Ask Lemmy

The solution is simple, but not easy: Stop using their products. A mass exodus of their users will quickly take away their power.

Stop using all Alphabet/Google products. Other search engines, email providers, streaming video, and even cell phone operating systems exist. Switch to them.

Stop using all Meta products. Other social networks and messaging applications exist. Switch to them.

Stop buying from Amazon and watching their streams. Other online stores and streaming media exists. Switch to them.

Keep going for every company who has a billionaire CEO, owner, or shareholder. Their fortunes will evaporate quickly.

Do what you can. A little more each day if it gets easier. Understand we can't fight all the worlds evils alone, but we aren't alone so whatever your fight is helps all of us.

I push for opensource, self hosting, being self sufficient, unionizing (at work, and for tenets), forming coops (worker, community, housing, and even producer coops), do mutual aid, support charities through donations sure but also volunteering. I also try to buy less, if you need it you need it, but if you don't then why support corps like Walmart or Amazon for them to take those profits to undermine us.

Again it's not about perfection or even self actualization, it's just every time we can empower ourselves and others we can shift the power balance.

People keep answering by trying to tell you to consume your way out of this.

There is only one way, organize, unionize and vote!

Call Luigi?

Who are those two in the picture? Are we supposed to know them?

Instead of spending 200$ a month on subscriptions, spend 300$ on a used PC, take a weekend to learn how to selfhost/pirate and then pay 5$ for a trustworthy vpn like mullvad. If you're in the EU, send data deletion requests to every big company you've had an account with. Start buying things off local retailers, not Amazon. Buy computers/phones either second hand or from smaller/more trustworthy manufacturers...

And most importantly. NEVER. STOP. COMPLAINING. ABOUT. IT. The moment the complaints stop is the moment that bullshit is accepted...

An individual can do very little.

Which is why we organize, strike, and practice solidarity, together.

If you want to help, look for left movements in your area. Food Not Bombs for example.

The first thing you can do is not buy anything that makes the tech billionaires more money. All they care about is money: don't give them any if you can help it.

Shoot them

Pirate, AdBlock/Sponsorblock and use Free/Open Source alternatives.

Years ago people laughed at me for not having Facebook (and never having had it in the first place). Who's laughing now? Not me, nor any other consumers. But hey, we tried...

Fight for regulation

The only thing that can stop them from their established position of power and influence is regulation that limits those, with effective checks and prosecution.

Split up their platforms and companies, require transparency and provable decency, require structural or behavioral changes

They have so much money, fines won't do a thing [unless they're excessively high and against their companies]. They have such established prevalence with their platforms, activism of and with evasion won't have much of an impact at scale.

Demonstrating public aversion towards advertisers is also a workable approach that could have an impact [long term].

all individual can do is find other individuals and try to do something together

You start by 3D printing a gun.

Self host

Learn what it is that makes a cybertruck rust...

organize with others.

Yes totally, but I still kind of expected tries.