Boycotts

I've long advocated for boycotting companies that do harm to my fellow humans and the planet. Why would I want to support them? Sadly it seems a common practice that many people, perhaps most, continue using the products and services provided by companies that do great harm. We all have to make our own choices. This page will detail my choices and why I'm making them.

For many people the first months of 2025 have forced a re-evaluation of how they use technology. It is perhaps, most notable in Canada and Europe where people and governments are responding to a chaotic and agressive campaign being waged by the Trump administration in the US. Intended or not, his administration's actions seem to have initiated a new global backlash against the US-based tech giants and that seems likely to be a very good thing.

It's dangerous for the people of the world to be dependent on any one nation and the corporations based there. This seems especially true in 2025 when the US has proven, for decades, that it should not be trusted on a range of issues where it has claimed a leadership role. From human rights and democracy to climate emergency and militarism, the US has misled the global community. The sooner we have a rebalancing of power the better and a part of that is nations pulling away from any kind of US dependency, especially dependencies on US technology companies and infrastructure.

Note, July 14, 2025: This is new page. I indend to revisit to edit with additional details and links to further support the reasoning for each area of boycott. The current page is just a starting point.

Companies I Boycott

Facebook
I deleted my Facebook account in 2014. It's not just that I no longer wanted to use Facebook but I recognized that I was being used by Facebook not only as a source of profit, but equally important, I was a part of the propping up of Facebook. In keeping and using an account, I was normalizing the great harm Facebook does. Every user that continues to use Facebook is a person that is offering, to some degree, a stamp of approval to the conduct of Facebook. I could not, in good conscience continue that support.

Of course, it's obvious that boycotting Facebook also means boycotting Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp as they are all owned by Meta.

Twitter/X
I was never much of a Twitter user. It goes without saying that under the ownership of Elon Musk any possibility that Twitter could ever be used by a person who supports human rights and democracy went out the window.

Amazon
This was an easy decision. There is no shortage of reasons to boycott Amazon, the following is just a partial list:

• Union Busting
• Abuse and exploitation of workers
• Reliance on and promotion of Digital Restrictions Management
• Abuse of small business sellers on Amazon
• Anticompetitive practices
• Censorship
• Snooping/Privace invasion

Microsoft
Where to start? A company built on the mistreatment of its users via the sale of a malicious operating system. What about their most recent abhorrent behavior as a supplier of services to Israel's IDF and, by extension, war crimes in Gaza? From long-running use of malware in Windows to their recent efforts to force AI on users, there's every reason to avoid Microsoft. I'd only ever used a Microsoft account for a little extra cloud space via One Drive and I used the Office apps when clients sent files that required it. I've deleted the Microsoft account and the apps. LibreOffice is more than enough for my needs.

Like Apple and Google, Microsoft serves US empire as a tool to be wielded over other nations. We've seen this in the first months of 2025 as Trump has waged a campaign against other nations and the people of the US. Microsoft will be a willing partner, obeying the dictates of Trump.

Google
You'll notice, a pattern with my introduction of each of these companies. In all cases these are easy decisions to make. There is no shortage of reasons to boycott Google, the following is just a partial list:

• Support of Israel's IDF, war crimes in Gaza
• Surveillance
• An increasingly shitty search service
• Promotion of AI
• Invasion of user privacy as a business model
• Nonfree software required

Apple
If you've read my blog at all you know I was a long-time Apple user and fan. I drank the kool-aid years ago. Not any more. Never again. As with the others, their misdeeds often go hand-in-hand with the extreme capitalism that has become the norm of our time. At some point it becomes obvious that, yes, of course Apple is also engaged in these sorts of unethical practices.

But there was another reason for me to step away: Apple has all of the power in the relationship with its users. Why should any person willingly put themselves in such a relationship with a company? No. No thanks. This is perfectly illustrated by this story by Luke Kurtis published in Quartz in 2022: Apple locked me out of its walled garden. It was a nightmare.

But wait, there's more. Just as you can be locked out of "your" Apple accounts, because Apple's OS is proprietary, in some ways, you never really control your own computer as long as it is running Apple's OS . Just one, easy to find example is explained in Jeffrey Paul's excellent post: Your computer Isn't Yours. Really. It's worth a read. And while it provides an excellent example of what it means that macOS is a closed, proprietary OS, it is just one such example.

For good measure, here's just the tiniest sampling, in list form, of why I'll never buy new Apple hardware again and why I've stopped paying for Apple's iCloud. I've minimized my use of Apple's devices and no longer trust them as I once did. I never should have but it was the convenient thing to do.

• Union Busting
• Probable use of sweatshop labor by contractors in China at various points over the past 20 years
• Resistance to right to repair
• Digital Restrictions Management
• Lifetime lockdown of iOS and iPadOS hardware devices to proprietary OS
• Obedience to, and collusion with, unethical governments when needed
• Tax Avoidance

Categories of products and services I boycott

Rather than list specific companies it's sometimes better to discuss boycotts in reference to entire categories of the economy that are so harmful that I avoid or limit my use as much as possible or, outright refuse to use them at all.

Transport: Automobiles, Airlines, Fossil Fuels

These industries have obviously led the way to the climate emergency we now find ourselves in. I refuse to fly in a plane. And while I do own a car it was purchased used and I limit my use of it to essential travel only. In various years of my life, depending on location and health, I've prioritized walking, cycling and public transit for local, short-range transport. Long distance travel, if it is essential is best accomplished via rail but in general I have avoided long distance travel as it is rarely necessary.

Meat and other Animal Sourced Products

I transitioned to a vegetarion diet in 1989 and have maintained that for most of the years since. I live several hundred yards from a lake and have eaten fish caught from that lake but it's not a regular habit. I view that at as ethical source of meat. I have also, on occasion eaten fish while out to eat but that also is rare. On several occasions in the past 20 years I have eaten locally hunted venison and locally butchered chicken and beef. While I consider this a better option than meat from a factory farm I no longer eat these. I'm happy and healthy as a vegetarian, there's no need for me to bother with meat.

The ethics are primarily that US factory farming of animals is cruel. Additionally, it's ecologically devastating. Landmass converted to the raising of livestock has resulted in extreme reductions of habitat while requiring vast amounts of energy input. It is a disasterous system for feeding billions of people.

I also avoid other animal products such as leather for the same reasons.

Plastics

I avoid plastic as much as possible. Contrary to the lies/marketing put forth by the plastic industry in recent decades, plastic is not easily recycled and, as a result, much plastic previously collected for recycling was never actually recycled but dumped.