power fears protest less than it fears economic divestment,” Galloway wrote. “It’s important to get up off the couch and take to the streets and build community, but the most radical act in a capitalist society is not marching, it’s not spending.”
